Microsoft announced it is acquiring the security startup CyberX.
In a blog post, the tech giant said the deal was part of a wider initiative to accelerate and secure deployment of the internet of things (IoT).
Financial terms were not disclosed, but TechCrunch said the Israeli company was valued at about $165 million.
As early as February the companies were reported to be in talks about a possible deal.
“While the benefits of IoT are well established and significant, one of the biggest hurdles for customers is securing IoT devices – both for new digitization initiatives as well as for legacy operational technology and industrial control system environments,” Microsoft said in a blog post.
“Microsoft already provides multi-layer IoT security and IoT security monitoring in Azure, which is being used by thousands of customers in production and has made securely configuring IoT devices possible.”
In 2018, Microsoft said it was investing $5 billion over four years in IoT, where security has been a nagging concern. CyberX has experience working with major utilities and other sensitive industries. In March, the companies announced a deal that would allow CyberX to integrate with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
CyberX said it founders would be joining Microsoft and the platform would continue to be enhanced and supported by CyberX personnel.
“By joining forces with Microsoft, we will rapidly scale our business and technology to securely enable digital transformation for many more organizations,” CyberX co-founder Nir Giller said.
CyberX was founded in 2013. It had raised $48 million from investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Flint Capital, Glilot Capital Partners, Inven Capital, and OurCrowd.
The deal follows Intel’s $900 million acquisition of the Israeli startup Moovit in May.
Microsoft has made a number of security-related acquisitions in Israel recently, including deals for Aorato, Adallom, Secure Islands, and Hexadite.