Latest news with #StevenScheer
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Israeli cyber startup Noma Security raises $100 million in private funding round
By Steven Scheer TEL AVIV (Reuters) -Israeli cybersecurity startup Noma Security, whose platform secures enterprise data and AI models against AI agents, said on Thursday it raised $100 million in a private funding round, bringing total funds raised to date to $132 million. Israel's cyber security sector has been active of late and many startups have raised significant sums in funding rounds and in mergers and acquisitions. A surge in cyberattacks, including data breaches and ransomware, has driven demand for more comprehensive defences and fueled interest in cyber firms. On Wednesday, Palo Alto Networks said it would buy Israeli peer CyberArk Software for $25 billion. It follows Alphabet's $32 billion acquisition of Israeli startup Wiz in March. Noma Security's Series B round was led by U.S.-based venture capital firm Evolution Equity Partners, with continued participation from Ballistic Ventures and Israeli firm Glilot Capital. The latest funds, it said, will be used to further expand its operations across North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa and to more rapidly grow its product, research and development teams in Tel Aviv. Noma Security, which was founded in 2023, came into prominence last November after raising $32 million. The company said it helps organisations "identify millions of AI and AI agent risks while simultaneously prioritising and mitigating novel threats at scale." AI agents are AI systems that act autonomously on behalf of users or organisations.
Time of India
31-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Israel's Check Point Software aims to go it alone as cyber security sales rise
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM: The CEO of Check Point Software Technologies said the Israeli company was not looking to be bought out like some local rivals, as it reported a second-quarter profit boosted by higher sales of products to protect and prevent corporate networks from cyber threats. Nadav Zafrir on Wednesday said the network security company, which is valued at $24 billion and whose Nasdaq-listed shares are up 17% so far this year, would prefer to use its $3 billion cash pile on its own acquisitions. A day earlier the Wall Street Journal reported that Palo Alto Networks was in talks to acquire Israeli rival CyberArk Software in a deal that could be worth more than $20 billion, while Google is buying Wiz for $32 billion Zafrir told reporters his company, which operates an open platform, had not been approached by Palo Alto, nor was it interested. "We have a be the number one player in the acquisitions are definitely a part of that," Zafrir said. "We always have the option to either build it or buy it, or do both at the same time," he said. Check Point reported earnings of $2.37 per diluted share excluding one-off items for the April-June quarter, up 9% from a year earlier and broadly in line with the $2.36 expected by analysts, according to LSEG data. Revenue grew 6% to $665 million, just topping LSEG's forecast of $662 million. Product and licence revenue rose 12% to $132 million in the quarter, while security subscription revenue gained 10% to $298 million. Zafrir said the third quarter is "shaping up well with strong July indicators". "We have a healthy pipeline heading into the second half of the year underscoring our full-year outlook," he added. Check Point bought back 1.5 million of its own shares at a total cost of about $325 million in the second quarter.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Israel's Bezeq to buy local telecoms firm for $160 million
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM: Bezeq Israel Telecom said on Monday it had signed a non-binding deal to buy Exelera Telecom for $160 million. Bezeq, Israel's largest telecoms group, said that under the memorandum of understanding, it would buy Exelera from the Aluma Fund , which holds 82% of the company's shares, and the rest from Ayalon Insurance and Finance. The sellers may be entitled to additional consideration of up to $10 million, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions detailed in the MoU, Bezeq said. Completion is subject to the signing of a definitive binding agreement 75 days from the date of the MoU, during which Bezeq will conduct due diligence. The deal also would require regulatory and other approvals. Israel-based Exelera, formerly Tamares Telecom, provides telecoms services via an international telecommunications network based on a fiber-optic submarine cable, and operates a landing station in Israel. Aluma CEO Yair Hirsh said the deal would represent a threefold return on its investment in Exelera. Bezeq said it was currently evaluating a series of business initiatives in light of global trends indicating a dramatic increase in digital traffic volumes both into Israel and along the route between Europe and the Near and Far East. It noted those developments are driven in part by the growing presence of major data and cloud players in Israel and the wider region. "Bezeq will continue working to enhance the independence of Israel's telecommunications infrastructure and deepen competition in the market."
