Israeli software firm DriveNets raises $110 mln in 1st funding round

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli networking software company DriveNets said on Thursday it raised $110 million in its first round of financing led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Israel's Pitango Growth, with the participation of several private investors.

The new financing will help the company expand its product portfolio and penetrate new markets, it said.

DriveNets said its software allows communication service providers to handle growing demand without sacrificing profitability. Bringing networking to the cloud can accelerate new service rollouts, it said.

DriveNets was founded in late 2015 by Ido Susan and Hillel Kobrinsky and has been self-funded until now.

It achieved its first major contract in 2017 with a top North American service provider and has since recorded tens of millions of dollars in revenue. The company has 150 employees and plans to expand to 200 by the end of the year.

Susan co-founded Intucell, which was acquired by Cisco for $475 million while Kobrinsky founded Interwise, which was acquired by AT&T for $121 million.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer)