Why Symantec Acquired Fireglass

So far in this series, we’ve discussed Symantec’s (SYMC) Enterprise Security segment’s performance in the current quarter. To provide a further boost to this segment, Symantec announced the acquisition of Fireglass in early July 2017.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. However, Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported that Symantec bought Fireglass for approximately $250 million.

Citing a Gartner report, Silicon India magazine noted that presently only 5% of enterprises have invested in malware isolation technologies. By 2021, this figure is expected to reach ~50%. Financial institutions, healthcare companies, and telecommunications firms are early adopters of the technology.

Fireglass was founded in 2013 by Guy Guzner and Dan Amiga. Guzner previously served as an executive with Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP). Amiga, the CTO of Fireglass, previously served as a solution architect and senior consultant with the Microsoft (MSFT) Technology Center in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

Investors in Fireglass include Norwest Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Fireglass has raised $20 million in funding to date.