Software services firm Wipro Ltd said on Thursday it has invested $1.5 million (Rs 10 crore) in Israeli cybersecurity startup Intsights Cyber Intelligence Ltd.
Wipro will get a minority stake less than 20% in Intsights, the Indian company said in a stock-exchange filing. The cash deal is likely to be completed this month.
Intsights provides cybersecurity solutions to organisations and claims to specialise in intelligence-driven solutions. The company offers a subscription-based service to detect potential cyberattacks and provide advance warning.
The startup was founded in 2015 by Guy Nizan, Alon Arvatz and Gal Ben David, all former members of Israeli defence forces’ intelligence wing.
The Indian company made the investment in Intsights through Wipro Ventures, its $100 million strategic investment arm.
Wipro's VC arm invests $1-5 million per financing round in early- to mid-stage startups in India, Israel and the US. It invests in areas such as open source, Big Data and analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and security.
Wipro Ventures had in April invested an undisclosed amount in US-based cybersecurity company Vectra Networks Inc. for a minority stake. In March, Wipro Ventures picked up a minority stake in US-based IT security startup Emailage Corporation.
Some of its other portfolio companies are US-based machine-to-machine platform provider Axeda, Silicon Valley-based technology firms Vicarious and Talena, and Pune-based Altizon Systems, which operates a technology platform for developing industrial IoT solutions.
This is also not the first time that a Wipro group company is engaging with an Israeli startup. Earlier this month, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, the business arm of Wipro Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, agreed to buy Israel-based supplier of metallic parts and assemblies to the aerospace industry, H.R. Givon Ltd, in an all-cash deal. In June, Wipro invested an undisclosed sum into Israeli’ venture capital firm TLV Partners.
Wipro’s competitor and India’s second-largest IT firm, Infosys Ltd, has also made a couple of investments in Israeli firms. Earlier this month, Infosys invested $4 million in Israel-based cloud monitoring solutions startup Cloudyn Software Ltd. In December last year, Infosys invested $4 million in CloudEndure, which provides cloud migration and cloud-based disaster recovery software.
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