Israeli manufacturer Spyware Maker NSO has confirmed to TechCrunch that an American investment team has acquired the company.
NSO spokesman Old Hershowitz told TechCrunch on Friday that “a US investment group has invested tens of millions of dollars in the company and has gained ownership control”.
Confirmation of the Agreement came soon after the Israeli news website Calcalist reported Friday that a team led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds has agreed to buy the monitoring technology manufacturer in a deal estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
Hershowitz refused to determine the investment amount, as well as who are investors.
“This investment does not mean that the company is moving from Israeli regulatory or operational control,” Hershowitz said. “The headquarters and basic businesses of the company remain in Israel. It continues to be fully supervised and regulated by the relevant Israeli authorities, including the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli regulatory framework.”
(After sending the messages, Hershowitz stated his comments “Off the Record”, which requires the two parties to agree on terms in advance. Techcrunch publishes the answers as there was no agreement).
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In 2023, Guardian reported That Simonds and a partner, through their investment company, explored the attempt to take control of the NSO. The agreement was never implemented.
The Calcalist said that under the new deal with Simonds, the co -founder and the NSO executive chairman will end Omri Lavie’s involvement with the manufacturer Spyware.
Lavie did not comment right away when she came into contact with TechCrunch. Neither Simonds nor Hollywood’s company Stx Entertainment responded to our comment request.
By US ban on US property
The NSO Group has been immersed in a dispute since its beginning.
Researchers of the Digital Rights Group from the Citizens’ Laboratory of the University of Toronto, Amnesty International and others, have documented dozens of cases for years Where NSO’s government clients targeted and lost journalists, dissidents and human rights defenders in Hungary, India, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
The NSO has long claimed that its spyware is designed to avoid target US phone numbers, which may avoid harm its chances of entering the US market. But the company caught in 2021 About twelve US government officials abroad.
Shortly afterwards, the US Trade Department forbade US companies from negotiating with the NSO by placing Spyware manufacturer on the US entity list. Since then, NSO has Tried to get off the US government’s list, Just in May 2025, with The help of a pressure exercise business tied to Trump’s administration.
John Scott-Rilton, a senior researcher in the citizens’ laboratory, who helped investigate NSO’s Spyware abuses for a decade, told TechCrunch that he was worried about the acquisition.
“The NSO is a company with a long history going against US interests and supporting the piracy of US officials. In what world can such a person trust a company like a company like the NSO Group?” said Scott-Rilton, referring to Simonds.
“Going further, my real concern is that NSO has strongly tried to enter the United States and sell their product to US police forces in US cities. This dictator technology does not belong anywhere near Americans or constitutionally protect[ed] rights or freedoms. ”
NSO’s ownership has exchanged hands before.
Originally founded by Niv Karmi, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, NSO Group was acquired by the US Private Shares Company Francisco Partners in 2014. Lavie and Hulio Repeat the control of the company In 2019 with the help of the European Society of Private Shares Novalpina. Then, in 2021, the Berkeley research team based in California took over the management of the Fund. In 2023, Lavie review of NSO as a majority owner.
