Israeli Cybersecurity Industry Grows as Global Threats Multiply
- Start-ups skipping seed rounds as A-round funding surges
- Investor says new national thinking needed to grow industry
A replica of the Trojan horse made up of thousands of computer and mobile phone components in Tel Aviv.
Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty ImagesInvestments in Israel’s cybersecurity industry jumped 9 percent in 2016, a year when the world suffered a successful cyberattack on a national power grid, a massive e-mail leak that may have altered U.S. elections, and an $81 million central bank heist, according to a new report from Start-Up Nation Central.
According to figures based on the non-profit’s data platform and tech industry database PitchBook, 365 Israeli cybersecurity companies raised a total of $581 million in 2016, about 15 percent of all capital raised by the industry globally. About a quarter of the 65 Israeli cyber start-ups founded last year have already succeeded in raising funds, the report said. The report was released ahead of next week’s Cybertech Tel Aviv 2017 conference.