Shlomo Kramer

Shlomo Kramer has been actively involved with technology all his life. As a youth, he worked on mainframes and sold video games.{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-03/kramer-s-startup-spree-helps-turn-israel-into-cyber-power |title=Kramer's Startup Spree Helps Turn Israel Into Cyber Power |publisher=Bloomberg |date=2014-02-04 |accessdate=2017-04-13}}

Kramer served in the Israel Defense Forces' Unit 8200, a crack cybersecurity and intelligence team whose operations include gathering, analyzing and decrypting data; over the years, the unit has produced many of Israel's top high-tech entrepreneurs.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2016/05/11/inside-israels-secret-startup-machine |title=Inside Israel's Secret Startup Machine |work=Forbes.com |date=2016-05-11 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} After completing his military service, Kramer earned a master's degree in Computer Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University.{{cite web|author=Shlomo Kramer |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/people/1531286-shlomo-kramer |title=Shlomo Kramer, Imperva Inc: Profile & Biography |publisher=Bloomberg |accessdate=2017-04-13}}

Kramer, who has been called "the godfather of Israeli cybersecurity," is a serial high-tech investor and entrepreneur with "a long track record of success".{{cite web|last=Krupkinyesterday |first=Taly |url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.673364 |title=The heart of Israeli cyber, a Check Point brotherhood - Business |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=2015-08-29 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} He founded his first startup during high school in the 1980s along with Ofer Shemtov, and the company was later sold to a software firm.{{Cite web |last=Shulman |first=Sophie |date=2022-01-22 |title=The secondary celebration will not continue. The market of 2021 is over |url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3927663,00.html |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=CTECH |publisher=Calcalist}} In 1993, he co-founded Check Point Software along with Gil Shwed and Marius Nacht;{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemorgan/2016/05/12/check-point-software-technologies-co-founder-launched-to-the-cloud/ |title=Check Point Software Co-Founder Launches Simple Network Security In The Cloud |work=Forbes.com |date=2016-05-12 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} the company introduced the first firewall to the commercial market{{cite web|author=Roy Goldenberg |url=http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-network-security-co-cato-networks-raises-20m-1001076514 |title=Network security co Cato Networks raises $20m |publisher=Globes English |date=2015-10-27 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} and went on to become "a world leader in protecting the information that flows round the Internet, and a flagship of Israel's high-tech industry".{{cite web|author=Tali Tsipori |url=http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-1000872622 |title=Shlomo Kramer to reap some $240m from Trusteer sale |publisher=Globes English |date=2013-08-15 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} Kramer left Check Point in 1998 and used the money from the sale of his stake to strike out on his own as an entrepreneur and investor in numerous startups.{{cite web|last=Cowan |first=Lynn |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204358004577027963971361068 |title=Imperva Jumps in IPO |publisher=WSJ |date=2011-11-09 |accessdate=2017-04-13}}

In 2002, Kramer founded his second startup, WebCohort, renamed Imperva in 2004, together with Mickey Boodaei and Amichai Shulman.{{Cite web |date=December 1, 2002 |orig-date=May 27, 2002 |title=Check Point Software Co-Founder Starts New Security Company - WebCohort, Raises First Round From Accel Partners |url=https://www.imperva.com/company/press_releases/check-point-software-co-founder-starts-new-security-company-webcohort-raises-first-round-from-accel-partners/ |access-date=2023-06-09 |website=Imperva |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Dun's 100 - Imperva |url=https://www.duns100.co.il/en/Imperva |access-date=2023-06-09 |website=DUN'S 100 Site}} Imperva moved away from perimeter defenses such as firewalls and instead deployed its software to protect against hackers and business-data theft by identifying and preventing attacks before they find their way to the inside of an organization.{{cite web|last=Cohen |first=Tova |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-israel-kramer-idUSKCN0VJ138 |title=Firewall pioneer Kramer bets on shift to cloud security |publisher=Reuters |date=2016-02-10 |accessdate=2017-04-13}}

The company's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange raised $90 million, with its shares gaining 33% on its first day of trading on 9 November 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/11/09/imperva-ipo-goes-high-at-90m.html |title=Imperva IPO goes high at $90M |publisher=Silicon Valley Business Journal |date=2011-11-09 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} In 2014, Imperva acquired Skyfence, a cloud security gateway startup in which Kramer was a lead investor, and bought the shares it did not already own in Incapsula, a cloud-based website performance and security service in which it had already invested.{{cite web|last=Krupkinyesterday |first=Taly |url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.573270 |title=Shlomo Kramer's Imperva buys two of his Israeli firms - Business |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=2014-02-09 |accessdate=2017-04-13}} The acquisitions helped Imperva extend its data security strategy throughout the cloud.{{cite web|url=http://www.securityweek.com/imperva-makes-three-acquisitions-unveils-new-cloud-strategy |title=Imperva Makes Three Acquisitions, Unveils New Cloud Strategy |publisher=SecurityWeek.Com |date=2014-02-07 |accessdate=2017-04-13}}

Kramer's belief in the cloud as the next big development in cybersecurity led him to establish Cato Networks in 2015, together with former Imperva colleague Gur Shatz.{{Cite web |last=Orbach |first=Meir |date=2021-10-19 |title=Shlomo Kramer's Cato Networks hits $2.5 billion valuation in $200 million round |url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3920555,00.html |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=CTECH |publisher=Calcalist}} Kramer acted as the Cato Network's CEO since its inception. Cato Networks' software integrates all the elements of an organization's network – including branch locations, data centers, mobile users and more – into one encrypted network in the cloud. This means the enterprise is no longer tied to an array of location-bound appliances to protect its data.

In addition to co-founding Check Point, Imperva and Cato Networks, Kramer has invested in many companies and startups including Palo Alto Networks, Exabeam, Trusteer, WatchDox and LightCyber, mostly in the field of data security.

• Silicon Wadi
• Science and technology in Israel

{{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Shlomo}}

Category:Living people

Category:Israeli billionaires

Category:Businesspeople in software

Category:Israeli chief executives

Category:Israeli investors

Category:Israeli Jews

Category:Businesspeople from Tel Aviv

Category:Technology company founders

Category:Israeli company founders

Category:1966 births