Google buys Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify for reportedly $500 million

• Google has reportedly paid $500 million in cash to buy Siemplify

• The deal follows Google’s pledge to invest $10 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years

Alphabet Inc-owned Google’s cloud division on Tuesday has acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify to expand its security offerings amid rising cyberattacks and expand its credibility in enterprise IT services.

Although the companies did not disclose the financial details of the deal, Reuters reported Google paid $500 million in cash for Siemplify, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Google said Siemplify’s platform would be integrated into Google Cloud Platform, specifically its Chronicle operation.

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Chronicle was initially founded as an enterprise security company and migrated into Google Cloud in 2019 as part of the search giant’s efforts to expand the functionality and services around its cloud services business and compete against cloud market leaders Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure.

“Our intention is to integrate Siemplify’s capabilities into Chronicle in ways that help enterprises modernize and automate their security operations,” Sunil Potti, GM at Google Cloud Security, wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

Google’s push into cybersecurity

The deal follows Google’s pledge to invest $10 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years when the search giant participated in U.S. President Biden’s White House Cyber Security Meeting last August amid a significant rise in cyber attacks and data breaches.

“With Siemplify, we will change the rules on how organizations hunt, detect and respond to threats,” Potti said.

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Since the pandemic, Google’s revenue from the cloud division has nearly doubled to around $5 billion as companies shifted to working from home, which accelerated the need to protect its customers against security threats.

Israel: world leader in cybersecurity

Although the startup has its head office in New York, the firm was founded and still has R&D operations in Israel, making it Google’s first cyber acquisition out of the country.

The buyout deal will help the tech giant take advantage of the Middle Eastern nation’s deep cybersecurity talent pool.

In May 2019, Siemplify raised $58 million in its last round from investors like Georgian, 83North, Jump Capital and G20 Ventures.

Picture Credit: HPCwire