40% of US cyber investments went to Israeli companies in 2024

Approximately 40% of major U.S. investment rounds in cybersecurity are currently directed toward Israeli cyber tech companies, according to a new report by Startup Nation Central (SNC). The Israeli NGO tracks global investment trends and works to strengthen connections between Israel’s tech sector and international businesses and governments. The report profiles over 500 Israeli companies active in diverse cybersecurity fields, including secure enterprise browsers, AI system protection, information risk management, and cloud security.

While cyber companies currently only constitute 7% of all Israeli tech businesses, they have reportedly attracted a whopping 38% of all investments in 2024. Investments in Israeli cyber companies have reportedly doubled since 2023.

However, the report revealed that distribution of international investments in Israel have changed. While European and Asian investments have decreased, U.S. investments in the Jewish state’s cyber security sector have increased dramatically in the past two years. SNC CEO Avi Hasson explained the growing importance of cyber security.

“Cybersecurity is more important than ever as digital threats grow and technologies like cloud computing and AI evolve,” he assessed.

“The more digital the world becomes, the greater the dependency on securing information infrastructure. These trends create massive demand for cutting-edge solutions – and Israel, with its proven innovation capacity, is well-positioned to lead the future of global cybersecurity,” Hasson added.

The report revealed that the majority of Israeli cyber tech companies (60%) are startups in the early stages of development. In addition, 16% of the local companies have reached the growth stage, which is more than double compared to the average 7% for other tech sub industries. Some 20% of Israeli cyber companies currently employ between 51 and 200 people, while 11% employ more than 200 people – significantly higher proportions compared to other tech segments.

The SNC report highlighted the strong scalability of the cyber tech sector, suggesting it has the potential for substantial future growth. This global expansion is being driven largely by a sharp rise in cybersecurity threats, particularly from China, Russia, and Iran.

In March, Israeli Deputy Cyber Defense Chief Nitzan Amar warned that Iranian and Hezbollah cyber attacks against Israel had increased by 300% since the Hamas Oct. 7 attack in 2023.

While acknowledging that the threats had tripled, Amar stated that critical Israeli civilian and military infrastructure had successfully repelled the attacks and continued to function normally.

“Despite our enemies’ efforts, not a single attack targeting an Israeli entity was able to harm neither our national infrastructure, nor the IDF operational freedom to fulfill its missions since October 7,” Amar said.

While Iran has focused its cyber-attacks on the Jewish state, in 2024, then-Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) chief Gaby Portnoy had warned that Iranian cyber attacks were becoming a global threat.

“We have identified that Iran is attacking its allies and other countries for information extortion and damaging digital services,” Portnoy stated during a Cyber Week conference in Tel Aviv.

“The information stolen from government systems is then used for Iranian cyberterrorism,” he warned.