Dream Security Raises $100M at $1.1B Valuation for AI-Powered Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity

Dream security raises $100m at $1.1b valuation for AI cyber defense

The startup sells cyber protection systems to companies with complex or old physical infrastructures, such as gas rigs, electricity companies, and nuclear reactors. Israeli cybersecurity company Dream Security, which was founded by former spyware company NSO Group CEO Shalev Hulio, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and Gil Dolev, has raised $100 million at a company valuation of $1.1 billion. The startup sells cyber protection systems to companies with complex or old physical infrastructures, such as gas rigs, electricity companies and nuclear reactors. The company is also popular with state cybersecurity systems, which strive to protect national infrastructures in a centralized way. Before the current financing round, the company's valuation was $54 million, according to PitchBook. The current financing round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, the venture capital fund founded by former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The company's existing investors, Dovi Frances's Group 11, Aleph Fund, through founding partner Michael Eisenberg, James Rothschild's Tru Arrow Fund and Tau Capital, are also participating in the financing round. As part of the financing round, Bain partner and former Symantec CEO and Mandiant chairman Enrique Salem and former Teva CEO Shlomo Yanai are joining Dream's board of directors. Salem brings experience in the cybersecurity industry and Yanai has experience in managing infrastructures. Annual Recurring Revenue of $100 million The company reports a backlog of orders of $130 million over the past year, so its annual revenue is estimated to be over $40 million. In terms of annual recurring revenue (ARR), the measurement that reflects the growth of cybersecurity companies, Dream Security currently generates revenue at an annualized rate of $100 million, which is projected to double by the end of 2025, justifying the company's high valuation. This is a significant revenue milestone for an Israeli cybersecurity company founded just two years ago, with fewer than 10 customers. Advertisement In addition to customers in Israel and Austria, the company also has customers in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Dream Security has about 150 employees and is headquartered in Tel Aviv's Midtown office tower. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Last year, the company launched a large, original language model designed for analysts and data security managers, which can be used to identify and address cybersecurity vulnerabilities, configuration files, reports, and control systems. The company promises that a short written command in the language engine can reflect the organizational network to analysts at client companies, and enable the identification of weaknesses and understanding of where loopholes exist in the enterprise. Hulio said: "AI is changing the rules of the game, and Dream stands as a leading international player in the field." Frances added, "In all my years in venture capital, I have never seen a company that grows as fast as Dream, as it has demonstrated over the past year, and has such a pool of talent. I have no doubt that Dream will grow to be one of the world's largest AI companies for cybersecurity protection of critical national infrastructures, and certainly the largest cybersecurity or AI company to ever come out of Israel." Michael Eisenberg said, "Countries and entities entrusted with critical infrastructure are only beginning to understand the magnitude of the threat posed by cyberattacks driven by AI." Sign up for the Business & Innovation Newsletter >>

AI-driven critical infrastructure cybersecurity startup Dream raises $100M at $1.1B valuation - SiliconANGLE

AI-driven critical infrastructure cybersecurity startup Dream raises $100M at $1.1B valuation Dream, an artificial intelligence startup that provides cybersecurity to governments and critical infrastructure, said today it raised $100 million in early-stage funding led by Bain Capital Ventures at a $1.1 billion valuation. Additional investors participating in the Series B round included Group 11, Tru Arrow, Tau Capital and Aleph. The startup was co-founded by Shalev Hulio, chief executive of Dream, in 2023 known for being the co-founder and former CEO of the controversial NSO Group, the creator of Pegasus, a type of spyware that covertly targets mobile devices. Hulio founded Dream alongside Sebastian Kurz, former Prime Minister of Austria. After leaving their positions in NSO and government, Hulio and Kurz used their expertise in enterprise and national entities' security needs to build the company. "Sophisticated cyber-attacks on our critical infrastructure are increasing in prevalence and complexity," said Kurz. "During my time as Prime Minister, I saw firsthand how these attacks can cause real human damage, and have the capacity to disrupt society at large." To thwart these attacks, the company has built up a stable of AI models including large language models trained on past cyberattacks and another for anomaly detection. Hulio said the company intends to use the funding to develop more sophisticated models to protect critical infrastructure and improve its existing foundational series. The company said it developed a first-of-its-kind family of language models called "cyber language models" specifically trained in cybersecurity operations. It did this because cybersecurity threats against governments, hospitals, energy infrastructure and other targets have become ever more sophisticated with time. Automating security requires specialized complex security tasks that cannot be handled by generalized AI and require training based on data drawn from actual attacks, networking and a deep understanding of how hackers operate. By modeling both the defensive network architecture and the behavior of hackers, Dream said that it can use predictive AI modeling to tackle known threats as they emerge and prepare for unknown threats before they happen. Many of these attacks are thought to be led by nation-state-backed attackers, such as the AT&T attack, which was reportedly the work of Chinese hackers, according to Reuters. In addition, other telecommunication networks were also hit including Charter Communications, Consolidated Communications Inc., Windstream Holdings Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Lumen Technologies Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. The attack on CFIUS was also believed to be led by a China-backed hacking operation. Although the network attacks against the telecom networks primarily customer data, these kind of breaches are part of probes for other vulnerabilities that could lead to outages, tapped communications and broader national security implications. The company said it intends to expand its operations by opening new offices in new regions including the United States and South America. Dream is headquartered in Israel, with offices in Tel Aviv, Vienna and Abu Dhabi.

