Alex Liverant

$3B valuation and $760M raised. Here’s how Yotam Segev and Tamar Bar-Ilan achieved this just 3 years in. They didn’t build a startup. They built a defense system for the digital age. Before Cyera became a $3B company, before raising $760M from the best in the game and before defining the entire DSPM category, Yotam Segev and Tamar Bar-Ilan were deep inside Unit 8200 - Israel’s elite cyber-intelligence unit. They were: → Protecting data at a national scale. → They weren’t spitballing startup ideas. → They were running real ops and solving real threats. Years before the rest of us saw them coming. So when they launched Cyera in 2021, it wasn’t a guess. It was a mission - a platform that understands data, not just protects it. 1. Total mapping 2. Real-time visibility 3. Cloud-native security Today? Cyera is trusted by Fortune 100s, is backed by Accel, Sequoia, Redpoint, and is growing at hyperspeed. This isn’t the usual founder story. It’s what happens when military-grade precision meets category-defining execution. And they’re not building noise. They’re building the new normal. - - - - - Who else is building with this kind of depth and clarity? (Image by Ohad Kab - DADA STUDIO x YKC Media )

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🚀 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐭𝐨 $𝟖𝟎𝐌 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟔 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 — 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫. What happens when AI meets audacious execution? An Israeli developer, Maor Shlomo, just sold his six-month-old startup Base44 to Wix — for a staggering $80 million, all cash. No VC backing. No huge team. Just a powerful idea, executed at lightspeed. 🔍 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝟰𝟰? A platform that lets users build complete web and mobile apps — simply by describing what they want. No code. No traditional dev teams. Think: AI + UI/UX + Dev all rolled into one engine. 📈 In just half a year: • 300,000+ users • $3.5M ARR • $189K MRR profit • Partnerships with eToro, Similarweb • And now — a major acquisition by Wix And the most impressive part? 🔹 Fully bootstrapped 🔹 Built with a tiny team 🔹 Led by one clear vision: empower people to build without limits This isn’t just a win for one founder. It’s a signal — of how fast AI is shifting the rules of entrepreneurship. The era of requiring millions in funding and giant teams to ship world-class products? It’s fading fast. Today, small teams with AI leverage are playing in billion-dollar arenas. Tomorrow, they might own them. — 🔥 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 — 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 #AIStartups #BootstrapSuccess #Base44 #TechInnovation #WixAcquisition #Entrepreneurship #NoCode #AIRevolution #MaorShlomo #BuildWithAI

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I added the new Israeli Proptech startup landscape by TLV Partners to my 2025 collection on VC Cafe. There are over 200+ Israeli startups operating in the proptech sector (including a number of unicorns). The new crop of AI-first startups are penetrating every layer of the tech stack - from elevating the tenant experience and enabling predictive maintenance, to construction site monitoring and delivering AI-driven infrastructure insights. Link to the CTech by Calcalist article with the commentary below.

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“The system is broken.” We keep chasing $100B valuations like it’s the norm. Said it last week, but it’s worth repeating, because let’s be honest… most of its paper. It’s not ARR driving these numbers. It’s hyper-funding rounds, inflated expectations, and a complete lack of liquidity. You’ve got companies that once hit $20B, now worth $600M. Others get acquired for $700M and then shut down within a year. And when you get to those inflated valuations, you're trapped: You can't exit. You’re not growing. You’re not liquid. You’re just stuck. The irony? Some of the smartest teams today are not raising massive rounds: → They're lean. → They’re keeping equity. → And they’re building actual businesses. So how are we going to get to $100B valuations off tiny teams, no revenue, and broken exits? You can’t. VCs are under pressure. LPs want liquidity. But IPOs are rare, private equity isn’t always interested, and secondaries, well, let’s be real… not a real solution for everyone. The system is overdue for change. Until then, we need to stop worshipping empty valuations. What’s one thing you would change about how we fund and value startups today? (Shout out to Ophir Reshef, Partner at the ISF Israel Secondary Fund for this insightful op-ed in Calcalist כלכליסט CTech by Calcalist) https://lnkd.in/egNMd6nG

