Okta has agreed to acquire Permiso Security, an AI identity security startup, in a deal valued at just under $200 million. The acquisition is structured as an almost all-cash transaction, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Okta did not disclose the terms of the transaction but confirmed the $200 million valuation when asked about the deal. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of Okta’s fiscal 2027, subject to customary closing conditions. Okta’s move reflects a broader industry trend as identity management companies expand beyond traditional user verification to monitor machine identities and AI agents within enterprise networks. Permiso, which emerged from stealth in 2022, has developed tools to detect suspicious activity in cloud environments and recently expanded its platform to monitor AI agents and other machine identities. The startup, co-founded by former FireEye executives Paul Nguyen and Jason Martin, specializes in identifying attacks that exploit stolen or compromised identities to move through cloud infrastructure. In April, Permiso introduced SandyClaw, a platform designed to analyze AI agent behavior in a sandboxed environment to detect malicious activity before deployment. The acquisition strengthens Okta’s focus on securing AI agents and non-human identities alongside its core identity management business. “Permiso will extend Okta’s identity security fabric with proven identity threat detection and response capabilities,” said Ely Kahn, Okta’s chief product officer, in a prepared statement. Permiso has raised about $29 million to date, including an $18.5 million Series A round in April 2024 led by Altimeter Capital. People familiar with the financing said the Series A valued the Palo Alto-based startup at about $80 million on a post-money basis.
Source: techcrunch
