Huawei Eyes Buying Israeli Cyber Company HexaTier

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is negotiating the acquisition of Israeli start-up HexaTier, whose technology secures databases in the cloud, industry sources in the two countries said on Tuesday.

The sources, who asked not to be identified, said the deal was expected to go through soon.

Huawei will use HexaTier to set up a research and development centre in Israel for databases in the cloud, the Israeli industry source said.

The negotiations follow a visit by Huawei Chief Executive Officer Ren Zhengfei to Israel several weeks ago. Officials at HexaTier and Huawei declined to comment.

HexaTier, which has 40 employees, has raised $14.5 million from Israeli venture capital funds JVP, Magma and Rhodium.

While its focus in the last year has been on securing information on databases in the cloud, HexaTier also protects databases on premises.