Israel’s cybersecurity industry has had an outstanding year, setting new records in a number of fields, the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) reported last week. The sector raised a record USD 8.8 billion in 2021, tripling the amount raised in 2020. The money was secured in 131 deals.
Records were also set in cyber exports, acquisition deals, and the number of cybersecurity firms that became unicorns after raising funds. Eleven of the companies that raised money in the past year became unicorns, or privately held companies valued at over USD 1 billion, the directorate said.
According to the data, one out of every three cybersecurity unicorns in the world is an Israeli company.
The data also showed the annual 2021 figures account for 40% of the total funds raised by cybersecurity firms worldwide this year.
According to the Israeli Export Institute data, overall cyber experts were USD 11 billion in 2021, according to the INCD data.
In 2021, there were over 40 acquisition deals of Israeli cybersecurity firms by local and foreign companies with an estimated worth of USD 3.5 billion. Some of the noteworthy acquisitions include XM Cyber, the firm co-founded by Mossad chief Tamir Pando and acquired by Germany’s Schwarz Group for USD 700 million, and Guardicore, the cloud and data center security company acquired by US cybersecurity firm Akamai Technologies for USD 600 million.
“The Israeli cyber industry wrapped up another record-shattering year in which it showed that it was not only an economic growth engine in Israel of the highest order, but also a pillar of the global cyber security innovation ecosystem,” said Roi Yarom, INCD director for economy and growth.
The article was originally published by NoCamels, a leading news website covering breakthrough innovation from Israel for a global audience.