Porticor

In 2010, the cloud was ascending, but a critical question lingered: how do you keep data secure? Three founders in Israel, Gilad Parann-Nissany, Yaron Sheffer, and Ariel Dan, decided to tackle this problem head-on. They started Porticor, a company focused on a very specific, and very difficult, challenge in cloud security – key management. Their core idea was that you shouldn't have to trust your cloud provider with your encryption keys. Porticor developed a system using patented split-key and homomorphic encryption technologies. This meant that a customer's master encryption key was never fully exposed, not even to Porticor itself, and remained encrypted even while in use. This approach allowed businesses in sensitive industries to move their data to the cloud with greater confidence. After raising a total of $3.5 million over two funding rounds from investors like Glilot Capital and Ibex Investors, the company was gaining traction. Their innovation caught the eye of a major player. In February 2015, the software giant Intuit announced it was acquiring Porticor for a sum reported to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Intuit's goal was to leverage Porticor's advanced encryption and key management to bolster security across its own suite of products, particularly in combating online tax fraud. For the founders and their team, it was a swift and successful exit, proving that solving a highly technical and crucial problem could unlock significant value.