Sources inform ''Globes'' that intelligence gathering solutions developer NSO Group Technologies Ltd. has been acquired by US private equity fund Francisco Partners LLC for $110-120 million. NSO has raised only a few million dollars, mostly from private investors.
NSO was founded in 2009 by Omri Lavie, Shalev Houlio, and Niv Carmi. The company's technology can monitor communications by parties that intelligence agencies are keeping under surveillance. The advantage of the company's product, Pegasus, is that it is not an app, which a smartphone can identify, but operates beneath the surface to collect data, including conversations, photos, texts, and Internet traffic, but can take control of smartphones to remotely operate the camera to surreptitiously film the surroundings.
NSO's business picked up rapidly. Investors include Genesis Partners managing partner Eddy Shalev. The company's founders, who own 60% it, are the main beneficiaries of the sale.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 19, 2014
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