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Graphite spyware maker Paragon heads to Nasdaq at a $1.25 billion valuation
Paragon, maker of the Graphite spyware, will go public through a Nasdaq SPAC merger at a $1.25 billion pre-money enterprise value. The price rests on $267 million in revenue, up 29%, earned jointly with REDLattice, a contractor to US defense and government agencies.
The Watch · Security desk
What happened
- REDLattice is the party merging with Nasdaq-listed Bold Eagle Acquisition Corp., and Paragon will trade under the REDLattice name once the deal closes, planned for around year end.
- Graphite, Paragon's flagship product, is a mobile surveillance system designed to infiltrate apps on a phone and collect their data.
- WhatsApp disclosed in January 2025 that Paragon spyware had targeted about 90 of its users, and journalists and rights workers later said Graphite had targeted their devices.
- Paragon was founded in 2019 by Israeli intelligence veterans, among them Ehud Schneerson, a former commander of Unit 8200.
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Why it matters
- contradiction Paragon says its work for democratic governments and its rigorous control mechanisms remain central, yet WhatsApp's disclosure, a month after the AE deal, tied its tool to civil society targets.
- exposure After listing, Graphite's owner has to report in SEC filings, and Roberts said shareholders gain "real levers, from proxy votes to divestment" over how the company behaves.
- constraint Policymakers trying to curb spyware now face a vendor with listed stock to fund growth and acquisitions. Roberts said that for them "this isn't a good sign."
REDLattice, the US half of the business, provides what it calls "lawful intercept" solutions for military, defense and law enforcement agencies [8]. AE Industrial Partners bought Paragon in December 2024 and merged the two [10]. Israel stays the hub for research and development, a condition written into that sale [18]. Goldman Sachs and AE Industrial Partners are advising on the listing [11].
At $1.25 billion, the deal values the combined company at about 4.7 times trailing revenue [1]. Backing out the 29% growth puts revenue for the 12 months to June 2025 near $207 million [2]. The company added roughly $60 million in a year [3].
Those figures describe a contractor that sells to governments, with a spyware maker inside it, growing 29% and drawing a SPAC and a bank to bring it to market [2][1][11]. Neither Calcalist nor The Record splits the revenue between Graphite and REDLattice's other work, or reports it by customer country, so the share that comes from spyware sold to US agencies is unknown. REDLattice's chief executive described the buyers only as government.
"This transaction provides the capital and public market currency to accelerate our organic growth, expand our product portfolio and pursue disciplined M&A across adjacent mission-critical capabilities, while continuing to deliver for our government customers who depend on us every day," REDLattice CEO Andy Boyd said [12].
Paragon plans to use public-company status to expand global operations, spend more on technology, products and artificial intelligence, and make acquisitions, according to Calcalist [13]. Jen Roberts, associate director of the Atlantic Council's Cyber Statecraft Initiative, said the move signals "the spyware vendor's ambition and investor confidence" [14].
What to watch
- The first SEC filings from the combined REDLattice-Paragon company, and whether they report Graphite revenue or customer countries separately.
- Whether the Bold Eagle Acquisition Corp. merger closes around the end of the year, as REDLattice plans.
- Which surveillance or intercept vendors the combined company buys with its listed stock.