Israeli cyber firm Cato Networks raises $238 mln, valued at $3 bln
JERUSALEM, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Israeli cybersecurity firm Cato Networks said on Tuesday it had raised $238 million in a private funding round that valued the company at $3 billion.
The round, one of Israel's largest this year and Cato's biggest, was led by LightSpeed Venture Partners, with the participation of Adams Street Partners, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Sixty Degree Capital and Singtel Innov8.
Cato said it would use the new funds to broaden its audience and expand its engineering and product team.
Since its founding in 2015, Cato has raised $773 million. A prior round of $200 million in 2021 valued it at $2.5 billion. CEO Shlomo Kramer co-founded Cato as well as Check Point Software Technologies, currently valued at $16 billion.
The large financing round comes after funding at Israeli startups slid some 70% over the first half of the year to $3.6 billion, hurt by a global slowdown and investor concerns over Israel's planned overhaul of its judicial system that would trim powers of the Supreme Court.
Cato said that in 2022 it had annual recurring revenue of above $100 million, with revenue up 60% last year. It noted it had more than 1,800 enterprise customers, including Carlsberg and the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E. (Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Mark Potter)
