Cato Networks

Cato Networks was founded in 2015 by Shlomo Kramer and Gur Shatz. Kramer had previously co-founded Check Point Software Technologies and Imperva; Shatz had been director of product development, vice president of engineering and vice president of products at Imperva, and co-founder and CEO of Incapsula, a cloud-based web application security and acceleration company.⁠[1]

The company converges networking and security in the cloud, an approach later aligned with Gartner’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework.⁠[1]

In 2019 Lightspeed Venture PartnersLightspeed Venture PartnersLightspeed Venture Partners backs companies from seed through late-stage financing. Its website distinguishes Lightspeed Management Company (LSVP) from Lightspeed India Partners (LSIP): the two are separately operated investment advisers, with the U.S., European, and Israeli offices belonging to LSVP and the India and Southeast Asia offices belonging to LSIP.Open the full entry invested in Cato Networks’ Series C. That year the analyst community defined the term “SASE.”⁠[2][3]

In 2020 Cato Networks raised $130 million and became a unicorn.⁠[4]

Cato Networks’ annual recurring revenue grew from $100 million at the end of 2022 to $250 million at the end of 2024, rising 46% year over year in 2024.⁠[4][3]

On June 30, 2025 Cato Networks announced a $359 million Series G led by new investors Vitruvian PartnersVitruvian PartnersVitruvian Partners is an international private equity firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 2006, it focuses on growth buyouts and growth capital investments in “Dynamic Situations,” investing mainly in asset-light, high-growth middle-market companies, and between 2008 and 2024 it raised five funds in its Vitruvian Investment Partnership series.Open the full entry and ION Crossover Partners, with existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Acrew Capital and Adams Street Partners. The round valued the company at more than $4.8 billion and brought total funding to more than $1 billion; its previous round had valued it at $3 billion.⁠[3][4]

At the time the company had more than 3,500 enterprise customers and about 1,400 employees, around 700 of them at the Landmark Tower in Tel Aviv. It said it would use the funds for AI security capabilities, research and development and its partner ecosystem, and that it was prepared to become a public company when timing and market conditions were right.⁠[3][4]

In 2025 Cato Networks announced the acquisition of AI security company Aim Security and said its Series G funding, including the initial round and an extension, totaled $409 million at a valuation of more than $4.8 billion. That year it was named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SASE Platforms for the second consecutive year, announced a multi-year partnership with the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, and said its research and development center in Prague would triple in size over the next year.⁠[5]

On February 24, 2026 Cato Networks announced that its 2025 annual recurring revenue exceeded $350 million, up 43% year over year. In 2025 it appointed Karl Soderlund as global channel chief, and in January 2026 it named Jaime Romero chief marketing officer.⁠[5]

As of November 2026 Cato Networks’ website listed its board as including co-founder and CEO Shlomo Kramer, co-founder Gur Shatz, chairman Eyal Waldman, Yoni Cheifetz and Ravi Mhatre of Lightspeed Venture Partners, Jerry Chen of Greylock, Theresia Gouw of Acrew Capital, Steven Krausz of USVP, Gili Iohan of ION Crossover Partners and independent director Ronen Faier. Its listed investors included Aspect Ventures, Greylock, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Singtel Innov8, USVP, CoatueCoatueCoatue is a technology- and innovation-focused investment management firm founded by Philippe Laffont in 1999, operating in both public and private markets. Its current website lists Thomas Laffont as co-founder and chief investment officer of private investments; a Form ADV filed on July 29, 2026, disclosed regulatory assets under management of $92,705,722,582.Open the full entry, Adams Street Partners and Sixty Degree Capital.⁠[1]

Cato Networks: Official website: https://www.catonetworks.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

X: Public account: https://x.com/CatoNetworks (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cato-networks/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]