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Planned Nvidia expansion in Israel prompts multiple offers of sites
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM: Nvidia has received a high number of offers of potential sites to help it carry out a plan to greatly expand its operations in Israel to meet growing demand for artificial intelligence data centres, two sources told Reuters. The Santa Clara-based Nvidia, which has become the most valuable company in history at $4 trillion, earlier this week issued a request for information, or RFI, to buy land to build a new campus near its facility in northern Israel that industry sources estimated would cost billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs. Nvidia, a leading designer of high-end AI chips , entered Israel in 2020 after buying Mellanox Technologies for nearly $7 billion. It is located in Yokne'am, where many tech companies are based, near the northern port city of Haifa. Nvidia in Israel declined to comment beyond its RFI. A third source, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said the company received "dozens and dozens and dozens" of offers from municipalities and others, not all near Haifa. Nvidia has set a July 23 deadline for offers to build its campus of up to 180,000 square metres. For its part, the Haifa municipality said it was "currently busy preparing an attractive offer for the company. We think we are the city with the best potential for them." A race among Microsoft,, Meta Platforms , Alphabet, and Tesla, to build AI data centres and dominate the emerging technology has led to a surge in demand for Nvidia's high-end processors. One of the sources said Israel's expertise was "extremely important to the AI era" and Nvidia needed to expand rapidly. The company has already nearly tripled in size in Israel since its acquisition of Mellanox, which a source said contributed to $13 billion in revenue to Nvidia last year. The company has not confirmed the figure. Nvidia has also made a number of other acquisitions over recent years in the country where it has 5,000 employees. It has also built Israel's most powerful AI supercomputer that was a blueprint for Elon Musk's Colossus supercomputer. Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, said the new Nvidia campus will be massive and could house "a few thousand employees". "Nvidia sees its operation in Israel as something which is going to stay here for a very long time and to expand here," he told Reuters. "This declaration is a sign of confidence in Israel." Nvidia's planned expansion in Israel comes as rival Intel - in Israel since 1974, and one of the country's largest employers at 9,350 - has begun to trim its workforce globally. Israel media said a few hundred workers in Israel are being made redundant. A local spokesperson would not comment on numbers, only pointing to Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's comments in April that the company was "taking steps to become a leaner, faster and more efficient company".
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Planned Nvidia expansion in Israel prompts multiple offers of sites
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Nvidia has received a high number of offers of potential sites to help it carry out a plan to greatly expand its operations in Israel to meet growing demand for artificial intelligence data centres, two sources told Reuters. The Santa Clara-based Nvidia, which has become the most valuable company in history at $4 trillion, earlier this week issued a request for information, or RFI, to buy land to build a new campus near its facility in northern Israel that industry sources estimated would cost billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs. Nvidia, a leading designer of high-end AI chips, entered Israel in 2020 after buying Mellanox Technologies for nearly $7 billion. It is located in Yokne'am, where many tech companies are based, near the northern port city of Haifa. Nvidia in Israel declined to comment beyond its RFI. A third source, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said the company received "dozens and dozens and dozens" of offers from municipalities and others, not all near Haifa. Nvidia has set a July 23 deadline for offers to build its campus of up to 180,000 square metres. For its part, the Haifa municipality said it was "currently busy preparing an attractive offer for the company. We think we are the city with the best potential for them." A race among Microsoft,, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Tesla, to build AI data centres and dominate the emerging technology has led to a surge in demand for Nvidia's high-end processors. One of the sources said Israel's expertise was "extremely important to the AI era" and Nvidia needed to expand rapidly. The company has already nearly tripled in size in Israel since its acquisition of Mellanox, which a source said contributed to $13 billion in revenue to Nvidia last year. The company has not confirmed the figure. Nvidia has also made a number of other acquisitions over recent years in the country where it has 5,000 employees. It has also built Israel's most powerful AI supercomputer that was a blueprint for Elon Musk's Colossus supercomputer. Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, said the new Nvidia campus will be massive and could house "a few thousand employees". "Nvidia sees its operation in Israel as something which is going to stay here for a very long time and to expand here," he told Reuters. "This declaration is a sign of confidence in Israel." Nvidia's planned expansion in Israel comes as rival Intel - in Israel since 1974, and one of the country's largest employers at 9,350 - has begun to trim its workforce globally. Israel media said a few hundred workers in Israel are being made redundant. A local spokesperson would not comment on numbers, only pointing to Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's comments in April that the company was "taking steps to become a leaner, faster and more efficient company".