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MetalBear, an Israeli startup that created the open-source Kubernetes tool mirrord, has raised $12.5 million in Seed funding. The company aims to solve a major challenge in software development: testing code in realistic cloud environments. The funding round was led by TLV Partners and included investments from TQ Ventures, MTF, Netz Capital, and angel investors such as Sentry co-founder David Cramer and OpenTelemetry co-creator Ben Sigelman. Eyal Bukchin | Aviram Hassan 🔗 Read full article link in comment #metalbear #tlvpartners #startupnews #funding #israel #businessupdate

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“𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁… 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀.” Translation for many Israeli tech veterans? “You’re over 45.” Last week a colleague confessed that after 25 years of building production systems she was rejected for being “𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱.” Sadly, she’s not alone: A Jerusalem Post report warns that tech employees here fear being “𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱-𝗼𝘂𝘁” 𝗯𝘆 𝟰𝟱. 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁-𝗖𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗶𝘀𝗺 “𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀,” 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝗲𝗿𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝘆-𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝟯𝟰 % 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝟰𝟱-𝟲𝟰. Government programs now retrain workers 45 + because Israel is short 78 k tech professionals. 𝗬𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 “𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵” 𝗼𝗿 “𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿-𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱.” 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘂𝘀 • 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄-𝗵𝗼𝘄: Debugging a 3 a.m. outage is easier when someone in the room has already fixed it, twice. • 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: Replacing one senior architect with three juniors rarely shortens time-to-market. • 𝗪𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝗽: With tens of thousands of open reqs, turning away battle-tested talent is a luxury we don’t have. 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 & 𝗩𝗖𝘀 𝟭. 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝟰𝟱 +? 𝟮. 𝗦𝘄𝗮𝗽 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗱. 𝗔𝗴𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝟯. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀. 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀 • Keep skills current (AI, cloud, cyber—pick your lane). • Turn “too much experience” into a consulting super-power. • Share your story—normalizing the conversation is step one. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: Have you ever been told you’re over-qualified? Drop it in the comments so we can put real faces to these numbers. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 • Jerusalem Post – “Do scandals and ageism plague Israel’s tech scene?” (July 7 2023) Jerusalem Post • Calcalist-CTech – “The blight of ageism in the Israeli workplace” (Mar 7 2021) ctech • Times of Israel – “Israel to retrain workers over 45 to fill tech jobs” (Aug 8 2014) The Times of Israel • TheMarker – “שיעור העובדים בהייטק צנח ל-9.2% – וחסרים 78 אלף איש” (Jan 5 2025) TheMarker #StartUpNation #AgeDiversity #InclusiveHiring #TechTalent #Leadership Nissim Yves Ohayon MarketFit Sales Partners Startup Nation Central Calcalist כלכליסט CTech by Calcalist The Jerusalem Post TheMarker The The Times of Israel

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Most startup stories begin with the exit. This one begins with a shutdown. Most founder stories start with the win. This one starts with the wrong bet. It began inside The Zell Entrepreneurship Program at Reichman University, where Or Briga met the co-founder who would define the next eight years of his life, alongside Shai Arnon, also a Zell grad, and unknowingly lay the groundwork for both failure and reinvention.  In 2019, eSports was exploding. The narrative felt obvious: build the largest online training platform and academy for competitive gamers.  So they built NOVOS games - a data-driven training platform for gamers. Six years. $7M raised. A category built from scratch. Their first investor? A Zell mentor who backed them the moment they graduated. Then reality intervened. The market didn’t mature the way everyone predicted. Adoption stalled. Growth slowed. And eventually they faced the hardest founder truth there is: the hypothesis was wrong. So they did the rare thing: 𖧹 They shut the company down. 𖧹 Returned the remaining capital. 𖧹 And asked the terrifying question: what now? What survived wasn’t the product - it was the partnership. Instead of walking away, they doubled down on what actually worked. That customer came from a conversation with SuperPlay’s CEO, who offered to be their first buyer if they built better payments infrastructure for direct-to-consumer gaming. 𖧹 They moved fast. 𖧹 Didn’t raise capital. 𖧹 Built with scars instead of slides. Within a year, Galleon (acquired by Stash) was processing hundreds of millions annually. And recently, it was acquired by Stash. The speed wasn’t luck. It was compound learning. And Or is clear about one thing: the second company only exists because the first one failed. That’s the part of founder stories we should talk about more. - - - - - - What lesson from a “failed” chapter ended up being the foundation for your next win? Ori Schnitzer Naomi Scheinman Liraz Sharabani Reichman University Reichman University Alumni Association American Friends of Reichman University (IDC) American Friends of Reichman University (IDC Herzliya)

