San Jose, California-based cloud security giant Zscaler reportedly purchased cybersecurity startup Avalor for an alleged $310 million in cash and equity. 26 months after its establishment.
Zscaler founder and CEO Jay Chaudhry stated in a press release that the acquisition will provide features to the company’s platform, such as more efficient reporting of security issues. Incident mitigation, asset discovery, data classification, and the creation of security policies.
According to a news statement from Chaudhry, “AI is only as good as the underlying data. Many solutions lack the additional context and knowledge from data sources across the enterprise to truly leverage security-specific AI models.” “Zscaler manages the biggest security cloud globally, utilizing the most pertinent data to develop large language models tailored to security. The acquisition of Avalor enhances our ability to detect vulnerabilities and anticipate and avert security breaches.”
Alongside Kfir Tishbi, who oversaw the engineering department of Datorama. A marketing analytics startup that Salesforce purchased in 2018, Raanan Raz co-founded Avalor. At Datorama, Tishbi and Raz collaborated both before and after Salesforce’s acquisition.
Avalor’s Unique Position in Cybersecurity Landscape
Avalor serves as a single point of reference for cybersecurity assets, identities, controls, vulnerabilities, bugs, and other data points. This enables security teams to gather, standardize, eliminate duplicates, and monitor risk information throughout the whole remediation process.
It’s not an original idea. Numerous startups, such as Dig Security and Securiti, address this similar issue. The capacity to handle data from almost any source in any format. As well as its special suite of vulnerability risk management and prioritization features, are what really set Avalor apart.
Before being acquired by Zscaler, Avalor had raised $30 million from investors, including TCV, Salesforce Ventures, Jibe Ventures, and Cyberstarts. Zscaler expansion plans, including growing the company and its approximately 80 employees distributed across Israel and the United States, are also recognized by Raz.
Avalor’s acquisition by Zscaler, its third, after Trustdome and Canonic, grants access to vast resources: 7,000 customers, 4,200 partners, and a $30 billion company. Founded by Chaudhry and Kailash in 2007, Zscaler’s integration promises growth while maintaining Avalor’s team independence, leveraging Zscaler’s substantial market presence and infrastructure.
The acquisition of Zscaler and similar companies may revive the sluggish cyber M&A market, which saw a 26% drop in VC-backed cybersecurity deals last year, from 89 in 2022 to 66, marking a significant decrease from 139 deals in 2021, as reported by Chris Metinko of Crunchbase.
