Palo Alto Networks said to be close to acquiring Israeli cybersecurity startups for $1B
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Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) is reportedly close to acquiring two cybersecurity startups based in Israel for close to $1B.
The Nikesh Arora-led company is in talks to acquire Talon Cyber Security for between $600M and $700M and Dig Security for between $300M and $400M, TechCrunch reported, citing multiple sources.
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) did not respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha outside normal business hours.
Talon Cyber Security, which is based in Tel Aviv, has created a browser for enterprises that is geared towards distributed workforces. Conversely, Dig Security, which is also based in Tel Aviv, specializes in securing data on public clouds.
The news outlet added that Talon has raised roughly $143M from venture investors while Dig has raised approximately $45M and that Palo Alto (PANW) was proactive in approaching the companies.
News of the potential acquisitions comes just days after Cisco (CSCO) announced its intention to acquire Splunk (SPLK) for $28B in cash.
Following Cisco's announcement, which took many by surprise, several Wall Street analysts speculated that surprise deal could usher in a "tidal wave" of mergers and that it was a shot across the bow at other cybersecurity companies, like Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Checkpoint (CHKP), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Microsoft (MSFT) and Zscaler (ZS).
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) shares were fractionally higher in pre-market trading on Wednesday and are up more than 60% year-to-date.

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