Cyera to acquire Israeli AI startup Oasis Security in $1 billion deal

Israeli-founded data security unicorn Cyera announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to buy local cybersecurity startup Oasis Security in a deal valued at $1 billion.

Cyera said the acquisition will bolster its data security platform by integrating data protection with Oasis’s technology for managing and securing non-human identities, as companies rapidly integrate artificial intelligence agents and autonomous tools into existing software systems and workflows, which increases data leakage and other risks.

Founded in 2022 by Danny Brickman, CEO, and Amit Zimerman, CPO, both veterans of Unit 81 — the Israel Defense Force Intelligence Corps’ Technological Unit that supplies cutting-edge technologies to the security establishment — Oasis was created to build a software platform for managing and securing machine identities.

The platform helps companies discover, manage and control access to their systems from non-human accounts, such as AI agents, as non-human identities will soon outnumber human users, the startup said.

Backed by large venture capital funds Accel, Cyberstarts, Sequoia Capital and Craft Ventures, Oasis has raised more than $195 million in funds to date.

“From day one, we recognized that non-human identities would become one of the key security challenges of the AI ​​era,” said Brickman. “While Cyera redefined data security, we redefined identity governance for the AI ​​age.”

Businesses adopt agentic AI or virtual AI agents into their work processes that act similarly to smart assistants, using reasoning to make real-time decisions and complete complex tasks, such as collating and analyzing vast amounts of data, but with minimal human input.

As part of day-to-day workflows, autonomous AI agents execute commands, modify files and access sensitive company data often without governance, oversight, or identity management. The number of non-human identities among Fortune 500 companies has surged by 480 percent in the last six months alone, Cyera said.

“The old security model was built for humans, not machines, and AI agents are breaking whatever access controls are left,” said Cyera founder Yotam Segev. “The AI ​​era is transforming how organizations protect their data as AI agents are arriving faster than teams can govern them.”

Cyera was founded in 2021 by Segev, CEO, and Tamar Bar-Ilan, CTO, who met during their Israeli army service, during which they built and ran the cloud security division for the IDF’s unit 8200.

Exposed to the challenges of securing data in the cloud, Segev and Bar-Ilan decided after their military service to develop and build a unified data security platform to provide businesses and organizations with a complete view of where their data “lives, how it’s used and how to keep it safe.”

“Every security decision begins with understanding two things: what data needs protection and who, or what, is seeking to access it,” said Segev. “Oasis enables us to unite these two worlds on a single platform, giving organizations the level of control they need to adopt AI securely.”

Cyera, which was last valued at $12 billion, has been on an acquisition spree over the past two years. In May, Cyera announced a deal to buy Israeli AI startup Genie Security after purchasing Israeli startup Ryft in April, and snapping up local startups Otterize and Shape AI in June, and Trail Security in 2024.

Cyera’s data and AI platform is deployed by more than 20% of Fortune 500 companies operating in the areas of financial services, retail, media and entertainment, healthcare, technology and global telecom, the firm said.