Microsoft will acquire CyberX, a Boston-area cybersecurity startup that helps companies protect their IoT devices and networks. The deal will enhance Microsoft’s Azure IoT security product.
“With CyberX, customers can see a digital map of thousands of devices across a factory floor or within a building and gather information about their asset profile and vulnerabilities,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post. “Gaining this visibility is not only critical for understanding where security risks may exist and then mitigating those risks, but it is also a fundamental step to securely enable smart manufacturing, smart grid and other digitization use cases across production facilities and the supply chain.”
TechCrunch pegged the deal at around $165 million.
Omer Schneider and Nir Giller founded CyberX in 2013 after stints with the Israeli Defense Forces’ elite cyber unit. The company raised nearly $50 million from investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Flint Capital, Glilot Capital Partners, Inven Capital, and OurCrowd. Customers include Qualcomm, NEC, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and others.
“We’ve grown from zero customers and an MVP to having the world’s largest enterprises adopt our IoT/OT security platform to secure their facilities worldwide,” the founders wrote in a blog post. “We continue to be driven by a larger sense of purpose to protect the world from adversaries who are threatening the IoT and industrial networks upon which we all depend for safety, health, food, water, energy, transportation, and national defense.”
Microsoft said in 2018 it planned to invest $5 billion in IoT-related initiatives over four years.
