Glilot Capital, one of Israel’s largest venture capital funds, has raised $500 million for two new early-stage funds targeting AI and cybersecurity startups. The successful fundraising from international investors, including U.S. and European pension funds, suggests minimal impact from geopolitical tensions surrounding Israel’s actions in Gaza on its tech investment appeal.
What you should know: The $500 million will be split between Glilot’s fifth seed fund and a new early-stage investment vehicle called Glilot Plus.
- Each fund aims to invest in 12 AI and cybersecurity startups over the coming years, with half the funding going to new investments and half to follow-on investments.
- Glilot has realized 22 investments since its founding in 2011 and now manages more than $1 billion in assets.
- The firm’s portfolio companies have already received $700 million in follow-on investment this year alone.
Investment focus: Glilot is zeroing in on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, particularly companies that protect AI systems and defend against AI-powered attacks.
- “This (segment) is going to be bigger than cloud security,” said Kobi Samboursky, co-founder and managing partner at Glilot. “In the next five, six years we have the potential to create a lot of great companies because of this combination.”
- The strategy reflects growing concerns about increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks that leverage artificial intelligence.
What they’re saying: Samboursky, a former officer in Israel’s elite 8200 military intelligence unit, emphasized the urgency of the cybersecurity challenge.
- “Cyber hackers were increasingly using AI so we as an industry need to come up with solutions to cope with that,” he told Reuters.
- “We already are starting to see much more sophisticated attacks so we have to completely reinvent the way we protect” against them.
- “Cyber is now bigger than ever and I don’t think it’s going to end anytime soon,” he added.
The big picture: Israel has cemented its position as a global cybersecurity leader, with the sector accounting for about half of all Israeli tech startup investments.
- Recent major acquisitions underscore this dominance: Palo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity company, acquired Israeli peer CyberArk Software for about $25 billion in July, following Alphabet’s $23 billion acquisition of Israeli startup Wiz in March.
- “It’s clear that Israel is number one in the cyber domain,” Samboursky said.
Why this matters: The successful fundraising demonstrates that Israel’s tech sector continues to attract substantial international investment despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, while the focus on AI-cybersecurity convergence positions Glilot at the forefront of what many experts believe will be the next critical battleground in digital security.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...