Palo Alto Networks to Buy Demisto for $560M

Palo Alto Networks will acquire Demisto, a security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) firm, for a total purchase price of $560 million, the two companies announced today.

Demisto, founded in 2015, provides a platform designed to automate and standardize incident response processes. More than 150 customers across healthcare, financial services, high tech, and other industry verticals use its automated playbooks to date.

The company has raised a total of $69M over three rounds of outside funding. Its latest was a Series C round, which raised $43M, on Oct. 10, 2018.

Palo Alto Networks said plans to strengthen Demisto's existing integration with its Application Framework. At the same time, Demisto will continue to execute on its growth plans and leverage Palo Alto Networks' distribution network, the firm said in a statement.

"We have dedicated ourselves to the challenge of automation because we believe that relying on people alone to combat threats will fail against the scale of today's attacks," said Slavik Markovich, Demisto CEO, in a statement. Markovich, along with fellow founders Rishi Bhargava, Dan Sarel, and Guy Rinat, will join Palo Alto Networks as part of the acquisition.

This is the latest acquisition by Palo Alto Networks and its first of 2019, following a string of security-focused deals throughout last year. In March 2018 it bought Evident.io for $300M in an effort to extend its API-based security capabilities and help users secure cloud deployments. The next month it turned its focus to endpoint security with its purchase of Secdo. Oct. 2018 brought a $173M acquisition of RedLock, another buy for cloud security and threat detection.

Its most recent acquisition is slated to close during Palo Alto Networks' fiscal third quarter, following regulatory approval and other closing conditions. Read more details here.

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