Israeli AI cybersecurity startup valued at $1.1 billion after major funding round
Founded by Shalev Hulio, former CEO of spyware firm NSO, and ex-Austria chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Dream Security looks to protect critical national infrastructure from attacks
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel
Israeli startup Dream Security, which develops software to protect critical national infrastructure sites — like oil, water, and energy facilities — from sophisticated cyber attacks, raised $100 million in its latest funding round, announced Monday, giving the two-year-old company a valuation of $1.1 billion.
Dream Security was co-founded in January 2023 by Shalev Hulio, months after he stepped down as CEO of embattled cyber espionage firm NSO Group, which he co-founded; former chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz; and Gil Dolev, founder and former CEO of Wayout Group, an intelligence-gathering company focused on IoT (Internet of Things) devices.
The new investment was led by US private equity firm Bain Capital Ventures. Other participants in the funding round included Group 11, founded by Israeli-American venture capitalist Dovi Frances; Israeli private equity firm Aleph led by Michael Eisenberg; New York-based private equity investment firm Tru Arrow Partners; and Abu Dhabi-based Tau Capital.
Based in Tel Aviv and with offices in Vienna and Abu Dhabi, the startup said it has built an artificial intelligence-based AI security platform that is designed to “think like both a defender and an attacker” to help industrial companies and governments protect critical infrastructure from both known and emerging generative cyber threats. The platform was designed to outsmart cyber attackers and provide organizations with real-time insights and defense mechanisms to prevent breaches before they materialize.
“Never before has a company been founded with the primary mission of providing national cybersecurity protection for a country or a government,” said Dream CEO Hulio. “We founded Dream to deliver a solution that truly works for nations, specifically because it was designed with their needs in mind.”
Dream said it has generated more than $130 million in annual sales in 2024 by selling its platform to governments and national cybersecurity organizations.
“Sophisticated cyberattacks on our critical infrastructure are increasing in both prevalence and complexity,” said Dream President Kurz. “During my time as prime minister, I saw firsthand how these attacks can cause real human damage, and have the capacity to disrupt society at large.”
“By founding Dream, we are on a mission to empower nations against what is the defining national security concern of our era,” he noted.
Dream said the proceeds of the new funding will be used to advance the development of its cyber language model (CLM), a family of language models specifically trained for cybersecurity operations. The fresh capital will also be invested to support the startup’s expansion into global markets where cyber threats continue to pose significant national security challenges, it said.
“Cybersecurity is no longer just a security challenge; it’s a massive data problem,” Dream said in a statement. “Governments must navigate complex environments that include legacy systems, cloud infrastructure, and hybrid architectures, all while managing vast amounts of security data.”
“At the same time, cyberattacks are becoming more advanced, with attackers leveraging AI to outsmart traditional defenses and exploit blind spots in organizations that lack full visibility into their data and vulnerabilities,” the startup added.
