Deep Instinct Appoints Former Palo Alto CEO and Zscaler COO Lane Bess as CEO

BlackRock leads new $62.5M funding round as the company accelerates growth

Deep Instinct, the first company to apply end-to-end deep learning to cybersecurity, announced that Lane Bess, former Palo Alto Networks CEO and Zscaler COO, is taking over as CEO, effective immediately. As an early investor and then Executive Chair of Deep Instinct’s Board, Bess has intimate knowledge of the company’s mission, innovation strategy, and ongoing operations. Under his leadership, Deep Instinct closed $62.5 million in new financing led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, alongside other existing investors, including Chrysalis Investments, Millennium, and Unbound. The latest investment will accelerate the growth of Deep Instinct as the company further penetrates the market with its disruptive threat-prevention technology.

Bess has more than 35 years of experience in cybersecurity and technology with a proven track record of leading rapidly growing cybersecurity companies. He was formerly CEO of Palo Alto Networks for several years before its IPO. After that, he took on the role as COO of Zscaler where he partnered with founder Jay Chaudhry to lead the rapid scaling of the company up until its successful IPO.

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“Deep Instinct’s deep learning technology uniquely spans the continuum of the enterprise cybersecurity infrastructure, offering the broadest set of unique pre-execution prevention capabilities to address the most advanced cyber threats,” Bess said. “I’m excited about leading the company’s growth and I’m honored that BlackRock is demonstrating continued trust in Deep Instinct by leading our latest investment round.”

“Confronted with ceaseless cyberattacks, Deep Instinct’s deep learning technology is unique in its potential to prevent and protect businesses across the globe from cyber breaches,” said Matthew Singer, Managing Director at BlackRock.

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As part of this leadership change, Guy Caspi, Deep Instinct’s co-founder and former CEO succeeds Lane Bess as Board Chair and is now the company’s Chief Product Officer.

“Seven years ago, we created Deep Instinct to help move our industry beyond its narrow focus on detection and remediation to prevention, which is the most critical factor to help enterprises avoid costly impacts to their businesses. Deep Instinct remains the only cybersecurity company that can leverage deep learning to stop threats before they impact our customers. I am dedicated to changing the world of cybersecurity and making this company an industry game-changer,” said Caspi.