Qualcomm buys Israeli co SAM Seamless Network

Israeli cybersecurity company SAM Seamless Network has announced that it has been acquired by US chip giant Qualcomm. “Globes” has learned that the acquisition of the company founded by CEO Sivan Rauscher, and vice-chairman Shmuel Chafets, a partner at the Target Global venture capital fund, is for more than $100 million. As far as is known, the Israeli company has raised $30 million to date with its most recent financing round in 2021, giving it a valuation of $60 million.

Among the company’s seed investors from a decade ago are Blumberg Capital, Mindset Ventures and Spark Labs Group. Later investors include Intel Capital, Verizon Ventures and BlackBerry. The acquisition continues Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon’s tradition of making relatively small acquisitions, sometimes after a lengthy negotiation process. This was the case last year with the acquisition of Israeli company Autotalks for about $80-90 million, after the two originally signed a memorandum of understanding for the acquisition in 2024 for over $300 million.

The new strategy

The Israeli acquisition fits well with the new strategy announced by Amon at the recent Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan: developing processors that allow edge devices, with an emphasis on home and personal devices, to process more information and AI computing operations to ease the computational load on data centers in head offices and to accelerate computing for the end user. To support more data processed on the device side, Qualcomm is seeking to thicken the layer of protection to prevent disruptions and breaches.

The Israeli company provides protection for communication networks on the client side – near homes or in the connection between communication companies and homes. SAM works with Internet providers, communication equipment manufacturers and service providers around the world, providing cybersecurity solutions and improving the user experience for more than 15 million networks and protecting and monitoring half a billion devices worldwide. Customers include US telecom giants AT&T and Verizon, Bezeq in Israel, and European providers such as Belgium’s Telenet and the UK’s Virgin Media. SAM’s cybersecurity technology has been proven in emergency conditions during major geopolitical events, providing real-time protection for users and infrastructure. The company’s solutions allow service providers to identify advanced threats, act proactively, and provide more secure service to their customers. The company has 80 employees in Israel and the US.