Google will acquire Siemplify, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, for about US$500 million. This is also Google’s first acquisition of an Israeli security company. Siemplify was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Israel with offices in the United States and London. The company has about 200 employees who will join Google after the transaction is completed.
Google will use Siemplify as the basis of its cyber security business in Israel, which is also part of Google’s cloud business. Siemplify co-founders Alon Cohen, Amos Stern and Garry Fatakhov will remain with the company.
In August last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai promised the President of the United States that the company would invest US$10 billion in cybersecurity in the next five years. This commitment includes acquisitions and investments, and Siemplify will be Google’s first such acquisition. Last year, Google invested US$50 million in Cybereason, another Israeli cybersecurity company.
So far, Siemplify has raised $58 million in four rounds of financing, and Israeli venture capital firm G20 Ventures is the company’s largest shareholder. So far, Google’s largest acquisition in Israel is the acquisition of Waze, a map application, for US$1.1 billion in 2016. In 2019, Google Cloud also acquired the Israeli company Elastifile for US$200 million and Aluma for US$100 million.