NOTE – Updated on April 24 for NVIDIA / Run:AI
After a brief lull in early to mid-April I see activity picking up with a several smaller funding rounds announced, and a few big ones. There is some notable announced and rumored M&A coming down the pike as well. I have split this update into two parts, covering M&A in Part 1 and notable funding announcements in Part 2 (will be out shortly).
NVIDIA Announces Intent to Acquire Run:AI
Back in March I reported NVIDIA was in talks to acquire Israel based workload management and orchestration provider Run:ai (Acquired by NVIDIA). This morning NVIDIA confirmedits intent to acquire the company. No financial details were disclosed but CTech speculates it may be in the $700 mm range.
Run:ai was founded in 2018 by Omri Geller and Ronen Dar. The company raised a total of $118 mm, including $75 mm in a Series C round in March 2022. Backers include Tiger Global, Insight Partners, TLV Partners and S Capital VC.
Run:ai specializes in Kubernetes-based workload management and orchestration software, which aids in efficiently utilizing cluster resources for AI workloads across various computing infrastructures.
The complexity of AI deployments, spanning cloud, edge, and on-premises data centers, necessitates sophisticated workload management and orchestration to optimize performance across the infrastructure. Run:ai’s platform addresses this challenge by enabling enterprise customers to manage and optimize their compute infrastructure, regardless of its location.
The Run:ai platform supports popular Kubernetes variants and integrates with third-party AI tools and frameworks. It allows customers to efficiently manage data-center-scale GPU clusters, enhancing GPU cluster resource utilization and maximizing compute investments.
Key features of Run:ai’s platform include a centralized interface for managing shared compute infrastructure, user and team management features, GPU pooling for task distribution, and efficient resource utilization.
NVIDIA plans to continue offering Run:ai’s products by integrating them into the NVIDIA DGX Cloud platform. This integration will provide NVIDIA DGX and DGX Cloud customers access to Run:ai’s capabilities. NVIDIA has long partnered with Run:ai, and its solutions are already integrated with various NVIDIA products.
IBM Reportedly in Talks to Acquire HashiCorp
The Wall Street Journal is reporting IBM is in talks to acquire HashiCorp. The company fits naturally into IBM‘s increasing focus on hybrid cloud solutions and complement its open-source products sold by Red Hat. HashiCorpstock popped 20% following the news report.
The acquisition, if completed, would be IBM’s latest in a string of more than 10 deals in the past year, including its $4.6 billion takeover of software company Apptio and purchase of data-integration platforms StreamSets and WebMethods for €2.13 billion. IBM’s largest acquisition to date remains its $34 billion purchase of Red Hat in 2019, though growth in that software business has slowed to single digits in recent quarters.
HashiCorp has struggled to maintain growth momentum over the last few years and its stock performance has lagged peers. It was in the news earlier this month in relation to a lawsuit it filed against OpenTofu, an open source fork of HashiCorp‘s key offering Terraform.
Wiz in Talks to Acquire Lacework
The Finance and Corporate Development teams at cloud security decacorn Wiz have been busy! Besides closing its acquisition of Gem Security (acquired by Wiz) for $350 mm, the company is reportedly in talks to acquire competitor and once-unicorn Lacework for $150-200 mm, a significant discount to its last valuation. Lacework has raised a total of ~$1.9 bn, of which $1.3 bn was raised in its Series D in November 2021 at a valuation of $8.3 bn. The company is backed by Tiger Global, Sutter Hill Ventures, Altimeter, General Catalyst and Snowflakeamongst others.
Wiz reported $350 mm in ARR in February this year, with a stated goal of getting to $1bn in ARR before going public via an IPO. Lacework is reportedly doing about $100 mm in ARR, so that should provide a nice boost towards Wiz‘ revenue goals. The company was founded in 2020 and has raised a total of $900 mm across four rounds of funding. It last raised $300 mm in a Series D in February 2023 at a $10 bn valuation. Key investors include Lightspeed, Index Ventures, Insight Partners and Sequoia Capital.
Wiz’s other privately held competitors include Orca Security and Netskope.
