The Start-Up Nation never rests. Several Israeli companies announced exit plans over the weekend. Epsagon, whose platform helps teams visualize their service architecture, was acquired by Cisco Systems for an estimated $500 million.
Epsagon was founded in 2017 and has raised about $30m. in three funding rounds. The company was in the midst of trying to raise another round of funding at a $200m. valuation when Cisco made its offer, according to reports in the Hebrew press.
The global networking technology giant said Epsagon’s solution will complement its existing enterprise tools.“Named by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Performance Analysis with expertise in distributed tracing solutions for modern applications and technologies, including containers and serverless environments, Epsagon will play a key role in expanding and accelerating Cisco’s comprehensive Full-Stack Observability roadmap,” Cisco said in a press release. The 60 members of Epsagon’s team will join Cisco’s Strategy, Incubation and Applications Group, it said.
Meanwhile, Herzliya-based Otonomo Technologies has completed its SPAC merger with Software Acquisition Group Inc. II. The company will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Monday as Otonomo Technologies under the ticker symbol OTMO, it said in a press release.
The deal was completed at a company valuation of $1.26 billion, which the company will use to fund growth, accelerate its go-to-market strategy and reach new markets, it said.
Otonomo processes huge data sets every day from 40 million cars worldwide, which can be used for emergency services, mapping, EV management, subscription-based services, parking, predictive maintenance, insurance, media, in-vehicle services, traffic management and smart-city solutions.
Separately, Memic Innovative Surgery has agreed to a SPAC merger with MedTech Acquisition Corporation, with the intention of listing its shares on the Nasdaq by the fourth quarter of 2021.
The company is dedicated to transforming surgery with its proprietary surgical robotic technology, it said in a press release. Its FDA-approved Hominis robot can conduct transvaginal techniques that were previously unfeasible, fulfilling a significant unmet need in women’s health, it said.
Following the merger, the company has an equity valuation of more than $1b. and approximately $360m. in cash, to fund the business through its investment phase, it said.
An SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, is a shell company with no assets that is created and floated on the market and later get filled in by merging with an existing corporation. This method allows a company to go public quickly, while skipping a lot of the heavy bureaucracy that goes into filing for an IPO. SPACs have existed for decades on the shady fringes of the market, but the ease of using them has made them one of the hottest stock trends of recent years.