Palo Alto Networks paid $500M for Thrive-backed Console, sources say

Palo Alto Networks paid $500 million in money and inventory to amass Console, a two-year-old startup that makes use of AI brokers to automate routine IT assist desk duties, in response to two folks with data of the deal.

The businesses formally announced the acquisition on Tuesday however didn’t reveal phrases of the deal. Since its founding in 2024, Console has raised $29 million throughout two rounds: a $6.2 million seed led by Thrive Capital and a $23 million Collection A co-led by DST World and Thrive.

Earlier than the sale, Console was valued at $157 million, in response to PitchBook, delivering a speedy return for buyers together with SV Angel, Summary Ventures, and notably Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, who participated as an angel investor. Palo Alto Networks declined to remark.

The cybersecurity big stated that it’ll combine Console into Cortex, its platform that makes use of AI to robotically detect and neutralize threats. Console’s agentic performance will enable safety groups to research and resolve alerts utilizing pure language, giving Cortex “the legs and arms to ship autonomous safety outcomes throughout your entire enterprise,” as Arora described in an announcement.

Console was based by Andrei Serban, coming shortly after his earlier startup — code-security platform Fuzzbuzz — was acquired by Rippling. The startup, whose prospects included Ramp, Flock Security, and Scale AI, automated duties like password resets, granted entry to apps like Figma and Miro, and carried out routine troubleshooting with out direct human involvement.

As a startup, Console competed primarily with Serval, one other ServiceNow challenger that hit a $1 billion valuation after elevating a $75 million Collection B spherical led by Sequoia final December. Serval began as an AI tech help software and shortly expanded to offer AI help for human assets, authorized, and finance departments. Console’s acquisition leaves Serval because the category-leader-to-watch amongst startups automating IT service administration, one investor, who isn’t a backer of Serval, instructed TechCrunch.

Console is Palo Alto Networks’ seventh acquisition in 2026, in response to PitchBook. Different VC-backed corporations scooped up by the cybersecurity behemoth this 12 months embody Greylock and Lux Capital-backed observability platform Chronosphere, at a valuation of $3.35 billion, and Koi, a cyber startup backed by Battery and Team8, for $400 million.