Tech Buzz: Busy week as Guardicore acquired for $600m.

• Author: ZEV STUB
• Published date: 30 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

On Wednesday, digital-content security giant Akamai Technologies said it had acquired Tel Aviv's Guardicore for $600 million. The eight-year-old cloud-security company offers a micro-segmentation solution that limits user access for applications.

Akamai said it would add Guardicore to its extensive Zero Trust security portfolio. Guardicore has raised about $106m. from investors over the years, and it has some 350 employees in Israel and abroad.

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Nasdaq-traded Akamai has acquired several Israeli companies in the past, including Cotendo in 2012 for some $250m. and ChameleonX in 2019 for an estimated $20m.

Hod Hasharon-based Valens Semiconductor was set to go public on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday following the completion of its SPAC merger with PTK Acquisition Corp. at a market valuation of $1.1 billion.

The provider of high-speed connectivity solutions for the audio-video and automotive markets will now trade under the ticker symbol VLN both on the NYSE and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The offering raised about $155m. for the company and investors. The proceeds will be used to accelerate development and commercialization of Valens's next-generation products and to fully fund the company through profitability.

On the venture-capital investment front, customer-success company Totango raised $100m. in Series D funding, led by Great Hill Partners.

The 11-year-old company helps organizations rapidly and continuously design, optimize and run every aspect of their customer journey to onboard new customers, drive adoption and value for their users and proactively detect and resolve churn risks.

This investment will fund the expansion of Totango's product-led-growth, go-to-market strategy, product development and other strategic growth initiatives, the company said.

Optimove, a CRM marketing company, raised $75m., led by global growth investor Summit Partners. The financing will support continued investment in strategic hiring and M&A, expansion of the company's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform and further acceleration of the company's growth.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv and operating from offices in New York and London, Optimove was bootstrapped for its first five years and has scaled quickly, while maintaining healthy profit margins, since its founding in 2012.

Netanya-based Speedata, whose analytics...