Moshe Hogeg founding cyber co with former police chief
Police Commissioner (ret.) David Cohen and former Lahav 433
unit commander Maj. Gen. Roni Ritman will be managing partners in Sirin Cyber.
Israeli blockchain company Sirin Labs is expanding its
activity to cybersecurity. Sources inform "Globes" that Sirin Labs is
founding a subsidiary, Sirin Cyber, for this purpose. Sirin Cyber will focus on
cybersecurity for governments and enterprises. Sirin Labs is controlled by
Moshe Hogeg, owner of the Beitar Jerusalem football club, and founding partner
of venture capital fund Singulariteam.
Sirin Cyber is being founded by Hogeg and his partner,
Kazakh tycoon Kenges Rakishev, in partnership with two former Israel Police
senior commanders: David (Dudi) Cohen, who was Israel Police Commissioner in
2007-2011, and retired Maj. Gen. Roni Ritman, who commanded the Lahav 433 unit
in 2014-2018. Sirin Labs says that Cohen and Ritman, who will be managing
partners in the subsidiary, "will contribute from their management and
professional experience in homeland security and cybersecurity in their
previous positions."
Cohen, 65, finished his term as police commissioner in May
2011. In 2012-2015, he was chairman of energy company Cohen Development Gas
& Oil, controlled by Delek Group controlling shareholder Yitzhak Tshuva.
Cohen's brother, Maj. Gen. Motti Cohen, has been acting police commissioner
since December 2018, following the end of ex-Police Commissioner Roni Alshech's
term.
Ritman, 56, who served in leading positions in Israel Police
for 31 years, resigned from the police in May 2018, four months after being
reprimanded by Alshech. Ritman was suspected of sexually harassing a woman
police officer; his appointment to a new police position was vetoed by Minister
of Public Security Gilad Erdan. Maj. Gen. Yigal Ben-Shalom replaced Ritman as
head of the Lahav 433 unit, responsible for combating serious national and
international crime, public corruption, and organized crime in Israel.
The new company will found a platform for cybersecurity
projects, ventures, and investments. It will also provide services and
solutions for customers from the public and private sectors in Israel and
abroad. The subsidiary is being founded instead of the planned merger of Sirin
Labs with an Israeli cybersecurity company, as reported in "Globes"
last December.
Commenting on the founding of the subsidiary, Sirin Labs
managing partner Rakishev stated, "We set a goal for ourselves to use the
capabilities and know-how that we have developed and acquired over the years in
the information security sector, together with the extensive experience of our
senior partners from the law enforcement system in Israel, to take Sirin a step
further and develop new technologies, with the aim of becoming a leading player
in cybersecurity."
Sirin Labs, which launched the Finney blockchain smartphone
in late 2018, will continue to provide mobile services, and is shortly expected
to launch a new telephone device for enterprises. Among other things, Finney
provides a wallet for digital currencies. Last year, following a major global
slowdown in digital currencies trading and investments, Sirin Labs scaled back
its activity and laid off 35 employees. It now has 25 employees at its offices
in Ramat Gan.
Blockchain company Sirin Labs, founded by Hogeg and Rakishev
in 2013, reported raising $255 million in its first five years in two financing
rounds and an initial coin offering (ICO) in late 2017. The value of SRN, the
digital currency issued by Sirin Labs, has sunk to almost zero since the ICO,
after losing 99% of its peak value in January 2018, according to figures from
the CoinMarketCap website.
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