Fortinet buys Perception Point for $100M: A lukewarm exit for Israeli cyber startup
Despite raising $75M in funding, the Israeli cybersecurity startup delivers a modest exit as it integrates its AI-powered solutions into Fortinet’s Security Fabric.
The Israeli cyber industry continues to see exits as the year comes to a close, though not all exits are as lucrative as one might hope. On Wednesday, the American cybersecurity giant Fortinet announced its acquisition of the Israeli firm Perception Point, which has raised approximately $75 million to date. While the companies did not disclose the deal's value, Calcalist has learned that it is estimated to be around just $100 million.
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Fortinet, which has a market cap of $75 billion, is hoping the acquisition will help it to secure the broader digital workspace as businesses increasingly adopt cloud-first and hybrid environments.
Perception Point’s AI-powered technologies provide protection for critical collaboration tools such as Slack, Teams, and cloud storage applications, as well as web browsers and social platforms. These capabilities will be integrated into the Fortinet Security Fabric, the company’s unified platform designed to simplify and consolidate cybersecurity solutions.
Founded in 2015 by Michael Aminov and Shlomi Levin, alumni of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps technology unit, Perception Point is led by CEO Yoram Salinger, the former CEO of RedBand. To date, the company has raised around $75 million from investors including Red Dot Capital, the European arm of Nokia Growth Partners (NGP Capital), Pitango, and SOMV.
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This is not Fortinet’s first acquisition in Israel. The company previously acquired EnSilo, another Israeli cybersecurity firm, in 2019.
In 2022, Perception Point itself acquired Hysolate, a fellow Israeli cybersecurity company specializing in protecting organizations from online attacks.