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Tel Aviv Joins Global Map of Quantum Hubs A new JLL report puts Tel Aviv on the shortlist of cities preparing for the quantum era, where specialized data centers will be as critical as the chips inside them. Quantum computing won’t just reshape science; it’s about to rewrite the real estate market with demand for cryogenic-cooled, shielded facilities. From labs to commercial campuses, Israel’s inclusion signals that local developers and investors need to prepare for a whole new asset class: quantum real estate.

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While the guns of war a roaring, February quietly turned into one of the strongest months for Israeli startups since 2022. ➡️ ~$793M deployed across 26+ transactions. ➡️ Average deal size: $37.8M. ➡️ Median deal size: $24M. But the interesting part is how the capital flowed. For most of 2024-2025 the narrative was about mega rounds distorting the market. February 2026 looked very different. Instead, the market was carried by a healthy middle: Series A and B rounds across multiple sectors. When the median is strong and capital spreads across the stack, it usually means companies are actually forming and scaling. Not just a few outliers raising massive rounds. A few patterns stood out: (1) Cyber funding deployed into 'narrower' categories: - Distributed analytics (Vega) - Cyber resilience automation (Gambit Security) - Exposure management (Zafran Security) - AI driven data loss prevention (ORION Security) (2) Enterprise AI is funding the plumbing - rounds went into infrastructure for AI native workflows: - Guidde - Nimble - Matia - Solid (AI for Data) These are the systems that make enterprise AI usable. (3) Global capital is still very present. Large rounds involved firms like Accel, Kleiner Perkins, HarbourVest and Stonecourt. The takeaway? A healthy ecosystem dynamic. - Plenty of Series A and B activity. - Specialized cyber companies emerging. - Enterprise AI infrastructure getting funded. - Continued participation from global investors. It would be interesting to see how March plays out contingent on the current conflict. My prediction is while in the backend, activity will remain high we will see much less announcements - not because funding stopped, but because the media attention is diverted elsewhere. Gil, Yaniv, Dealigence.

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Former Check co-founder, after $360M Intuit exit, launches Safebooks AI with $15M in Seed funding. The Israeli startup, headed by Ahikam Kaufman, introduces Agentic Revenue Integrity, a real-time automation engine for quote-to-revenue operations. https://lnkd.in/ebAacuEW

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Why Israeli startups build the best tech, US startups build the biggest companies, and European startups… get stuck. Israel’s startup strength isn’t accidental. It’s the byproduct of elite units like , Talpiot, Mamram, 81, and Talpiot where people are trained to solve impossible problems with limited resources, build mission critical systems under pressure, and ship fast then break and fix things in real time. That environment produces founders who are exceptional engineers, strong systems thinkers, and extremely comfortable with ambiguity and speed. But it also creates a common blind spot: the belief that if the technology is good enough, the market will naturally understand and adopt it. In the US, that assumption breaks very quickly. US startups are built with an entirely different default setting. From day one, the mindset is big vision, big market, big ambition. Founders assume massive TAMs, tell aggressive stories, and are comfortable selling the future before the product fully exists. The US ecosystem rewards clarity over complexity, distribution over perfection, and treats sales and positioning as core competencies and not merely afterthoughts. Founders don’t wait for permission. They ask, How big can this be? and hire accordingly, bringing in GTM and revenue leaders early, not post PMF. Europe, on the other hand, produces thoughtful, well designed companies, but they often operate in fragmented markets with heavy regulation, risk averse buyers, and slower decision cycles. The result is startups that become over compliant too early, under ambitious globally, and optimized for survival rather than dominance. And you can see this pattern clearly if you look at almost any of Europe’s largest startups today: while they were created in Europe, a majority of their revenue comes from the US market. The talent, R&D, and early validation may happen in Europe, but the long term value creation meaning the real scaling, the biggest customers, the meaningful revenue is largely extracted from the US. Andrew McAfee with the image comparing US vs EU.

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