Insight Partners Backs Israel-Linked Cybersecurity Company SentinalOne in $200 Million Investment

CTech – The investment spree of New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners continues. Insight has recently...

Japan is turning to Israeli cybersecurity experts in advance of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Photo: Twitter

CTech – The investment spree of New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners continues. Insight has recently led a $200 million investment in Israel-linked cybersecurity company SentinelOne, incorporated as Sentinel Labs, one person familiar with the matter told Calcalist Tuesday.

This is not Insight’s first investment in the company. In June 2019, Insight led a $120 million round in the company, which brought its then-funding to $230 million. Back in June, SentinelOne did not disclose its valuation for the round, but co-founder and CEO Tomer Weingarten told Calcalist in an interview that it was nearing $1 billion. Now, this new round has given the company an estimated valuation of $1.1 billion, the person familiar with the matter said.

The goal of the current investment is to support the expansion of SentinalOne’s activity, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, the person said. In a June 2019 interview, Weingarten said that the company sees itself on the side of the buyers and not as a target for acquisition. “We are currently actively searching for companies that can expand our technological offering,” he said.

According to the person, the current round is estimated to be the company’s final one before attempting to go public, most likely in 2021.

Founded in 2013 by Weingarten and Almog Cohen, SentinelOne develops artificial intelligence technology for identifying abnormal behavior in enterprise networks. Unlike veteran cybersecurity companies, SentinelOne’s technology provides a comprehensive endpoint solution. The company employs 500 people in its offices in Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Oregon, Singapore, and Tokyo, and reports some 3,500 global customers.

Other investors in SentinalOne include Sound Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment, NextEquity, Third Point Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Data Collective, UpWest Ventures, and Tiger Global.

Insight is one of the most active investors in Israeli growth companies today. In recent months, it has invested more than $1.3 billion locally. In January, it bought, together with Google’s CapitalG, Israeli IoT security company Armis according to a company valuation of $1.1 billion. Later that month, Calcalist reported that Insight was leading a round of between $100 million and $120 million for business intelligence startup Sisense, citing a source. Also in January, Insight bought a 10% stake in Israeli gaming company Moon Active according to a company valuation of $1.25 billion.

Insight opened a Tel Aviv office in October 2019, its first outside New York. It was an early investor in Tel Aviv-based, Nasdaq-listed website building company Wix.com. Among Insight’s Israeli portfolio companies are cybersecurity company Checkmarx, Jerusalem-based content creation apps developer Lightricks, and team management and productivity startup Monday.com Labs. In Early 2019, Insight acquired the lion’s share of the portfolio of the fourth fund of Israeli venture capital fund Genesis Partners. In a February statement, Jeff Horing, Insight’s co-founder and managing director, said the acquisition indicated Insight’s commitment to regional innovation in Israel.

SentinalOne has declined Calcalist’s request for comment.