Israel’s Team8, a venture capital group that develops and spins out tech companies, has raised $365 million in fresh funds to invest in local startups and founders who build infrastructure and software to securely manage the adoption of artificial intelligence workloads.
The funding, which is backed by investors including Walmart, Cisco, Moody’s, AT&T, SoftBank and Temasek, brings Team8’s total assets under management to almost $2 billion, the venture group said on Wednesday. Among the new investors is Indian IT service provider giant Infosys.
Out of the fresh capital, $265 million was raised for Team8’s third venture capital fund, which will target seed investments and Series A rounds of about 16 Israeli-founded AI startups working across cybersecurity, software infrastructure, fintech and digital health.
The fund has already invested in Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi Security, which was acquired earlier this year by Palo Alto Networks for an estimated $400 million. Another $100 million will be earmarked for follow-up investments in existing portfolio tech startups, Team8 said.
“AI is fundamentally rewriting the economics of company building,” said Team8 Managing Partner Sarit Firon. “Building world-class software required years of engineering, significant capital and exceptional technical talent — today, a remarkably small team with access to frontier models can build in weeks what once took years.”
Sign up for the Tech Israel Daily
and never miss Israel’s top tech stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
“As AI capabilities continue to evolve at a pace none of us has seen before, competitive advantage won’t come from the model underneath a product; it will come from solving fundamental enterprise problems that stay relevant across technology cycles,” Firon noted.
Israel’s Team8 management (from right to left): Liran Grinberg, Sarit Firon, Ori Barzilay, and Hadar Siterman. (Omer Hacohen)
Team8 said the new fund will target founders building AI-centric infrastructure, identity, data and security software, as AI agents are embedded in workflows faster than businesses can safely absorb the change.
“As AI accelerates change and creates real uncertainty across every enterprise, the biggest opportunities sit in the infrastructure and cybersecurity layers that let enterprises adopt this technology with confidence,” said Team8 co-founder Liran Grinberg.
The Tel Aviv-based venture group typically invests $5 million to $10 million in each startup. Exits include the sale of Talon Cyber Security and Israeli startup Dig Security to Palo Alto Networks for a combined $1 billion. Among its investments are Classiq, a software developer for quantum computing; Sygnia, which was sold to Temasek; Claroty; Illusive Networks and Hysolate.
Nadav Zafrir, a former commander of the Israeli army’s tech and intelligence Unit 8200, founded the Team8 venture group in 2014 with 8200 veterans Grinberg and Israel Grimberg. Its investors also include Microsoft, Nokia and Barclays.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You’re a dedicated reader
That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel