Israeli Code Locks America's Cloud and AI Stack

Google's $32 billion all-cash acquisition of Wiz on March 11, 2026 did not just buy a cloud-security company. It bought a category leader Google could not build internally — and one that immediately reset the benchmark for every cloud-security and AI-security company behind it. See Israel Just Cashed $57 Billion in Cyber for the full exit cycle.

Wiz was founded in 2020 in Tel Aviv by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik — the same team that previously built Adallom (sold to Microsoft in 2015 in a transaction reported at approximately $320 million). Wiz was reported to have crossed $1 billion in annualized recurring revenue by the time of close. The $32 billion deal value has been described in public reporting as priced at a steep multiple of forward revenue.

That print sits on top of an Israeli cloud-and-AI-security cohort that is now widely reported as among the most concentrated in the world.

Cloud security — what's behind Wiz

Aqua Security — Container and cloud-native security from Ramat Gan, founded 2015. Reported to have raised more than $325 million across rounds, with backers including Insight Partners, Greylock Israel, and Lightspeed. Aqua is now positioned as one of the largest independent cloud-native security platforms post-Wiz.

Orca Security — Agentless cloud security from Tel Aviv, founded 2019 by Avi Shua and Gil Geron. Reported to have raised more than $600 million through 2022, with a last private valuation publicly cited at approximately $1.8 billion. Direct architectural competitor to Wiz.

Sweet Security — Runtime cloud detection and response, founded 2023 by Dror Kashti (former CISO of the Israel Defense Forces) and Eyal Fisher. Sweet was reported to have raised a $35 million Series A in 2024 led by Evolution Equity Partners. Runtime is the layer Wiz historically left lighter — Sweet now sits in that gap.

Coro — Modular cybersecurity for the mid-market from Tel Aviv. Reported to have raised a $175 million Series D in 2024 at a valuation publicly cited at $750 million-plus.

AI security — the new category

The AI-security layer did not exist as a procurement line in 2023. By 2026, most Fortune 500 CISOs are reported to have a budget line for it. Israeli founders are widely cited as dominating the category.

Lasso Security — LLM application security, founded 2023 by Elad Schulman and Lior Drihem. Publicly backed by Entrée Capital and Samsung Next.

Pillar Security — AI application security, founded 2023 by Dor Sarig and Ziv Karliner. Reported Series A backers include Insight Partners and Shield Capital.

Apex Security — AI security posture management, founded 2023 by Matan Derman and Tomer Avni. Publicly reported as backed by Sequoia Capital.

Prompt Security — Runtime LLM security and AI access control, founded 2023 by Itamar Golan and Lior Drihem. Backed by Hetz Ventures and Ridge Ventures, per public reporting.

Noma Security — Data and AI lifecycle security, founded by Niv Braun (formerly of Aqua Security). Reported to have raised a $100 million Series A from Ballistic Ventures and Glilot Capital — described in industry reporting as one of the largest Series A rounds in AI security globally.

Knostic — Need-to-know AI access controls.

Adversa AI — Adversarial ML and red-team-as-a-service.

That is at least seven Israeli AI-security companies operating at Series A scale or better, all founded between 2023 and 2024, in a category that did not yet have an industry analyst quadrant when they incorporated.

Why the concentration

Three structural reasons.

One — the underlying offensive expertise transfers cleanly. Adversarial machine learning, prompt injection, model jailbreaking, data exfiltration through retrieval pipelines — all map directly onto skill sets that Unit 8200 and the Mossad cyber unit are widely reported to have built across the last decade against state-level adversaries.

Two — the Israeli VC stack moved into AI security earlier than U.S. peers. Glilot, Cyberstarts, Team8, Ballistic, Greenfield, YL Ventures, and Hetz are all reported to have published AI-security thesis pieces by mid-2023.

Three — the integration with the existing Israeli cloud-security cohort is structural. Wiz alumni are founding AI-security companies. Aqua alumni are founding AI-security companies. The talent loop is closed.

The acquisition queue

CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Google (now owner of Wiz), and Cisco are all reported to be building AI-security M&A pipelines through 2026. The Israeli cohort named above is the pipeline.

Wiz reset the benchmark. The ceiling is not yet visible.