Israeli Cybersecurity Firm Cato Networks Raises $200M At A Valuation Of $2.5B

Israeli cybersecurity firm Cato Networks announced its latest funding round on Tuesday, raising $200 million at a market valuation of $2.5 billion.

The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with the participation of existing investors Greylock, Acrew Capital, Coatue, Singtel Innov8, and Shlomo Kramer.

The company said the new funds will fuel Cato’s sales, technology, and business growth to further support the security and global networking needs of large enterprises.   

Founded in 2015 by Shlomo Kramer, also the co-founder of cybertech giant Check Point, and Gur Shatz, Cato has developed what is considered the world’s first SASE platform. SASE, which stands for Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), has been promoted for computer security in wide area networks by delivering both as a cloud computing service directly to the source of connection rather than a data center.

Cato Networks develops network security-as-a-service, integrating secure web gateway, firewall-as-a-service, advanced threat protection, next-generation firewall, and secure, global SD-WAN (software-defined WAN) into a single, cloud service called Cato Cloud.

“Cato is at the forefront of SASE transformation,” said Kramer, also the company’s current CEO, “Large enterprises are deploying Cato as their global network to reap the operational and business benefits of Cato’s proven and mature SASE platform. Cato is rapidly expanding its service capabilities, global footprint, and sales and marketing teams, while preserving our unique DNA of agility, simplicity, and ease of doing business that is so valued by customers and partners.”

Cato has said over 300 enterprises worldwide rely on the company to connect and secure their corporate networks. The company has offices in Singapore and the US, in addition to Israel.

The company’s last funding round raised $130 million at an over $1 billion valuation in November 2020, securing the company’s position as a unicorn, or private company worth over $1 billion.

“Cato has seen an amazing adoption of its SASE platform by increasingly larger enterprises,” said Yoni Cheifetz, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “What started as disruptive innovation and a novel idea, is now a fast-growing business that is at the heart of enterprises’ mission-critical operations. We are delighted to partner with Cato and support its mission of delivering optimal and secure access to all users, locations, and applications – everywhere.”