Israeli cybersecurity startup raises $60 million to fight AI threats
Ben Seri (CTO), Sanaz Yashar (CEO), Snir Havdala (CPO) from Zafran Security.
Courtesy: Eric Sultan | saffron
Zafran SecurityA cybersecurity startup created by an Iranian-born spy whose story inspired the hit Apple tv series “Teheran” The company said Tuesday that it has raised $60 million.
Sanaz Yashar, Zafran’s former spy and CEO, told CNBC that the funding round comes as a result of the increasing pace and speed of cyberattacks due to the ongoing AI boon. Zafran uses artificial intelligence and automation technology to manage threat exposure.
In an exclusive interview, he said it had “become much more violent than it was a year ago.”
The round brings Zafran’s total funding to $130 million since its inception in 2022. Zafran did not disclose the valuation he raised, but the startup said it has more than tripled its annual recurring revenue since its last round of $70 million in September 2024. Annual recurring revenue is a term often used to measure the expected revenue for a product on a 12-month basis.
Yaşar said the company plans to use the money to hire more people.
Menlo Ventures led the financing round with the participation of Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts, one of the early investors of the Wiz startup, which was sold to Google for $32 billion in March.
As artificial intelligence reshapes the sophistication and capabilities of cybercriminals, companies are looking for ways to revitalize their cybersecurity capabilities.
Alongside Wiz, Palo Alto Networks announced in July that it was acquiring identity security provider CyberArk for $25 billion.
Yashar and co-founders Ben Seri and Snir Havdala created Zafran following an investigation into a ransomware attack on a hospital in Israel.
“The data was there,” Yashar told CNBC, adding that combined security tools may have prevented the attack. “If the security vehicles were talking to each other they could have prevented this.”
Yaşar, who moved to Israel from Tehran at the age of 17, served for 15 years in an elite cybersecurity intelligence unit within the Israel Defense Forces known as Unit 8200. He also led major investigations at FireEye and Mandiant, the threat detection firm that Google acquired in 2022.
Many famous cybersecurity companies are graduates of Unit 8200. Palo Alto Networks, Checkpoint Software And Cyber Ark.
Zafran’s clients include healthcare, financial services, insurance, technology and Fortune 500 companies, Yashar said.
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