Google pays $200 million for Israeli startup

The acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed this year.

By Meir Orbach, Calcalist

Google has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Israel-based cloud storage company Elastifile Ltd., Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian announced in a blog post Tuesday. The acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed this year, Kurian said. Ultimately, Elastifile is set to join Google Cloud.

The companies did not provide financial details but one person familiar with the matter who spoke to Calcalist on condition of anonymity said the deal is valued at approximately $200 million.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in central Israel and in Santa Clara, California, Elastifile develops data fabric storage technology for large data centers. The company has raised $74 million in equity to date, from backers including Samsung, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Western Digital, and Cisco Investments, according to Pitchbook data.

The company was founded by veteran Israeli entrepreneurs, among them CEO Amir Aharoni, who founded Nasdaq-listed real estate company Optibase Ltd. and adtech company Mobixell Networks, Inc.; Chief Technology Officer Shahar Frank, who co-founded XtremIO, acquired by EMC Corporation for $430 million in 2012; and Roni Luxenburg, who served in an executive role in software company Red Hat, bought by International Business Machines for $34 billion in 2018.