Quick Heal to invest $300,000 in Israeli cybersecurity firm L7 Defense

Pune-based digital security solutions provider Quick Heal Technologies has inked a $300,000 deal to acquire 15,927 shares in a Tel Aviv headquartered startup L7 Defense. 

The all-cash deal, which is expected to be completed by November 2, will be done through automatic overseas direct investment route. The company did not disclose the stake in percentage terms that it will hold in L7 Defense after completion of the transaction.

Through this acquisition, Quick Heal plans to expand its enterprise security solutions platform Seqrite.

“This strategic investment will enable Quick Heal to deliver NG-WAF and API Security to enterprise customers by leveraging L7 Defense's proprietary technology,” said Kailash Katkar, managing director and chief executive officer of Quick Heal in a statement.

L7 Defense specialises in next-generation web application firewall and application program interface security solutions against botnet and distributed denial of service attacks. It provides cybersecurity services through its artificial intelligence-based platform Ammune. 

The startup has posted five-fold revenue growth to $60,000 in financial year 2017-18.

 Through this acquisition, Quick Heal plans to expand its enterprise security solutions platform Seqrite. 

Launched in 2015 by Quick Heal, Seqrite uses a combination of artificial intelligence, application analysis and technology to provide security solutions to corporate, public sector undertakings and law enforcement agencies. The platform allows entities to conduct a company-wide malware detection check from remotely.

Currently, Seqrite offers endpoint security, threat management, secure web access, enterprise mobility management, full disk encryption and data loss prevention.

Last month, Seqrite won a patent from US intellectual property rights authority for its signatureless behaviour-based virus detection technology, the company said in a separate statement earlier.

In February, Seqrite had developed two cloud-based mobility solutions, MobiSmart and mSuite, for enterprises with bring-your-own devices policy.

Quick Heal claims to have a network of over 25,000 channel partners as on June 30 with sales and marketing activities under its brand names Quick Heal and Seqrite.