CrowdStrike in talks to buy Orion for $500 million, Salesforce buys Loops, and Freshworks buys Torii

Noa CrowdStrike is in advanced talks to buy Israeli data security startup Orion for about $500 million, Calcalist reports. Orion was founded in 2024.

Eli And it was not the only Israeli deal of the day. Salesforce and Freshworks both signed acquisitions of Israeli companies on Monday.

Noa Good morning, it's Tuesday, the thirteenth of October. I'm Noa.

Eli And I'm Eli.

Noa Today, CrowdStrike's next Israeli target, Salesforce buys Loops, Freshworks buys Torii, CVC takes a large stake in camouflage maker Fibrotex, and Microsoft cuts jobs in Israel.

Noa Let's start with CrowdStrike. Calcalist has learned that the US cybersecurity company is in advanced negotiations to buy Orion Security for approximately $500 million. It stresses that no deal has been completed yet.

Eli Orion's platform uses AI agents to protect sensitive company data. It looks at the context of how information moves, who is moving it, and why. The pitch is to replace traditional data loss prevention tools, which rely on rules set by hand and produce a lot of false alarms.

Noa It is a small company. CTech says Orion employs about 20 people in Israel and New York. Chief executive Nitay Milner was a product leader at Epsagon, which Cisco bought, and chief technology officer Jonathan Kreiner headed application security at WalkMe.

Eli Orion has raised $38 million in total, including a $32 million Series A in February led by Norwest Venture Partners, with IBM taking part. So a price near $500 million would be roughly thirteen times what it has raised.

Noa And it would be one more Israeli purchase for CrowdStrike.

Eli According to CTech, CrowdStrike agreed in January to buy browser security startup Seraphic, in a deal Calcalist estimated at about $400 million. Before that came Adaptive Shield, Flow Security and Bionic. And in July it agreed to buy the technology and patents of XM Cyber, though not its operating business.

Noa Next, Salesforce. It has signed a definitive agreement to buy Loops, an Israeli AI company, Globes reports. The price was not disclosed, but CTech estimates it at about $30 million. Loops will join Salesforce's Tableau data analysis division.

Eli Loops was founded in 2020 by chief executive Tom Laufer and chief technology officer Ido Adiv, and has raised $14 million. Its software watches a company's key numbers, like revenue or customer retention, spots changes, and tries to explain why they happened and what to do next.

Noa Globes counts this as Salesforce's tenth acquisition in Israel, and Maariv says it is the fourth in two years.

Eli CTech lists the big ones. Own, for about $1.9 billion in 2024. The rest of Zoomin for about $344 million that same year. And Doti last year, for about $100 million. The Loops deal is expected to close in early November.

Noa Also on Monday, US software company Freshworks signed a definitive agreement to buy Torii, CTech reports. Terms were not disclosed, and CTech describes the deal as relatively small.

Eli Torii, founded in 2017, helps companies see which software and cloud services employees actually use, manage licenses and cut costs. Its newer selling point is AI spending. It tracks AI use down to the token, assigns the cost to teams, and forecasts what is coming.

Noa Freshworks will fold it into Freshservice, its IT service management platform. Chief executive Dennis Woodside said that with Torii, finance and IT can stop reconciling spreadsheets and start making decisions together.

Eli Torii raised $65 million, most of it in a $50 million Series B led by Tiger Global in 2022. In 2023 it laid off about 30 percent of its staff after missing revenue targets. The deal is expected to close in Freshworks' fourth quarter.

Noa Now a large defense deal. Investment firm CVC is buying a 40 percent stake in Fibrotex, a Petah Tikva company that makes camouflage for armies and special forces. Calcalist puts the price at approximately $350 million.

Eli The Blum family, which owns all of Fibrotex today, keeps 60 percent and control. Its camouflage is designed to hide soldiers, vehicles and command posts not just from the eye, but from thermal cameras, night vision and radar.

Noa The Financial Times, as reported by European Business Magazine, gives a different figure, about 250 million euros. It also says CVC told its fund investors but made no public announcement, and described Fibrotex as an international business without naming its Israeli headquarters.

Eli After the FT asked, CVC confirmed that Fibrotex's main operations are in Israel and the US. Calcalist cites market estimates of $130 to $150 million in revenue last year, with most sales going to the US military.

Noa And Microsoft is cutting jobs in Israel. Ynetnews reports that Microsoft Israel R&D has called about 50 employees in its Copilot Studio group to pre-dismissal hearings. Estimates suggest about half will keep their jobs.

Eli Copilot Studio is Microsoft's platform for building AI agents, and Ynetnews says the cuts come from a global restructuring. Microsoft employs about 3,000 R&D workers in Israel, and the center is changing leaders, with Ohad Yassin replacing Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk.

Noa Microsoft told Calcalist it keeps reviewing its structure, and that it will support affected employees with sensitivity, respect and care.

Noa Now the quick round-up.

Eli Bank Leumi and new investment house Aspire are setting up a joint trust company to manage employee shares and options, CTech reports. Leumi will own 51 percent. CTech says Israeli high-tech employees realized $25 billion from equity in 2025.

Noa Ynetnews reports on Aliyah Ventures, a new Tel Aviv pre-seed fund that backs only recent immigrants. Founded by former McKinsey executive Ron Alpar, it has completed a first close and typically invests $250,000 to $500,000 per startup.

Eli And Ondas and Palantir are setting up Regna AI, a company building AI models that run inside government and defense customers' own systems, CTech reports. Ondas, which employs about 1,000 people in Israel, will own it at first and be its first customer.

Eli What to watch: whether CrowdStrike and Orion sign. Calcalist says the talks are advanced but not done. A signed deal would come about two years after Orion was founded, and would add to the Seraphic and XM Cyber deals CrowdStrike already struck in Israel this year.

Eli Follow Israel Tech Daily wherever you get your podcasts, and read more at startuptofollow.com.

Noa See you tomorrow morning.