The past few months have revealed a tectonic shift in the Israeli cybersecurity sector, as several leading figures who helped to build it left the stage. At the beginning of the year, Check Point founder and CEO Gil Shwed handed over the reins to Nadav Zafrir, retaining his position of chairperson. Shortly afterwards, the company’s veteran CTO Dorit Dor announced that she was leaving. At CyberArk, after the two founders Alon Cohen and Udi Mokady vacated the CEO seat in favor of Matt Cohen, the company was sold a month ago, and will be managed by Nikesh Arora, CEO of the acquiring company, Palo Alto Networks, which parted last week from Nir Zuk, its founder and one of the most influential people in the cybersecurity sector globally.
A spate of deals in the Israeli cybersecurity industry - only last week "Globes" revealed another deal in the works, for the sale of Armis at a valuation of $5 billion - indicates that even after the departure of the founding generation, the industry is alive and kicking, thanks to, among other things, a new kind of manager: experienced, serial entrepreneurs with a large exit or two behind them, managing successful companies and at the same time investing privately in other cybersecurity companies. They are also passive investors in other venture capital funds that themselves invest in cybersecurity. In extreme cases, these entrepreneurs themselves manage venture capital funds and invest in the next generation of startups, while they continue to manage their own companies.
"The new generation of entrepreneurs comes from a business orientation in which it is easier to found, sell, or close companies, rather than the necessity of growing the company whatever the situation," says Meitav Dash technology analyst Alon Last. "That means that we shall see fewer Palo Altos and Check Points, and more companies bought at early stages. The money is much easier to come by, and the speed at which companies merge is much higher."
The coming big names in cybersecurity
The foremost example is Assaf Rappaport, CEO of unicorn Wiz, who is currently waiting for regulatory approval for the sale of the company to Google for $32 billion. Rappaport founded cyber company Adallom, sold it to Microsoft a decade ago for $320 million, and then founded Wiz together with the other Adallom founders. At the same time, he invested privately in Talon Cyber Security, which was sold to Palo Alto for $460 million, and in Dazz, which Wiz, under his management, bought for $450 million.
He is also invested in at least two venture capital funds that invest in other cybersecurity companies: Gili Raanan’s Cyberstarts, and Team8, founded by Nadav Zafrir, now CEO of Check Point.
One of Rappaport’s first employees at Adallom, Yevgeny Dibrov, was also the first investor in Wiz, alongside his co-founder at Armis Nadir Izrael. As mentioned, Armis is now in negotiations with private equity firm Thoma Bravo on a $5 billion sale.
Dibrov and Izrael were also initial investors in Cyberstarts, and are also invested in Team8. They shared a successful joint investment in startup Axis Security, sold to HP for $1 billion. Another investor in that company was Dan Amiga, who served in the same IDF intelligence unit as Rappaport. Amiga was one of the founders of Island Security, another company that achieved a $5 billion valuation in a fundraising round. He is invested in several cybersecurity companies, and is the founding partner of venture capital firm Picture Capital, in which Mickey Boodaei, Rakesh Loonkar, and Mike Fey are also partners.
The new generation powering the wheels of the Israeli cybersecurity sector - whether by founding other companies, investing in them directly or through Israeli funds, or mentoring - is taking a central position on the world stage, with companies that dominate niches such as the cloud, artificial intelligence, browsers, critical infrastructure, and data management. They have thereby brought to Israel huge funds that had previously reduced their investments here, such as Sequoia, Greylock, and Index Ventures, and have created a deep social network that enables them to reach any fund, technology giant, or senior industry figure they want.
In the nature of things, with many companies in the portfolio, investments in Israeli and US venture capital funds, and with a unicorn in the bag, each of these entrepreneurs could take one of several routes to an exit, boosting his power in the industry. Among the investors in Cyberstarts are big names like Shlomo Kramer, Nir Zuk, Assaf Rappaport, and Yevgeny Dibrov. Team8 has investors like the Wiz founders and Mickey Boodaei; cybersecurity fund Merlin Ventures has Ofer Smadari, Ofer Bin-Noon, and Dan Benjamin; and Glilot Capital Partners has Guy Flechter, Rotem Iram, Alon Arvatz, and Guy Nitzan.
Handing on the baton
As with the founding generation of Israel’s cybersecurity industry, the new generation has mostly come through the IDF’s 8200 signals intelligence unit, its 81 intelligence technology unit, the Aram cyberattack unit, and the Talpiot technology development program. These are the places where the super-entrepreneurs are born. The connections made in these special development units accompany them throughout the rest of their careers. "The connections continue on for many years after military service," says Notable Capital managing partner Oren Junger, who himself served in IDF intelligence. "The connections are formed during regular service and reserve duty and create a massive network, the members of which have access to each other that is not found in other places. If I want to obtain a candid opinion of some entrepreneur or company, I can do so pretty quickly."
But apart from forming connections, says Junger, this network enables people in their late twenties or early thirties who have already made an exit, and have a great deal to contribute, to help others. "There is a desire to pass on know-how to the next generation," he says. "And of course there’s the financial element; older entrepreneurs have the wherewithal to serve as sources of finance for young entrepreneurs as angel investors."
"Artificial intelligence," adds Team8 co-founder and managing partner Liran Greenberg, "is a genuine revolution that creates opportunities to build a new generation of technology of a completely different kind. It is producing a new wave of companies, including in cybersecurity, many of which have second- and third-time entrepreneurs as founders or helping as investors or mentors. Every new wave of cybersecurity companies brings with it demands from the previous generation for raising money, for know-how, and for work methods that aren’t just technological but also relate to sales and marketing."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 25, 2025.
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