Palo Alto Networks acquires AI help desk startup Console for $500M
The cybersecurity firm bought Console, which automates IT service desk tasks, to integrate its AI agents into its Cortex threat-detection platform.
What happened
Palo Alto Networks acquired Console, a two-year-old startup founded in 2024, for $500 million in cash and stock, the companies announced Tuesday. Console had raised $29 million across two funding rounds, including a $6.2 million seed from Thrive Capital and a $23 million Series A co-led by DST Global and Thrive, and was valued at $157 million before acquisition. The startup's AI agents automate routine IT help desk tasks such as password resets, app access provisioning for tools like Figma and Miro, and troubleshooting without human intervention. Console founder Andrei Serban built the company shortly after his previous startup, code-security platform Fuzzbuzz, was acquired by Rippling. Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora participated as an angel investor in Console's funding rounds and will integrate the technology into Cortex, the company's AI-powered threat-detection platform.
Context
Palo Alto Networks intends to use Console's agentic capabilities to enable security teams to investigate and resolve alerts using natural language, positioning the addition as enabling 'autonomous security outcomes across the entire enterprise.' This acquisition represents Palo Alto Networks' seventh acquisition in 2026 and follows its purchases of Chronosphere (valued at $3.35 billion) and Koi (for $400 million). Console's automation of IT service management tasks places it in a competitive category dominated by Serval, another ServiceNow challenger that reached a $1 billion valuation after raising $75 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia in December 2025. Console's acquisition removes one of the primary competitors in this emerging automation category, leaving Serval as the leading independent startup in the space.