Latest news with #Israeli-founded
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Lioncrest Ventures Debuts $100M Multi-Strategy Platform for its Equity and Credit Funds
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lioncrest Ventures, a new purpose-built venture, today announced its debut and initial raise of $30 million toward its $100 million multi-strategy platform spanning both equity and credit funds. With its dual-fund platform, Lioncrest Ventures represents a next-generation venture model, built for alignment and long-term partnership with founders building what's next. Founded by Leib Bolel, a venture investor with over a decade of experience scaling companies, both as a Partner at Grayhawk Capital and formerly as CEO of the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance, Lioncrest was created to solve a core challenge facing many founders: the need for capital that aligns with their business models and growth timelines. 'Our mandate is simple: to provide the right capital to the right companies,' said Leib Bolel, Managing Partner at Lioncrest Ventures. 'For some companies, equity is the rocket fuel that drives breakout success. For others, private credit is a better aligned path to scale. Lioncrest is built to deliver both, with discipline, speed, and conviction.' The Lioncrest equity fund invests in early growth-stage software companies solving complex challenges in highly regulated industries. Key verticals include Cybersecurity, FinTech, Digital Health, LegalTech, Supply Chain & Logistics, and Government/Defense. These sectors demand innovation that meet rigorous standards for compliance, security, and scalability, areas where Lioncrest brings deep sector knowledge and operational insight. The firm's credit strategy is led by Managing Partner Ryan Edwards through the Lioncrest-Prospeq Fund, which provides structured financing to high-performing technology companies seeking growth capital without the need for an institutional sponsor. A private credit veteran with over 20 years of experience, including 13 years as Managing Director at Silicon Valley Bank, and later as founder of Prospeq, Edwards brings deep expertise in venture debt and capital structuring. 'The Lioncrest-Prospeq Fund provides founders with capital, enabling them to fund strategic growth and increase valuation,' said Ryan Edwards, Managing Partner and Head of the Prospeq Fund. 'By offering credit, we can support more companies in more ways, without forcing a one-size-fits-all solution.' Backed by a diverse network of limited partners, including family offices, founders, and strategic operators. Lioncrest is actively deploying capital from both funds. The firm maintains a primary focus on U.S. investments, while also accessing high-quality deal flow from Israeli-founded companies, reflecting Bolel's leadership and investment experience across both ecosystems. With its dual-fund platform, Lioncrest Ventures represents a next-generation venture model, built for alignment and long-term partnership with founders building what's next.
Glasgow Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Activists sit-in at Glasgow City Chambers over Israeli-linked CCTV
Videos shared by the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee showed several protesters sitting inside the reception of the city chambers at George Square. The activists are calling for the council to end its use of their contract with Neptune Intelligence Computer Engineering (NICE) – which was formed by members of Unit 8200, the largest unit in the Israel Defence Forces. READ NEXT: New West End Italian restaurant is run by the man behind Glasgow's Taco Mazama READ NEXT: Airdrie teen who died of cancer had urgent referral downgraded due to her age The Israeli firm was awarded a contract as part of the Future Cities Glasgow programme in 2014. In 2015, NICE was acquired by Elbit Systems, a defence contractor for the Israel Defence Forces, while its "physical security business unit" was sold to a private equity firm and rebranded as Qognify. Pictures from Glasgow City Chambers showed a Palestine flag wrapped around a bust of Nelson Mandela. The group said on social media: "As the extermination and starvation of Gaza intensifies, Glasgow must initiate Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. "Inside OUR City Chambers NOW, urging Glasgow Council to remove Israeli military-founded NICE CCTV software." One activist said: 'We need Glasgow council, who have adopted an audible motion to support Palestine, to do much more to enact the measures, and we're here in particular to remind them of our campaign to have Israeli-founded NICE surveillance operations system, that are running the cameras here in Glasgow city centre, taking off our streets. 'It's just disgraceful to think in the middle of this, and it's been run for a long, long time, that these cameras, this software that have been operated by an Israeli company." They added: 'We would remind Glasgow council also of the increasing costs for governments, for everybody to enact, boycott, divestment and sanctions.' A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: 'The Council is asking current contractors to complete a Professional Integrity Certificate. This includes a requirement to confirm that they do not exploit assets in illegal settlements; that they comply with international humanitarian obligations, and have used all reasonable endeavours to ensure that supply chains also comply. 'Once an assessment has been made of the completed response from each contractor, the Council will decide any follow-up action on a case by case basis.'
