Google Buys Israeli Cybersecurity Firm Siemplify For $500M

US tech giant Google has acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify, a company that specializes in end-to-end security services for enterprises, Sunil Potti, VP/GM, Google Cloud Security announced in a blog post on Tuesday.

The acquisition was first reported in the Israeli media where sources estimated the deal to be worth $500 million, although financial details were not officially disclosed.

Google will use Siemplify to form its cybersecurity operations in Israel under its cloud division. Siemplify co-founders Amos Stern (CEO), Alon Cohen (CTO), and Garry Fatakhov (COO), will stay at the company.

“Siemplify shares our vision in this space, and will join Google Cloud’s security team to help companies better manage their threat response,” Potti wrote of the security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) provider.

“In a time when cyberattacks are rapidly growing in both frequency and sophistication, there’s never been a better time to bring these two companies together. We both share the belief that security analysts need to be able to solve more incidents with greater complexity while requiring less effort and less specialized knowledge. With Siemplify, we will change the rules on how organizations hunt, detect and respond to threats,” he added.

The deal came after Google made a pledge to US President Joe Biden in August to invest$10 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years, amid a sharp increase in cyber attacks and data breaches.

Siemplify was founded in 2015 and has offices in Tel Aviv and New York. The company has raised $58 million from investors like G20 Ventures and 83North.

“Providing a proven SOAR capability unified with Chronicle’s innovative approach to security analytics is an important step forward in our vision,” Potti wrote.

Waze is Google’s biggest acquisition in Israel to date. The multinational tech firm bought the Israeli navigation app for a cool $1.1 billion in 2016. In 2019, Google Cloud acquired Israeli companies Elastifile for $200 million and Alooma for $100 million.