JFrog (Nasdaq: FROG) is buying startup Qwak for $230 million in an all-Israeli deal in the field of AI. JFrog is making the acquisition of Qwak's AI platform in order to expand its activities in AI in general and MLOps (maintenance) in particular as well as the management and development of models for machine learning and data banks and code for tech companies.
Qwak's platform enables companies to create, implement, operate and manage AI applications, which reduces infrastructure work required around the development of machine learning models, and allows development and data science teams to concentrate on core work.
The deal has produced swift and handsome profits for Qwak's investors including in the early stage Israeli venture capital funds Stage One and Amiti Ventures. Later investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, which led Qwak's most recent financing round. In total Qwak has raised over $25 million and had a valuation of $64 million at the time of its most recent financing round in March 2023, according to PitchBook. In other words Qwak has quadrupled in value in just 15 months. The company's founders CEO Alon Lev, CPO Ran Romano, CTO Yuval Fernbach, and COO Lior Penso will all benefit from the exit.
Lev said, "Our founding vision for Qwak was to change the way software development teams and Data Scientists work together to bring AI assets into production. With the power of the JFrog Software Supply Chain Platform to deliver secure software components at scale, we’re creating a whole new experience that will pave the way for unified digital delivery teams to bring responsible, secured models into their applications much more simply and predictably."
JFrog cofounder and CEO Shlomi Ben Haim added, "Next-generation Software Supply Chain platforms will need to expand and natively include MLOps solutions to better serve development organizations. We’re excited to combine Qwak’s MLOps solution with our platform to empower our customers' AI journey. Qwak's solution, powered by JFrog Artifactory as the model registry of choice and JFrog Xray for scanning and securing ML models, will enhance user efficiency and provide a unified platform experience for DevOps, DevSecOps, MLOps, and MLSecOps."
JFrog's share price is up 0.65% today at $34, giving a market cap of $3.686 billion. The Israeli company has developed a software supply chain platform for DevOps and software developers.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 25, 2024.
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