Cato Networks

Israeli network security company

Cato Networks Ltd.

Company type| Private
Industry| Computer networking
Founded| 2015; 10 years ago (2015)
Founders| Shlomo Kramer
Gur Shatz
Headquarters| Tel Aviv, Israel

Key people

| Shlomo Kramer, CEO[1]
Products| Secure Access Service Edge

Number of employees

| 1100 (2024)
Website| catonetworks.com

Cato Networks Ltd. is a Tel Aviv, Israel-based network security company that develops Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology, which combines enterprise communication and security capabilities into a single cloud-based platform.[1] The company was founded in 2015.[2] After an October 2021 funding round, the company was a tech unicorn valued at $2.5 billion.[3]

## History

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Cato Networks was founded in 2015 in Tel Aviv, Israel, by Shlomo Kramer, co-founder of Checkpoint and Imperva, and Gur Shatz, a co-founder of networking company Incapsula.[2][4] Cato was initially funded with a $20 million Series A from U.S. Venture Partners and Aspect Ventures.[5] Kramer became CEO, and Shatz became president and COO.[1] It secured a Series B round of $50 million in September.[1] The company officially launched in February 2016.[6] Its first products were designed to protect customers' wide area network (WAN) connections and mobile devices with next-generation firewalling, URL filtering, application control, VPN access, and more services.[5]

In June 2018, the company added threat hunting capabilities to its networking service.[7] In 2019, the company secured a $55 million Series C funding round.[8] In April 2020, the company raised $77 million in a Series D.[1] In November, the company announced a $130 million Series E funding round, led by return investors Lightspeed Partners, with participation from Greylock Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, Aspect Capital, Singaporean fund Singtel's subsidiary Innov8, and hedge fund Coatue Management.[9] The investment reportedly valued the company at over $1 billion, making it a tech unicorn.[9]

In June 2021, the company launched a new version of its managed detection and response (MDR) platform, used to detect security threats on its network.[10] In October, the company announced it had raised $200 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.[8] The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with the participation of existing investors Greylock, Acrew Capital, Coatue, Singtel Innov8, and CEO Kramer.[8] In February 2022, the company added cloud access security broker (CASB) capabilities to protect cloud applications.[11]

## Products

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Cato Networks develops a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform, which combines SD-WAN, managed security service and global backbone services into a cloud-based service offering.[12] Its products are designed to help IT staff manage network security for distributed workforces accessing resources across the wide area networks (WANs), cloud and Internet that connects them.[12][13] The company's Cato SASE Cloud platform supports more than 73 points of presence in over 150 countries.[14]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e "Industry Voices—Chua: Cato Networks goes from dark horse to $1B unicorn". Fierce Telecom. November 17, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
2. ^ a b "Can Check Point Founder Strike Again?". Fortune. February 10, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
3. ^ "Shlomo Kramer's Cato Networks hits $2.5 billion valuation in $200 million round". CTech. October 19, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
4. ^ "Cato Networks' Cloud Security-as-a-Service Platform Debuts". eWeek. February 9, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
5. ^ a b "Cato Networks puts network security in the cloud". Network World. February 18, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
6. ^ "Cato Networks offers a new model for network security as a service". Network World. July 1, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
7. ^ "Cato Networks adds threat hunting to its Network as a Service". Network World. June 4, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
8. ^ a b c "Cato Networks Takes Aim At Cisco, Palo Alto Networks For SASE Dominance With $200M Funding Round". CRN. October 19, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
9. ^ a b "Another Israeli Unicorn Is Born: Cyber Company Cato Networks Raises $130 Million". Haaretz. November 17, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2022.(subscription required)
10. ^ "Cato Pushes MDR Into SASE Play". SDX Central. June 22, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
11. ^ "Cato clips in CASB security to SASE service". Light Reading. February 2, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
12. ^ a b "Cato Claims Unicorn Status in Wake of $130M Funding Round". SDX Central. November 17, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
13. ^ "Cato Network snags $130M Series E on $1B valuation as cloud wide area networking thrives". TechCrunch. November 17, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
14. ^ "As Cato plans for IPO, company to grow headcount by 40%". Light Reading. February 23, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022.

## External links

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* Official website