Cato Networks Ltd., a fast-growing networking and cybersecurity startup, today announced that it has closed a $359 million late-stage investment.

The Series G funding round was led by Vitruvian Partners and ION Crossover Partners with participation from multiple returning backers. Tel Aviv-based Cato is now valued at $4.8 billion. The cash infusion comes four months after the company disclosed that its annual recurring revenue has topped $250 million, a 150% increase from November 2022.

Cato provides a SASE, or secure access service edge, platform that is used by more than 3,500 organizations. The platform provides cloud-based network infrastructure that companies can use to connect remote locations such as offices, data centers and factories. Additionally, Cato offers features for securing the data traffic that flows between those locations.

The platform can block connections between parts of a company’s infrastructure that don’t require the ability to exchange information. That makes it more difficult for malware to spread across the corporate network. The traffic that isn’t blocked, in turn, is scanned for threats using artificial intelligence models built into Cato’s platform.

One of the cybersecurity challenges that the company promises to ease for users is detecting so-called polymorphic malware. Such malware can automatically change its own code, which makes it more difficult to spot. Changing a file’s code modifies its signature, a kind of unique identifier that cybersecurity tools use to detect malicious activity.

According to Cato, its platform can not only spot malware already inside a corporate network but also prevent hackers from gaining access in the first place. One of the tools built into the platform blocks malicious websites that might compromise employee devices. If a user wishes to access a webpage that isn’t blocked but could still pose risks, Cato opens the webpage in a cloud-based container. It then sends a rendering of the page to the user’s browser instead of the original, potentially malicious code.

The platform is powered by a software engine called SPACE that runs on bare-metal servers deployed around the world. Those servers are connected to multiple internet providers’ networks, which Cato uses to process customers’ data traffic. If one component of the company’s infrastructure goes offline, it can automatically reroute requests to another system.

Cato will use its new funding round to extend its feature set. The company plans to roll out additional wide-area networking capabilities, as well as cybersecurity tools for tasks such as protecting connected devices from hacking. In parallel, Cato will grow its customer-facing teams and partner ecosystem.

Chief Executive Shlomo Kramer spoke with theCUBE host John Furrier a few months ago about the evolution of network security:

Photo: Cato Networks