Israeli cybersecurity startup Vega raises $65 million, valued at $400 million

Audio By Carbonatix

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli cybersecurity startup Vega said on Tuesday it had raised $65 million in early-stage financing rounds that valued it at $400 million.

The funding, which included so-called seed and Series A funding, was led by venture capital fund Accel, with participation from venture capital funds Cyberstarts, Redpoint and CRV.

Israel is a global leader in cyber security.

In July, Palo Alto Networks said it was buying Israeli peer CyberArk Software for about $25 billion, in its biggest deal yet.

That followed Alphabet’s $32 billion acquisition of Israeli startup Wiz in March.

Vega, founded a year and a half ago, said it would use the funds to significantly expand its research and development and its operations in the United States, its main market.

Co-founder and CEO Shay Sandler said Vega was building a technology that would “reimagine how security analytics is being done in organizations and solve the crucial limitations over the past decade in security operations.”

“We see very early traction from the biggest enterprises out there,” Sandler told Reuters, citing large U.S. retailers and financial institutions.

Sandler, a graduate of the military’s 8200 intelligence unit who previously worked at a firm bought by Intel, said he planned to grow the company into a large company.

(Reporting by Steven ScheerEditing by Mark Potter)