Palo Alto Networks acquired Console for five hundred million dollars in cash and stock on Tuesday. Console was founded in 2024, raised approximately 29 million dollars across seed and Series A rounds led by Thrive Capital, and had a most recent valuation of 157 million dollars before the deal was announced. The exit multiple is approximately 3.2 times the last valuation and seventeen times total capital raised. Console's product automated IT helpdesk functions — password resets, application access grants for tools like Figma and Miro, routine troubleshooting — using AI agents with no human intervention. Customers included Ramp, Flock Safety, and Scale AI. Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora was a personal angel investor in Console before steering his company to acquire it for five hundred million dollars — a governance dimension the deal announcement does not address. Console integrates into Palo Alto's Cortex platform; Arora described it as giving Cortex "the arms and legs to deliver autonomous security outcomes." For Thrive Capital, this is a second major AI exit in weeks following BoxGroup's Cursor return — the fund is establishing a pattern of early AI infrastructure bets that exit to strategic acquirers before the category matures. Serval, the Sequoia-backed competitor in AI-driven IT service automation, becomes the leading independent player in the category now that Console is absorbed.