By David Goodtree

Global Venture Partner, OurCrowd
& Board Member, MassChallenge Israel
& Board Member, NEIBC

The cybersecurity business sectors in Boston and Israel are booming.  Revenue, capital, and employee count are all expanding rapidly, as widely reported.   I knew the two geographies had some connections, but I wondered how deep.   I did some research into the following question:

What is the intersection between Boston and Israel in cybersecurity today?

The answer, it turns out: Quite a lot.

The graphic below is a snapshot of the “Boston-Israel Cybersecurity Ecosystem.”  As you’ll see, the ties are deep and long-standing, with:

  • Dozens of companies
  • Billions in revenue, capitalization, and acquisition value
  • Thousands of employees
  • Benefits to both geographies

For a PDF download of the graphic above, please visit: www.slideshare.net/dgoodtree/boston-israel-cybersecurity.

This impressive list only includes companies and transactions with one foot in Boston and one foot in Israel.   But I think it demonstrates the tight bonds between these two places, and how these ties enhance the success of both.

To dig a little deeper:

  • Akamai, as many know, was co-founded by a MIT PhD candidate from Israel, who is memorialized on the company’s website.  In addition, what you may not know, is that Akamai not only makes the Internet fast, but that the company currently books about $300m in annual revenue providing cybersecurity services, such DDoS protection services, as reported in their most recent quarterly earnings.
  • CyberArk has become of the world’s leading cybersecurity companies, protecting corporations from the threats of insiders.  With its global HQ in Israel, the CEO and team established the US HQ in Newton, MA about a decade ago.  An impressive IPO in 2014 and quarterly results since them make this company a bright light for both Boston and Israel.
  • IBM Security makes its home in Cambridge, MA.  A lot of the growth of this division has been driven by the acquisition of the Israeli-founded companies that also called the Boston-area home:   Trusteer, Guardium, and Watchfire Sanctum.  (IBM acquired these companies for over $1b in total.)  Today, the products of these companies are known as IBM Trusteer, IBM Guardium, and IBM AppScan.
  • RSA, a division of EMC, has its HQ in Massachusetts, and was founded by three MIT researchers, including Adi Shamir (the “S” in RSA) an Israeli cryptographer.   Today, RSA runs its 24×7 global Anti-Fraud Command Center in Herzliya with other significant R&D also occurring there.
  • Cybereason and the other companies shown in the chart are also all founded (or co-founded) by Israelis, and have chosen the Boston area for their global or US HQ.
  • The 13 acquisitions (so far) are important to understand the long-standing nature of the Boston-Israel cybersecurity ecosystem, and its proven ability for company growth and investor returns.

I was motivated to pull this info together in advance of the “Boston Cybersecurity Mission to Israel” later this month.  The participants are a great group of 29 CISOs, VCs, government officials, and other senior executives, including my fellow co-chairs: Udi Mokady of CyberArk, Maria Lewis Kussmaul of AGC Partners, Bill Schnoor of Goodwin Procter, Joel Schwartz of EMC, and Eyal Shavit of Axcessnet.

If you’d like to connect with our delegation in Israel, we welcome you to RSVP and meet us at this event on June 19 in Tel Aviv, featuring our delegation on the topic of “U.S. Cyber View: Making Sense of an Overcrowded Market.”  Hope to see you then.