Israel’s Argus Cyber Security Acquired for $430M

The Tel Aviv based smart car startup will become part of Continental’s EB software company.

As reported in Globes:

German tire and advanced car components company Continental has acquired Israeli smart car technology startup Argus Cyber Security. No financial details about the deal were disclosed but market sources say that the acquisition was for $430 million.

Announcing the acquisition today, Continental said that, “In order to further strengthen and enhance its capabilities in automotive cyber security, the technology company Continental is acquiring Argus Cyber Security, one of the global leaders in this domain.”

Argus had four founders, including three graduates of IDF Intelligence Unit 8200: CEO Ofer Ben-Noon, VP R&D Oron Lavi, and CTO Yaron Galula. The fourth founder is Zohar Zisapel, one of the founding fathers of Israeli high tech. The company, which was founded in 2013, currently has 70 employees, mostly in Tel Aviv. According to the IVC database, the company has raised $30 million since it was founded. Investors in the Argus include founder Zohar Zisapel, Gil Agmon from Delek Motors, and Vertex Venture Capital (7%) and Magma Venture Partners (12%). Car part supplier Magma has an 8% stake in the company.

“Only secure mobility is intelligent mobility. With the acquisition of Argus Cyber Security we are enhancing our abilities to directly develop and offer solutions and services with some of the world’s leading automotive cyber security experts to our customers around the globe in order to truly make mobility more intelligent and secure,” said Helmut Matschi, member of the Executive Board at Continental and head of the Interior division.

This latest acquisition means that more than $1 billion has been invested in Israel auto-tech companies over the past year as well as Intel’s $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye.

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