Shlomo Kramer

Kramer holds a B.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in computer science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He served in the Israel Defense Forces’ Unit 8200.⁠[1][2]

In 1993 Kramer co-founded Check Point Software Technologies, which pioneered the first commercial firewall. He left Check Point in 1998.⁠[1][2]

In 2002 Kramer co-founded Imperva, which pioneered the web application firewall, and served as its president and CEO until 2014.⁠[1][2]

On August 18, 2014 Imperva announced the appointment of Anthony J. Bettencourt as president and CEO, with Kramer remaining chairman and serving as chief strategy officer. Kramer said, “I look forward to working with Anthony,” and that he was confident Bettencourt “is the right person to lead Imperva on the next stage of growth.”⁠[3]

In 2015 Kramer co-founded Cato Networks with Gur Shatz, a former Imperva colleague, and became its CEO. The company develops a cloud Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform that converges networking and security.⁠[1]

In early 2018 Kramer sold his entire stake in Imperva, for an estimated $90 million.⁠[2]

In June 2025 Cato Networks raised $359 million in a Series G at a valuation of more than $4.8 billion. Kramer said: “With more than 3,500 enterprise customers, consistent hyper-growth, and repetitive and scalable wins against all leading competitors, Cato is a proven and mature business to invest in.”⁠[4]

Before the outbreak of war in Israel in October 2023, Kramer had said Cato would go public in late 2024 or early 2025; as of June 2025 it had not done so.⁠[5]

In February 2026 Cato Networks announced that its 2025 ARR exceeded $350 million, up 43% year over year. Kramer said: “Cato’s mission is to fundamentally simplify and modernize enterprise networking and security, and our growth is a direct reflection of that vision.”⁠[6]

Kramer made early investments in enterprise software companies including Palo Alto NetworksPalo Alto NetworksPalo Alto Networks is an American cybersecurity company that offers network security, cloud security, security operations, identity security, and artificial intelligence security products, and provides threat intelligence, assessment, and incident response services through Unit 42.Open the full entry, Trusteer and Gong. Among his investments, Worklight was acquired by IBMIBMIBM (International Business Machines Corporation) is an American information technology company, renamed in 1924 from the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R).Open the full entry in 2012, Trusteer by IBM in 2013, WatchDox by BlackBerry in 2015 and LightCyber by Palo Alto Networks in 2017. As of November 2020 he was a founding investor and board director of four companies.⁠[1][2]

In an interview with Calcalist, Kramer compared entrepreneurs to professional basketball players who not only want to win but also love to play. He said: “It takes very high stamina, intellectual integrity, and a combination of the ego necessary to found a startup and the humility required to be able to work with other people as a team.”⁠[2]

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