Cyberstarts
Cyberstarts is a company.
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Financial History
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Leadership Team
Key people at Cyberstarts.
Cyberstarts is a company.
Key people at Cyberstarts.
Key people at Cyberstarts.
# High-Level Overview
Cyberstarts is a venture capital firm founded in 2018 that specializes exclusively in early-stage cybersecurity startups, operating with a distinctive "Sunrise" methodology that embeds the firm as a day-one partner in founding teams.[1] The firm's mission centers on identifying critical pain points within cybersecurity and guiding startups from product ideation through product-market fit and beyond.[1] Its investment philosophy is grounded in deep industry expertise—the firm is backed by some of the most successful cybersecurity entrepreneurs, including founders and executives from Cato Networks, Imperva, Check Point, Palo Alto Networks, CyberArk, Exabeam, and Fireblocks.[1] This entrepreneur-backed structure enables Cyberstarts to provide not just capital but strategic counsel on product development, market positioning, and talent acquisition.[1]
Cyberstarts has demonstrated outsized impact on the cybersecurity startup ecosystem, with portfolio companies collectively representing over 50% of private cybersecurity market capitalization.[5] The firm manages approximately $374 million in assets under management across multiple funds, including its flagship fund, an Opportunity Fund, and dedicated seed funds.[1]
# Origin Story
Cyberstarts was founded in 2018 by Gili Raanan, an experienced operator in the cybersecurity space.[1] Rather than assembling a traditional venture capital team, Raanan built the firm around a network of industry luminaries—investors like Shlomo Kramer (founder of Cato Networks, Imperva, and Check Point), Marius Nacht (Check Point), Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks), Udi Mokady (CyberArk), Nir Polak (Exabeam), and Michael Shaulov (Fireblocks).[1] This founding structure was intentional: by recruiting successful cybersecurity entrepreneurs as investors and advisors, Raanan created a firm uniquely positioned to mentor the next generation of founders.
The firm's early track record was exceptional. Its first fund generated annual returns of 170% since inception in 2018.[1] This success prompted rapid capital raises—a $200 million Opportunity Fund in February 2022 and an additional $60 million for Seed Fund III in August 2022.[1]
# Core Differentiators
# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Cyberstarts operates at the intersection of two powerful trends: the explosive growth of cloud infrastructure and the corresponding expansion of the cybersecurity attack surface. As enterprises migrate workloads to cloud environments, new vulnerability classes emerge—data exposure, identity threats, API security—that legacy security tools were never designed to address. Cyberstarts has positioned itself to fund the companies solving these next-generation problems.
The firm's 50%+ representation in private cybersecurity market capitalization signals its outsized influence on which security paradigms will dominate enterprise infrastructure.[5] By backing companies like Wiz (cloud security posture management) and Island (browser security), Cyberstarts is effectively shaping how enterprises will defend themselves in the cloud era. The pending $32 billion Google acquisition of Wiz—one of Cyberstarts' earliest bets—validates both the firm's thesis and the market's willingness to pay premium valuations for transformational security companies.
# Quick Take & Future Outlook
Cyberstarts has evolved from a promising early-stage fund into one of the most influential investors in cybersecurity, with a portfolio that reads like a who's who of the industry's most valuable private companies. The firm's model—pairing institutional capital with founder expertise—has proven durable and scalable, and the firm continues to raise new funds (with a fund in market as of July 2025).[4]
Looking ahead, Cyberstarts will likely continue to benefit from three tailwinds: the ongoing cloud migration, increasing regulatory pressure around data protection, and enterprise buyers' willingness to adopt best-of-breed security solutions. The firm's challenge will be maintaining its selectivity and founder-centric culture as it scales capital deployment. If Cyberstarts can sustain its track record while deploying larger fund sizes, it may cement itself as the defining venture investor in cybersecurity for the next decade.