Israel’s Cybersec and AI Communities
I am writing this blog post during breaks between business meetings and vacation time in Israel and Jordan. This post includes a summary of findings about Israel's cybersecurity and AI communities that I made while visiting the region.
There is no question – having lived in Boston, Silicon Valley, Seattle and visiting Austin, Texas increasingly – that Israel has emerged as a major global technology hub. It feels like Cambridge, Palo Alto or San Francisco.
Today Israel has more than 300 cybersecurity firms, 1,000 AI startups and dozens of multinational tech firms (like Check Point and CyberArk). While the cybersecurity industry alone employs more than 20,000 people, the AI industry employs more than half that number but is growing fast.
Israel's cybersecurity expertise stems from several factors like advanced military intelligence units – specifically, Unit 8200 (i.e., the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit) of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), large R&D investments, a strong technology talent pool and collaboration between academia, military and industry. Government programs also actively promote cybersecurity. Major cybersecurity sub-sectors in Israel include network security, endpoint protection, application security, identity management, IoT security, critical infrastructure protection and cyber intelligence/forensics.
Israel has a vibrant AI research community centered around universities like Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Technion and Weizmann Institute of Science with prominent AI academics -- such as Amnon Shashua, Shie Mannor and Shaul Markovitch. Israeli AI startups operate in Israel working on computer vision, NLP, predictive analytics, autonomous systems and other sub-fields. Notable AI companies include OrCam, Vayyar, Anodot, proteanTecs and Zebra Medical Vision.
Israel has over 200 active VC and PE funds. (A more detailed analysis of Israeli VC in a future post.) Other sources like corporate VCs, angels and family offices play a smaller role. Prominent Israel-focused VC firms include AnD Ventures, OurCrowd, Pitango Venture Capital, PICO Ventures, StageOne Ventures and Cyberstarts. Many global VCs like Bessemer, Battery Ventures, Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital Israel also actively invest in Israel. Total annual VC investment into Israeli startups increased over 10x from $1.4 billion in 2008 to $15.5 billion in 2021. VC funding is concentrated in Tel Aviv where around 80% of deals happen. Other hubs like Jerusalem and Haifa attract significantly less funding.
Multinational tech firms like Google, Intel, Microsoft, IBM and Amazon have major cybersecurity and AI research groups in Israel. The non-profit Israel Innovation Authority provides generous grants and incentives to promote AI research and commercialization.
There is increasing collaboration between the cybersecurity and AI communities in Israel on projects like using AI for cyber-defense. While there are challenges remain in translating academic research into commercial products, the future of cybersec clearly points to more threat analysis products driven by more data and AI.
My trip to Israel has given me a firsthand look at the country's thriving cybersecurity and AI communities. I am impressed by the level of innovation and collaboration that is taking place, and I believe that Israel is well-positioned to become a leading global player as these fields converge as well as independently. I believe that all of the factors explained above make Israel an ideal place to develop and grow a cybersecurity or AI company. If you have a startup in these fields, I encourage you to consider Israel as a potential end-user market, R&D or dev hub, or office location.
It’s also a nice place for a vacation.