CrowdStrike Acquires Intellectual Property of Former Israeli Cyber Startup XM Cyber

Five years after its $700 million sale, the intellectual property of Israeli cybersecurity startup XM Cyber has been acquired by American cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike. The exact purchase price was not disclosed, as such deals typically involve relatively low sums. CrowdStrike, traded on the New York Stock Exchange with a market value of $207 billion, is the second-largest cybersecurity company after Palo Alto Networks, valued near $290 billion.

Founded in 2016 by former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo alongside Noam Erez, Boaz Gorodiski, and businessman Shaul Shani, XM Cyber developed technology for simulating cyberattacks and identifying attack paths. The company raised $48 million before its 2021 sale, which yielded a rapid and substantial return for founders and early investors.

The previous owner, Germany's Schwarz Group, a major retail network that attempted to expand into cloud and digital sectors during the tech boom, apparently failed to leverage XM Cyber's technology effectively. This underperformance led to the sale of XM Cyber's codebase and 45 patents to CrowdStrike. However, the deal does not include XM Cyber's revenues or customer base. CrowdStrike will license the technology, allowing the Israeli startup's legacy to continue under its umbrella.