Israel is at the centre of the global cybersecurity and defence ecosystems.

Globally, Israel stands in the top 3 of the largest clusters of cybersecurity innovation for venture capital funding, the number of leading firms and human capital.

Israel’s cybersecurity and defence focus is driven by the country’s focus on national defence as well as the government efforts to promote the industries.

Join the Israeli Go Global Landing Pad program

The Cyber and Defence Tech program presented by Austrade in partnership with SOSA is an enriching virtual bootcamp that enables Australian entrepreneurs to learn how to scale their businesses, acquire insights from successful Israeli founders and gain access to the Israeli cyber and defence tech ecosystem.

The program will run online over 4 days from 19 to 22 June 2023, for approx. 3 hours per day (in the late afternoon/early evening AEST).  

The program offers:

• Exclusive tailored workshops to help you develop your business value proposition, covering topics like building and validating a global growth strategy, achieving product-market fit, navigating partnerships, pitching and venture capital fundraising in the new norm.
• 1:1 business development advice and mentorship sessions.
• Potential strategic introductions to key customers, partners and investors in SOSA’s extensive global networks, in addition to R&D centres, researchers and commercialisation offices.

The entire bootcamp will be online and free of charge for successful applicants.

This program will suit businesses with tech driven solutions in:

• Cybersecurity
• Defence
• Law enforcement
• Advanced technologies in cyber and defence.

If your business is impacted by Defence Export Controls, please read the following update: 

• Austrade - DEC Guidance - February 2022.pdf

The Israeli tech ecosystem

Cyber

• Between 2011 and 2021, the number of active cybersecurity companies in Israel increased from 162 to 459.
• Over one third of the world’s cyber unicorns are Israeli. Tel Aviv produced 9 cyber unicorns in 2021.

Defence

• Israel's defence ecosystem a strong validation hub that helps new ventures to be "battle tested" through pilots with the IDF, intelligence bureaus and the Ministry of Defence.
• It is home to three industrial defence manufacturers – Rafael, ELTA and Elbit are considered global market leaders in their product categories.
• Israel's defence industry is strongly connected to airborne technologies (drones, UAVs) and space technologies, such as satellite communication and navigation, serving other industries as "dual use technologies". Many other defence-oriented technologies enjoy successful spin-offs that serve non-defence markets worldwide.
• There are ~250 active defence-tech companies in Israel. 

Fundraising in Israel

Cyber

Total funding amount raised across all funding rounds in 2022 was $4.6B. 41% of cyber security firms' investment around the world was invested in Israeli companies in 2021.

In 2022, the majority of capital into Israel’s cybersecurity industry went into seed rounds. Seed funding rose by 65%, from $233 million in 2021 to $384 million in 2022.

This striking amount of capital, dedicated to the earliest stages of company building, demonstrates ongoing investor confidence in the cybersecurity industry’s potential to innovate and build solutions for increasingly acute threats.

Orca Security raised a $550 million Series C round in October. Cloud security startup Wiz raised $250 million in private funding in October, bringing its valuation to $6 billion.

Defence

The Israeli government actively supports funding of defense-related technology development projects, along with external funding entities, such as VCs, Private Equity and Bi-National funding initiatives. The yearly funding in defense-related technologies is an estimated $500M-$2B from all sources.

Submit your expression of interest here!

About

Austrade

The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) is the Australian Government’s international trade promotion and investment attraction agency. We generate market information and insights, promote Australian capability, and facilitate connections through our extensive global network.

Delivered in Partnership with SOSA

SOSA is a global open innovation company. We work with innovation teams and business units in corporations (like HP, Schneider Electric, RBC, Swiss Re) and governments (like Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Taiwan). We scout and validate startups and technologies to bring our clients the solutions they need to solve use cases, identify opportunities, or build new products. Think noise-cancelling headphones for the endless supply of startups.