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

Palo Alto Networks has bought Console for $500 million in cash and stock, according to two people familiar with the deal. The companies confirmed the acquisition on Tuesday, but kept the price quiet. Now the number is out, and it puts a sharp valuation on a startup that only launched in 2024.

Console built AI agents to handle routine IT help desk work. That meant things like password resets, access to apps such as Figma and Miro, and basic troubleshooting without a human sitting in the loop. Its customers included Ramp, Flock Safety and Scale AI. Palo Alto says the software will be folded into Cortex, its platform for automatically detecting and stopping threats.

The money looks especially brisk when stacked against Console’s brief life as a startup. It raised $29 million across two rounds: a $6.2 million seed led by Thrive Capital and a $23 million Series A co-led by DST Global and Thrive. Before the sale, PitchBook had the company valued at $157 million. That means the exit handed investors a fast win, including SV Angel, Abstract Ventures and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, who had backed the company as an angel.

And Palo Alto is clearly still buying. PitchBook says Console is its seventh acquisition in 2026. Earlier purchases this year included Chronosphere, the observability platform backed by Greylock and Lux Capital, at a $3.35 billion valuation, and Koi, a cyber startup backed by Battery and Team8, for $400 million. The pattern is hard to miss: the big security players are scooping up the tools that promise to make enterprise work more automatic, then folding them into larger platforms with much louder sales teams.