Asset Intelligence Platform Armis Acquires Silk Security
Armis, a prominent cybersecurity company specializing in asset intelligence, has acquired Silk Security, a leading cyber risk prioritization and remediation platform, for $150 mm. The acquisition aims to enhance Armis‘ capabilities by integrating Silk’s technology into the Armis Centrix AI-based Vulnerability Prioritization and Remediation solution. This integration will provide security teams with a consolidated view of security findings across various data sources, from on-prem devices to cloud environments, enabling more effective management and automation of the remediation process.
Silk Security, founded in 2022 by Yoav Nathaniel, Or Priel, and Bar Katz, aimed to address the frustration surrounding the current process of alert remediation. By joining forces with Armis, Silk aims to accelerate the adoption of its risk solution platform globally. Armis sees this acquisition as completing its strategy of building a comprehensive platform to manage all assets and devices across an organization’s digital footprint. The company reported $100 mm in ARR earlier this year, calling itself a “Centaur.” Is this a thing? Not sure I’ve heard that milestone being described so before. Check out the below chart showing time to $100 mm ARR for some large SaaS names including Wiz and HashiCorp.
Akamai in Talks to Acquire Noname Security
Noname Security, a cybersecurity startup specializing in API protection, is reportedly in advanced talks to be acquired by Akamai Technologiesfor approximately $500 mm. This is a significant reduction from Noname’s last reported valuation of $1 bn when it raised $135 mm in a Series C round in December 2021.
The deal, if completed, will provide liquidity to investors and enable Noname’s technology to be integrated into Akamai’s offerings. Noname Security, founded in 2020 by Oz Golan and Shay Levi, has raised $220 mm from investors including Georgian, Lightspeed, Insight Partners, Forgepoint Capital, Next47 and Cyberstarts. The company’s platform offers a proactive approach to API security, addressing misconfigurations, design flaws, and other vulnerabilities.
While not a great outcome, a $500 mm transaction should provide a decent return to the earliest investors, and money back to those who participated in the $135 mm Series C from December 2021, a time of clearly inflated valuations and expectations.
BeyondTrust Acquires Entitle
BeyondTrust, a leader in intelligent identity and access security, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Entitle – a BeyondTrust company, an innovative privilege management solution specializing in just-in-time (JIT) access and modern identity governance and administration (IGA) for the entire cloud estate.
BeyondTrust‘s acquisition of Entitle – a BeyondTrust company expands its Privilege Identity Security platform beyond traditional privileged access management (PAM) to encompass dynamic access management across cloud, SaaS, and on-premises environments. The acquisition aims to address the evolving regulatory and industry trends towards zero-standing privileges by providing automated provisioning workflows, self-serve access requests, and over 150 integrations across various platforms.
Founded in 2021 by Ron Nissim and Avi Zetser, former members of the Israel Defense Force’s Unit 8200, Entitle had raised $15 mm in seed funding led by Glilot Capital Partners, Elron Ventures and Kmehin. While financial details were not disclosed, CTech by Calcalist estimatesa range of $100 – 150 mm.
Zscaler Acquires Airgap Networks
Cloud security network leader Zscaler has acquired network segmentation provider Airgap Networks. The acquisition aims to transform how enterprises implement Zero Trust Segmentation for IoT/OT devices and critical infrastructure across various environments. By combining Zscaler’s Zero Trust SD-WAN with Airgap Networks’ agentless segmentation technology, the company intends to eliminate the need for firewall-based segmentation and enhance security for east-west traffic in campus and OT networks.
Airgap Networks’ approach utilizes an intelligent Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) proxy architecture to isolate devices and dynamically control access based on identity and context. This method reduces business risk by shrinking the internal attack surface and halting lateral threat movement without disrupting operations. The technology is particularly effective against advanced threats, such as ransomware targeting IoT devices and OT systems.
The acquisition is expected to benefit customers by extending Zero Trust principles to devices on internal networks, securing critical OT infrastructure, and delivering operational simplicity and cost savings. Traditional Network Access Control (NAC) and firewall-based security technologies can be replaced, streamlining security measures and improving the overall security posture of enterprises.
Airgap was founded in 2019 and had raised $13.4 mm in a Series A round in April 2022. Backers include Engineering Capital, Cervin Ventures, Sorenson Capital and Storm Ventures.
If you found this useful, please share, comment and like the newsletter – it helps us grow!
Part 2 covering capital raises will be out soon, please click here to subscribe so you don’t miss it.
My day job is advising growing companies on fundraising and M&A. If you are an investor or entrepreneur I’d love to connect.