Cyberstarts is an Israel-based venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on early-stage cybersecurity companies. The firm was founded in 2018 by Gili Raanan, a former General Partner at Sequoia Capital Israel who spent over a decade backing enterprise technology companies before launching his own vehicle. Cyberstarts operates on a concentrated, high-conviction thesis: back a small number of cybersecurity founders at the earliest stage and stay close to them through company building. The firm does not spread capital across dozens of bets – it runs a tight portfolio and targets category-defining outcomes.
The firm draws its dealflow from deep ties within the Israeli military intelligence ecosystem, particularly Unit 8200, Israel's signals intelligence corps that has produced a disproportionate share of the country's cybersecurity entrepreneurs. Gili Raanan has described Cyberstarts as a platform as much as a fund – offering founders access to a network of CISOs and enterprise buyers who participate as advisors and help portfolio companies get their first commercial contracts. This "go-to-market acceleration" model is central to the firm's pitch to founders. Total assets under management have not been formally disclosed in public filings. Public information about specific fund sizes remains limited.
Notable investments
- Wiz – cloud security platform; among the fastest-growing enterprise software companies on record, reaching $100M ARR in under 18 months. Crunchbase profile. In 2024, Google announced a proposed acquisition at approximately $23 billion, which was later withdrawn; Wiz subsequently filed for an IPO.
- Axonius – cybersecurity asset management platform backed across multiple rounds. The company helps enterprises maintain visibility over all connected devices and software.
- Orca Security – agentless cloud security platform that provides workload and data protection across multi-cloud environments.
- Noname Security – API security; acquired by Akamai in 2024 for a reported $450 million.
- Talon Cyber Security – enterprise browser security; acquired by Palo Alto Networks in late 2023.
Public information about Cyberstarts' direct crypto or blockchain investments is limited. The firm's stated focus remains enterprise cybersecurity rather than digital assets infrastructure, though portfolio companies in areas such as cloud identity and API security have natural overlap with Web3 platforms.
Team
Gili Raanan is the firm's General Partner and public face. Before Cyberstarts, he spent roughly 12 years at Sequoia Capital, where he led investments across Israeli and European enterprise software. His background is in computer science and he served in Israeli intelligence before moving into technology investing. Beyond Raanan, Cyberstarts operates with a lean partnership structure. Additional team members and any co-GPs are not consistently named in public sources.
Recent activity
The 2023–2025 period was defined by two major exits: the Noname Security acquisition by Akamai and the Talon acquisition by Palo Alto Networks. These delivered meaningful DPI for the fund's LPs and validated the firm's early-stage entry thesis. The near-miss Google–Wiz deal in 2024 attracted significant press attention and raised the firm's profile globally. Following Wiz's decision to pursue an independent IPO path, Cyberstarts' flagship investment remained a private company at a valuation above $10 billion heading into 2025.
Cyberstarts has continued backing new seed and Series A rounds in the Israeli security ecosystem. The firm maintains that its CISO network – comprising hundreds of enterprise security leaders – gives portfolio companies a structural advantage in early enterprise sales cycles. Given the pace of exits and the Wiz IPO pipeline, the firm is likely raising or has raised a follow-on fund, though formal announcements have not been confirmed publicly as of early 2026. Crunchbase – Cyberstarts.