Mossad will invest in tech startups to have a say in development

The Mossad’s new technology investment fund, Libertad, announced today, marks a “new model” for the espionage agency’s acquisition of advanced technology, a top Prime Minister’s Office official tells The Times of Israel.

“It’s a new model we developed that enables the Mossad to pay for technology development and license intellectual property from technology companies,” explains Eli Groner, the director-general of the PMO, who has worked together with the Mossad on the project for over a year.

“Historically, the Mossad has outsourced technologies. What we’re changing today is that we’re no longer just enabling the Mossad to purchase off-the-shelf products, but rather we’re getting the Mossad involved at the early development stage so that it will have more influence and more degrees of freedom with the technology it licenses,” he tells The Times of Israel.

“The Mossad has always been ahead of the curve, from a technological perspective, throughout its history. The fact of the matter is that the future of technology and the future reality is being developed by startup companies around the world, with a real emphasis on Israel,” Groner says.

— Raphael Ahren