Key Takeaways
- Assaf Rappaport and Yevgeny Dibrov met through a mutual friend in the Israeli Defense Forces, bonding over Dibrov’s extraordinary memory skills and ambition.
- Their early collaboration began with Adallom, a cloud‑security startup that Microsoft acquired for $250 million in 2015, establishing a pattern of mutual investment.
- Dibrov co‑founded Armis in 2015 to monitor and secure every connected device on enterprise networks, eventually attracting Insight Partners, which bought a majority stake for ≈$1.1 billion in 2020.
- ServiceNow acquired Armis for $7.75 billion cash in April 2026, marking its largest ever deal and the second‑largest pure‑startup exit in Israeli tech history.
- Despite initial market fears of a “SaaS apocalypse,” ServiceNow’s shares rebounded strongly after the acquisition, driven by the integration of Armis into a new Autonomous Security and Risk unit.
- Dibrov’s relentless work ethic—evidenced by constant espresso flights, personal customer rescues, and funding rounds from a hospital hallway—has become a hallmark of his leadership style.
- While Dibrov remains uninterested in assimilating fully into ServiceNow’s corporate culture, observers see him as a potential future CEO, though no formal succession talks have occurred.
Early Connection and Mutual Inspiration
In 2007, 24‑year‑old Assaf Rappaport, an rising officer in Unit 81 of the Israeli Defense Forces, was repeatedly urged by a friend to meet a fellow soldier, 19‑year‑old Yevgeny Dibrov. The friend highlighted Dibrov’s surprising achievement: he had placed second in Israel’s national Bible trivia championship, a feat requiring massive rote memorization, despite being non‑religious. Intrigued, Rappaport called Dibrov, and their conversation quickly revealed shared ambitions beyond military duties. By the end of the call, Rappaport knew he wanted Dibrov in his command, setting the stage for a partnership that would later shape two major cybersecurity exits.
Mentorship in Unit 81 and Shared Intellectual Curiosity
After Dibrov joined Rappaport’s unit, the commander became his direct superior. Each morning Dibrov arrived with a copy of TheMarker, Israel’s equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, sparking lively debates that ranged far beyond intelligence and cyber topics into business strategy and economics. Rappaport recalled these exchanges as “terrific discussions and fighting,” noting how they nurtured a mutual respect for analytical rigor and entrepreneurial thinking. This intellectual rapport laid the groundwork for their later ventures, where technical depth would be paired with keen market insight.
From Adallom to Microsoft: First Cybersecurity Venture
In 2012, while Dibrov was still completing his degree at Technion, Rappaport called him with an offer to join a new cybersecurity company he was launching—Adallom. Dibrov agreed to work weekends and devote the rest of his time to the startup, helping design a product that monitored user behavior in cloud applications to spot anomalous activity. Despite lacking formal sales training, Dibrov led business development across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Microsoft recognized the technology’s value and acquired Adallom in 2015 for $250 million, giving both founders their first major financial win and validating their approach to behavior‑based security.
Bootstrapping Armis: Early Funding and Vision
After leaving Microsoft in December 2015, Dibrov asked Rappaport for one condition: the right to be Rappaport’s first investor in his next venture. Rappaport agreed, provided the arrangement ran both ways. He wrote Dibrov a $100,000 check for Armis; years later, when Rappaport founded Wiz, Dibrov reciprocated with the same amount. Armis’s inaugural round in January 2016 was modest—$5 million at an $11 million post‑money valuation—reflecting the scrappy, early‑stage ethos of Israel’s startup scene. Founders hustled conference floors, pitching executives fresh off stage, and operated without a formal term sheet, a reality that today would draw laughter from seasoned investors.
Scaling Up: Insight Partners Investment and Operational Autonomy
Armis steadily grew, surpassing $300 million in annual recurring revenue by 2025. In 2020, Insight Partners acquired a controlling stake for roughly $1.1 billion, with CapitalG contributing $100 million and existing shareholders rolling over their shares. Despite the acquisition, Armis continued to operate independently under Dibrov and co‑founder Nadir Izrael, preserving the startup’s agility while benefitting from Insight’s resources and network. When ServiceNow later approached, Insight’s stake was valued at about $3.3 billion—representing 43 % of the company—underscoring the tremendous value created in just a few years.
