Cato Networks raises $359M in funding at $4.8B valuation ahead of potential 2025 IPO

Israeli cybersecurity startup Cato Networks has raised $359 million in fresh funding, pushing its valuation past $4.8 billion, the company reported on Monday.

The round, led by Vitruvian Partners and ION Crossover Partners, brings the company’s total raised to over $1 billion. Returning backers Lightspeed Venture Partners and Acrew Capital also joined the round, showing continued confidence in the company’s direction.

Israel Cybersecurity Startup Cato Networks Valued at $4.8B After Raising $359M in Funding

With the new funding, Cato plans to push beyond how most of the industry currently thinks about SASE and AI security. The company is also looking to branch into new use cases and grow the size of the market it serves.

Founded in 2015 by Shlomo Kramer and Gur Shatz, Cato Networks has quietly become one of the standout names in cybersecurity. With this new war chest, it’s clear the company isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

“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,” Shlomo Kramer, co-founder and CEO at Cato Networks, said in a news release. “Our true SASE platform and decade of AI innovation differentiates Cato from legacy vendors that favor a portfolio of point solutions. Customers and partners understand the difference and select Cato to benefit from proven security, operational efficiency, and business agility.”

Cato’s pitch is pretty straightforward: one unified cloud platform that blends security and networking. It’s built around the SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) model, which has been gaining traction among enterprises looking for simpler, more scalable infrastructure. Their setup helps companies prevent threats, protect data, and respond to security incidents—all without relying on a stack of disconnected tools.

The timing of this round isn’t a coincidence. A spike in sophisticated cyberattacks has made companies uneasy, and interest in AI-powered security tools is climbing fast. Cato is leaning into that momentum by doubling down on its AI capabilities and beefing up its R&D budget.

Cato isn’t new to the SASE conversation—they were early movers in combining security and networking into one platform as far back as 2015. When the term “SASE” was formally defined in 2019, Cato’s vision was already aligned with where the market was heading. Since then, the company has spent nearly a decade refining that model, pushing it forward with AI at the core.

The company also plans to grow its global presence, which could hint at bigger ambitions down the road. Reuters reported last year that Cato was gearing up for a possible IPO in 2025.