Dutch Bank ABN AMRO Backs Cybersecurity Company ThetaRay

Amsterdam-headquartered ABN AMRO Bank NV has invested in Israel-based cybersecurity company ThetaRay Ltd., the companies announced Wednesday. The investment was made as an expansion of ThetaRay’s latest round announced in July, in which it raised $30 million. The additional sum invested by ABN AMRO was not disclosed.

For daily updates, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.

Founded in 2013 and based in Hod Hasharon, a town in central Israel, ThetaRay uses machine learning algorithms to detect system behavior anomalies and threats such as ATM hacking, insurance fraud, and SWIFT-based attacks. The company has additional offices in New York and Singapore.

Excluding the most recent investment, ThetaRay has raised about $60 million from investors including Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), General Electric, SVP Investments, Israel’s Bank Hapoalim, and Israel-based equity crowdfunding company OurCrowd Ltd.

ThetaRay’s clients include Madrid-headquartered Ciudad Grupo Santander and Citi Group. Before investing in the company, ABN AMRO was also a client since early 2018. ABN AMRO decided on the investment about six months after it became a client and formed a good connection with CEO Mark Gazit and the team, Hugo Bongers, the director of ABN AMRO’s Digital Impact Fund, said in a phone interview with Calcalist earlier this week. “An investment is like a marriage, you have to get to know the people behind the technology,” he added.

This is the first investment ABM AMRO has made in Israel. According to Bongers, the investment in ThetaRay is a chance for the bank to get a foothold in the country and invest in local technologies.