ServiceNow’s $7.75 Billion Armis Deal Amid SaaS‑Apocalypse Anxiety
News of the Armis acquisition leaked to Bloomberg in mid‑December 2025, causing ServiceNow’s stock to open 9 % lower as investors feared a looming “SaaS apocalypse”—the idea that AI agents would render traditional enterprise software obsolete. By spring 2026, ServiceNow’s shares had fallen as much as 42 %, outperforming peers like Salesforce and Workday in the downturn. However, ServiceNow leadership, led by Chief Product Officer Amit Zavery, rejected the doomsday narrative, viewing the Armis purchase as a strategic opening to unify cybersecurity, IT asset management, and industrial device monitoring under a single platform. The $7.75 billion cash transaction became ServiceNow’s largest ever deal and the second‑largest pure‑startup exit in Israeli history, trailing only Rappaport’s own Wiz acquisition by Google for $32 billion in 2025.
Integration, Autonomous Security and Risk, and ServiceNow’s Resurgence
Post‑acquisition, ServiceNow folded Armis and its sister acquisition, Veza, into a new business unit called Autonomous Security and Risk, crediting both for “supercharging” its security offerings. The move paid off quickly: in May 2026, ServiceNow shares surged 41 %, the best monthly gain since its 2012 IPO, and rose another 8 % in late July after second‑quarter earnings beat estimates. Revenue reached $3.99 billion, up 24 %, while AI‑driven products crossed $1 billion in annual contract value. Zavery affirmed that the Armis deal helped blunt the worst of the SaaS‑apocalypse fears, though he stressed it was one component of a broader strategy that included internal innovation and go‑to‑market execution.
Yevgeny Dibrov’s Personal Drive, Background, and Passions
Dibrov’s personal story fuels his relentless work ethic. He immigrated to Israel from Ukraine at age three, growing up in a household that could not afford a car while neighbors flaunted them—a disparity that still irritates him and motivates him to “work harder and continue.” Today he owns several Italian sports cars and enjoys discussing automotive design, though he reminds himself that humility remains his top value. On the basketball court, he laments the aesthetics of Ferrari’s first electric vehicle before sinking a three‑pointer, his silver‑spackled dark hair styled in a fauxhawk that adds a few inches to his six‑foot frame. Colleagues note his habit of gulping espresso shots—often five or more—while darting between meetings, attending Izrael’s religious wedding via Zoom from a Suburban, and even closing funding rounds from a hospital hallway the day his daughter was born.
Navigating Corporate Leadership: Startup Mindset Inside a Giant
Although Dibrov now oversees roughly 2,000 employees—up from Armis’s 950 at the time of acquisition—he remains openly resistant to assimilating into ServiceNow’s corporate bureaucracy. He insists on direct access to leaders like Amit Zavery and Bill McDermott, bypassing layers when roadblocks appear, and maintains a “startup” attitude that values speed over protocol. Some observers, such as former Israeli NBA player‑turned‑venture‑investor Omri Casspi, speculate that ServiceNow may eventually groom Dibrov for a CEO role, though McDermott’s contract runs through at least 2030 and Dibrov has shown no public interest in the position. Zavery has denied any formal succession talks, emphasizing that the early months have validated the acquisition’s strategic merit.
Legacy and Lessons
The Rappaport‑Dibrov partnership illustrates how complementary strengths—technical brilliance, relentless curiosity, and a willingness to invest in each other—can generate outsized returns across multiple cycles. From their first collaboration in Unit 81, through Adallom’s Microsoft exit, to Armis’s mega‑acquisition by ServiceNow, the duo has repeatedly turned vision into value. Their story also highlights the importance of maintaining founder‑like urgency even within large organizations, balancing aggressive growth with personal well‑being, and leveraging early‑stage scrappiness to build enduring, market‑defining companies. As ServiceNow continues to integrate Armis’s capabilities, the legacy of this partnership serves as a blueprint for future tech leaders navigating the crossroads of innovation, corporate scale, and relentless ambition.