Business Mayor
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint to buy European rival for $1 billion as it eyes IPO
Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint announced Thursday it will acquire European rival Hornetsecurity for $1 billion to strengthen its European presence as it explores a return to public markets. The deal marks the single largest acquisition in Proofpoint's history. The cybersecurity industry has seen heightened consolidation in recent months, with companies snapping up smaller competitors to bolster their offerings in an era of AI-fueled cybercrime. In March, Google announced a deal to acquire Israeli-founded cloud security startup Wiz for $32 billion, while last month Palo Alto Networks said it was buying AI-focused cyber startup Protect AI. Proofpoint, which is currently owned by private equity giant Thoma Bravo, said the deal to buy Hornetsecurity would help deepen its expertise in the managed service provider (MSP) ecosystem. Headquartered in Hannover, Germany, Hornetsecurity specializes in managed cloud-based email security services to help protect firms from cyberattacks, data loss, and compliance risks associated with Microsoft 365 and other IT infrastructure. Proofpoint CEO Sumit Dhawan told CNBC the deal would help 'consolidate fragmented security tools into a unified platform that protects people and defends data across the global threat landscape.' 'Generative AI has fundamentally changed the threat landscape, enabling faster, more targeted, and more complex attacks,' Dhawan said in an interview. Small and medium-sized firms 'are increasingly in the crosshairs' of hackers and require 'integrated, high-efficacy' solutions, he added. Path to IPO 'It contributes significantly to our earnings and cash flow going forward, which makes us an even stronger company and business as we explore a return to public markets,' he added. Dhawan said that while there is 'nothing new' to share on Proofpoint's IPO plans for now, 'we remain interested in the IPO market and will explore public markets when we feel the time is right.' Hornetsecurity serves more than 125,000 small to medium-sized businesses and has more than 700 employees, according to a press release. Proofpoint has over 4,500 employees and counts 85% of the Fortune 100 as customers. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. READ SOURCE
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mike Waltz's Cabinet Messaging App Goes Dark After Apparent Hack
An encrypted messaging app used by the Trump administration temporarily suspended its operations Monday after suffering a massive hack. TeleMessage, a platform that archives messages sent through apps like Signal, became headline news last week when it was used by recently ousted national security adviser Mike Waltz during a Cabinet meeting. A photo of Waltz's TeleMessage inbox showed threads with Vice President JD Vance, State Secretary Marco Rubio, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard. 'TeleMessage is investigating a recent security incident. Upon detection, we acted quickly to contain it and engaged an external cybersecurity firm to support our investigation,' a company spokesperson told the Daily Beast. 'Out of an abundance of caution, all TeleMessage services have been temporarily suspended.' 404 Media first reported the TeleMessage breach, verifying screenshots and information directly from the hacker. Although the hacker did not obtain messages exchanged by Cabinet members, they gained access to data held by Customs and Border Protection, cryptocurrency firm Coinbase, and financial institutions like Scotiabank, highlighting the risks of adding an archiving feature to secure end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal. 'I would say the whole process took about 15-20 minutes. It wasn't much effort at all,' the hacker told 404Media. 'If I could have found this in less than 30 minutes, then anybody else could too. And who knows how long it's been vulnerable?' A Signal spokesperson told the tech news website that it 'cannot guarantee the privacy or security properties of unofficial versions of Signal.' TeleMessage is an Israeli-founded platform acquired by the U.S. company Smarsh last year. Smarsh says it allows customers in the public and private sectors to archive mobile communications and voice data, 'making them searchable and producible on-demand for audits and investigations.' An archived version of the TeleMessage website, which was scrubbed at the start of the month, says it 'captures & records Signal calls, messages, deletions, including text, multimedia, files.' Signal became the center of controversy in March when The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed in a bombshell report that Waltz accidentally added him to a group chat of high-profile national security officials discussing a military strike in Yemen. Waltz was booted as national security adviser in the wake of the scandal, though President Donald Trump said he would be nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations instead. The White House has repeatedly defended top officials' use of Signal, arguing that it is approved for government use. Trump, however, sang a different tune in a recent interview with Goldberg. 'I think we learned: Maybe don't use Signal, okay?' he told The Atlantic last month. 'If you want to know the truth. I would frankly tell these people not to use Signal, although it's been used by a lot of people. But, whatever it is, whoever has it, whoever owns it, I wouldn't want to use it.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google's Biggest Buy Yet: $32B Wiz Deal Strengthens Cloud Security
Google's parent company, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), just made its biggest acquisition ever, snapping up cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion to boost Google Cloud's security game. This isn't Google's first trya $23 billion bid fell through last year over antitrust concerns. Since then, Wiz's value jumped from $12 billion to $16 billion as it geared up for an IPO. Wiz, an Israeli-founded firm, provides cloud security for tech giants like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). CEO Assaf Rappaport called the deal a rocket boost, saying Google Cloud will speed up its innovation. To ease regulators' worries, Google promised Wiz's security tools will still work on competing platforms, including AWS and Microsoft Azure. But with Google already fighting two antitrust lawsuits, expect some pushback. This move adds to Google's recent cybersecurity buys, including Mandiant ($5.4 billion) and Siemplify ($500 million) in 2022. With Microsoft facing security issues, Google is making a strong play for cloud dominance. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
