LevelBlue, a company that offers managed security services, has decided to buy Cybereason — a cybersecurity firm that was once worth more than $3 billion but has recently faced challenges.
The deal, announced on Tuesday, will combine LevelBlue’s AI-based security monitoring and response services with Cybereason’s advanced security platform, digital investigation tools, and incident response services.
The financial details of the deal haven’t been shared, but it is believed to be a stock-based agreement. After the deal, SoftBank Corp., SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Liberty Strategic Capital will become investors in LevelBlue. Steven Mnuchin, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary and head of Liberty Strategic Capital, will also join LevelBlue’s board of directors.
This announcement comes after several tough years for Cybereason, which faced internal issues, layoffs, and a major drop in its company value.
Cybereason was founded in 2012 by Lior Div, Yonatan Striem-Amit, and Yossi Naar. It was once considered one of Israel’s most promising cybersecurity companies, but after expanding too quickly and failing to launch its IPO, the company fell into serious trouble.
Earlier this year, Cybereason received an emergency investment of $120 million from SoftBank and Liberty Strategic Capital to keep the company running. This funding came during a tough time marked by internal disagreements and a lawsuit from former CEO Eric Gan. He claimed that the company’s biggest investors blocked other funding options so they could take more control.
In earlier years, especially in 2019 and 2021, Cybereason had raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors and was growing rapidly.
At its peak in July 2021, the company was valued at around $3 billion — one of the highest in Israel’s cybersecurity industry. But within just a year, that value dropped sharply to about $300 million.
In 2022–2023, Cybereason faced tough times, similar to many other companies, after the IPO market shut down. This made it difficult for the company to raise new funds and continue growing.
Between 2022 and 2024, Cybereason went through three major rounds of layoffs. In June 2022, it let go of about 100 employees (6% of its staff). In October 2022, another 200 employees (17%) were laid off, including 50 in Israel. Then, in March 2024 the company cut several dozen more jobs as part of a major restructuring.
“The addition of Cybereason is a strategic leap forward in our mission to become the most complete cybersecurity partner,” said Bob McCullen, LevelBlue’s chairman and CEO. “By combining Cybereason’s world-class XDR and DFIR capabilities with our AI-powered MDR and incident response, we can deliver unified protection that’s proactive, scalable and purpose-built for today’s fast-evolving threats.”
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