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Google Buys Cybersecurity Firm as Part of its $10 Billion Plan for a Safer Internet
By: TheStreet | January 4, 2022

• The purchase helps the company deliver on its pledge to increase cyber safety.

As part of its pledge to amp up cyber safety, Google (GOOGL) started off the new year by acquiring Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify.

While neither company released the financial details of the deal, Israeli website Calcalist first reported that the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant paid $500 million for the Israeli company.

Founded by Amos Stern and Alon Cohen in 2015, Siemplify specializes in security orchestration, or integrating safety tools into different online products, and end-to-end encryption. The company currently employs over 200 people in Israel and has raised $58 million from investors like G20 Ventures, Jump Capital and 83North.

As part of the deal, Stern and Cohen will continue to helm the company as Google Cloud integrates its Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) product into cloud services.

"Together with Chronicle’s rich security analytics and threat intelligence, we can truly help security professionals transform the security operations center to defend against today’s threats," Stern said in a press statement.

Big Tech Promises Improved Cybersecurity

Last summer, Google and other tech giants like Microsoft ( (MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report) and Apple ( (AAPL) - Get Apple Inc. Report) promised President Joseph Biden that they would work on improving cybersecurity on their platforms — Google committed to investing $10 billion into this branch over the next five years.

This marks Google's first acquisition out of Israel and a major growth moment for Siemplify — since the pandemic pushed many people to work from home, the need for cybersecurity tools increased and the company saw its revenue nearly double to approximately $5 billion.

"With Siemplify, we will change the rules on how organizations hunt, detect, and respond to threats," Google Cloud said in a confirmation of the acquisition.

According to Reuters, Guggenheim Securities advised Siemplify on the acquisition — when approached by Google about a sale, it was reportedly in the process of raising a new funding round.

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