Shlomo Touboul | |
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Born | |
Occupation(s) | Business executive Inventor |
Years active | 1985- |
Known for |
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Website | AirEye |
Shlomo Touboul (Hebrew: שלמה טובול) is an Israeli business executive and inventor who has founded several companies including Finjan[1] and Shany (or Shani) Computers.[2][3] He is currently the President and CEO of Illusive Networks, a startup from the Israel-based incubator, Team8.[4][5]
Touboul's career began in earnest with the founding of Shani (or Shany) Computers in 1985.[3][6] The Israeli company and its California subsidiary were sold to Intel in 1994 for between $15 million and $20 million.[2][6] This sale marked the first time a United States corporation had come to Israel to purchase a startup.[6] He went on to work for Intel as a manager in their Network Management Business Unit.[7][8] In 1996, he founded Finjan Software Inc.[2] The company designed and patented antivirus software and anti-spyware software.[9] In 1996 and 1997, the company received $18 million in investor funding.[10]
In 2000, Touboul left Finjan to start Runway, Israel's first internet incubator, and Runway Telecom Partners, an Israeli telecommunications venture fund co-founded with Alcatel. Alcatel invested $15 million in Runway Telecom in 2001. Also in 2001, Finjan encountered financial difficulties and Touboul returned to the company at the request of investor, David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners.[9][11][12] As CEO of Finjan, Touboul often spoke about the risks of advanced spyware[13] and the security gaps in programs and programming languages like JavaScript.[14] He also invented new technologies, including static and dynamic code behavior analysis and behavior based blocking technology.[15] Touboul invented over 30 patents in the domain of behavior-based Anti Malware introducing an alternative to old signature-based Anti Malware. Touboul helped aggressively market Finjan's proactive defense technology, and McAfee incorporated that technology into their products. Touboul also pushed for more funding.[10][12] Finjan secured $8.5 million in funding from an investor group led by Benchmark Capital Israel, Israel Seed Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners. This brought the total amount of funding to $31.5 million over the course of 6 years.[16] Touboul helped Finjan earn an additional $10 million in funding in 2004 from investors including Cisco Systems, Bessemer Venture Partners, Israel Seed Partners, and Benchmark Capital.[17]
After licensing certain Finjan patents to Microsoft and securing additional $10M investment, Finjan terminated Touboul in July 2005. He started Yoggie Security Systems 3 weeks after his departure from Finjan.[6] This new company designed hardware to solve security issues for individuals using laptops or mobile devices on a public and private networks. The hardware also kept security tasks separate from the computer's main CPU ("off loading"), implementing the first security dedicated coprocessor for networked based computers and devices.[1][9] Touboul invented 8 patents for Yoggie.[18] Among the Yoggie products are the Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico and the Gatekeeper Card.[1][9][19] Within the first year of its operation, Yoggie received $1.8 million in investment funding from investors in Silicon Valley, Israel, and New York City (including Earlybird Venture Capital).[2][9] In total, Touboul helped raise around $18 million in funding for Yoggie, and the company was eventually sold to Norway-based Cupp Computing in 2011.[20]
During 2008-2018, Touboul worked with Finjan and Finjan's holding team to license and enforce Finjan patents and secured over $400M in revenue, e.g Finjan vs. BlueCoat.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Finjan patents survived the highest challenges, including at the supreme court, and are used as case studies in US law universities.
In 2014, Touboul became the CEO of Illusive Networks, a company founded by Ofer Israeli and Israeli incubator, Team8. Illusive Networks received $5 million in Series A funding from Team8 which had a capital investment of $18 million from investors like Google Chairman Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavor, Marker LLC, Cisco, Alcatel, Bessemer Venture Partners, and others. Touboul secured additional $22M from NEA and other investors.[30] The company provides information security by deliberately deceiving hackers and tricking them into collecting and using information that is false. The software provides early detection of attacks and advanced persistent threats. Touboul held the position of CEO at the company until 2017..[4][5][31] In 2022 Illusive was acquired by Proofpoint, a Thoma Bravo company.[32]
In 2017 Touboul invented a family of eSticker patents for distributed eStickers management and control systems.[33][34][35]
In 2018 Touboul founded with Roi Keren and became the CEO of AirEye (former WifiWall).[36] Starting as a consumer-focused IndiGoGo project the company evolved into a corporate cybersecurity provider, protecting against over-the-air attacks. After rebranding as AirEye and the addition of Ohad Plotnik and Amichai Shulman, the company raised $8M from investors like USVP and The Stanford Fund.[37] AirEye, known for developing Network Airspace Control and Protect (NACP) technology, holds several patents in this area. Shlomo Touboul served as CEO until August 2023, succeeded by Tanuj Mohan,[38] with Touboul remaining as a board member. AirEye is recognized as a Gartner Cool Vendor in cybersecurity.[39]
In 2024, Shlomo Touboul founded Spark Israel Innovation[40] with the goal of enhancing companies' innovative capabilities and transforming Israel from a Startup Nation into an Innovation Nation. This initiative aims to bolster the overall innovation landscape, supporting companies in their quest to innovate and grow.