Proofpoint To Acquire Israeli-Founded Cybersecurity Startup ObserveIt For $225M

US cybersecurity company Proofpoint has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ObserveIT, an Israeli-founded insider threat management company, for $225 million, the companies announced Sunday. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 2006 by Gaby Friedlander and Avi Amos, ObserveIT is based in Boston, but has its research and development center in Tel Aviv. The company provides internal threat security solutions, like employee monitoring and digital forensics to more than 1,700 customers in 87 countries.

With this acquisition, Proofpoint will extend its data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities to form a more enhanced offering for enterprises, the California-based company said.

This is Proofpoint’s third acquisition in Israel in the last three years. It acquired FireLayers, a cloud security company, for $55 million in October 2016 and MetaNetworks, a startup that secures access to zero trust-based networks, for $120 million in May 2019. The total amount invested by Proofpoint in Israeli technologies through these three transactions is $400M.

“Today’s ObserveIT acquisition underscores Proofpoint’s commitment to providing organizations with people-centric cybersecurity and compliance solutions that protect what matters: their people and the data they have access to, in a post-perimeter, cloud-first world,” said Gary Steele, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Proofpoint. “We are the only security company that provides organizations with deep visibility into their most attacked people—and with ObserveIT, we will bring to market the first truly innovative enterprise DLP offering in years. We are thrilled to welcome ObserveIT’s employees and customers to Proofpoint.”