AI Cybersecurity Firm Dream Raises USD 100 Million to Enhance Capabilities

Dream's Cyber Language Model automates security tasks, anticipating cyberattacks AI-driven cybersecurity company Dream has secured USD 100 million in Series B funding, bringing its valuation to USD 1.1 billion. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Group 11, Tru Arrow, Tau Capital, and Aleph. "With this funding, Dream will further enhance its product capabilities and global market reach," the Israel-based AI company announced on February 17. Also Read: Cognizant Launches AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platform to Strengthen Enterprise Security According the company Cybersecurity is no longer just a security challenge; it's a massive data problem. "Cyberattacks are becoming more advanced, with attackers leveraging AI to outsmart traditional defenses and exploit blind spots in organizations that lack full visibility into their data and vulnerabilities," the company explained. Dream says it is rebuilding cybersecurity with a suite of proprietary AI models designed to think like both a defender and an attacker. "By fusing advanced posture management with AI predictive detection, Dream created a robust data ecosystem that not only anticipates but actively eliminates threats before they materialize," the official release said. "Never before has a company been founded with the primary mission of providing national cybersecurity protection for a country or a government," said Shalev Hulio, co-founder and CEO of Dream. "We founded Dream to deliver a solution that truly works for nations, specifically because it was designed with their needs in mind." "Sophisticated cyber-attacks on our critical infrastructure are increasing in both prevalence and complexity," said Sebastian Kurz, co-founder and President of Dream. "During my time as Prime Minister I saw firsthand how these attacks can cause real human damage, and have the capacity to disrupt society at large. By founding Dream, we are on a mission to empower nations against what is the defining national security concern of our era." Also Read: Armis Integrates Nvidia AI Technologies to Enhance Critical Infrastructure Security Founded in January 2023, Dream reported over USD 130 million in annual sales in 2024 to governments and national cybersecurity organizations. According to the company, this funding accelerates the development of Dream's Cyber Language Model (CLM), a first-of-its-kind family of Language Models specifically trained for cybersecurity operations. The CLM automates complex security tasks by analyzing code, logs, and threat data, helping governments thwart cyberattacks before they occur. "These specialized models are designed to understand and act on cyber knowledge - from code to logs to threat intelligence, automating complex security tasks that traditionally require human expertise and intervention," the company said. With this knowledge, Dream said its "customers can better understand their networks and their breach-points, without requiring any installation or integration, in record-breaking time, helping prevent sophisticated nation-state cyber-attacks on their networks." The investment will also fuel the company's expansion into additional markets, with a strategic focus on markets where cyber threats continue to pose significant national security challenges. Also Read: Palantir and Anduril Launch AI Consortium to Strengthen US National Security "Dream's rapid growth in such a short time is a testament to their expertise, and I can't think of a better team to solve the fundamental problem of incomplete visibility and too many alerts," said Enrique Salem, partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Dream Group combines data scientists, cyber researchers, and AI and cybersecurity experts with offices in Tel Aviv, Vienna, and Abu Dhabi.

Bain Backs Israeli AI Cybersecurity Startup Dream at $1.1 Billion Valuation

Dream, an artificial intelligence company that provides cybersecurity services to governments and critical infrastructure operators such as hospitals and utilities, has raised $100 million at a $1.1 billion valuation. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Dovi Frances' Group 11, Tru Arrow Partners, Abu Dhabi-based Tau Capital and venture firm Aleph, Dream co-founders Shalev Hulio and Sebastian Kurz said in an interview.

Dream Raises $100 Million for AI-Powered Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure | PYMNTS.com

Dream, a company focused on artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cybersecurity for nations and critical infrastructure, raised $100 million in a Series B funding round to expand into additional markets in which cyber threats pose challenges to national security. The round valued Dream at $1.1 billion, the company said in a Monday (Feb. 17) press release. Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure are becoming more common and more sophisticated, Sebastian Kurz, co-founder and president of Dream, and former prime minister of Austria, said in the release. "During my time as prime minister I saw firsthand how these attacks can cause real human damage, and have the capacity to disrupt society at large," Kurz said. "By founding Dream, we are on a mission to empower nations against what is the defining national security concern of our era." Dream combats the growing number of cyberattacks that are powered by AI with its suite of AI models that "think both like an attacker and a defender," according to the release. The company's solutions combine advanced posture management and AI predictive detection to anticipate and eliminate threats, the release said. Dream earned over $130 million in sales to governments and national cybersecurity organizations in 2024, the second year of its operations, per the release. The company has a proven track record of providing products to "the most sophisticated customers," Enrique Salem, partner at Bain Capital Ventures, which led the company's latest funding round, said in the release. "Dream's rapid growth in such a short time is a testament to their expertise, and I can't think of a better team to solve the fundamental problem of incomplete visibility and too many alerts," Salem said. Christopher Wray, who was director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the time, said in February 2024 that the Chinese government's attempts to virtually attack U.S. infrastructure were happening on "a scale greater than we'd ever seen before." In April, the U.S. government released a playbook designed to help companies safeguard the nation's critical infrastructure. Issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the playbook's recommendations highlight the need for advanced safeguards as AI increasingly integrates into essential sectors like energy, transportation and healthcare.

Dream Raises $100 Million at $1.1 Billion Valuation

(Reuters) - AI-based security company Dream said that it has raised $100 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures on Monday, giving the company a valuation of $1.1 billion. Additional investors in the funding include Group 11, Tru Arrow, Tau Capital and Aleph. Investors' interest in artificial intelligence remains robust as companies scramble to incorporate AI-driven efficiencies into their operations, despite an overall muted venture capital market. (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)