An Israeli AI-focused cybersecurity startup known as Dream has announced it raised $260 million through a private funding round, giving the company a total valuation of $3 billion.
The firm was co-founded by Shalev Hulio, who previously led spyware company NSO Group before stepping away in 2022. His departure came after NSO faced accusations from Meta of targeting WhatsApp and its users. Hulio had originally co-founded NSO back in 2010 and served as its chief executive. He launched Dream in 2023.
While NSO became known for licensing its Pegasus surveillance software to governments and law enforcement agencies for use against terrorism and serious crime, Dream operates with a different mission — defending governments and critical infrastructure, including water systems and oil and gas facilities, against cyber threats. The company unveiled its sovereign AI platform, called Atlas, on Wednesday.
Hulio told Reuters that Dream generated approximately $300 million in sales to governments across Europe, the Middle East — including Gulf nations — and Asia in the past year. “We managed to prevent huge cyber attacks from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea,” he said.
Dream currently operates offices in Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi, and Vienna, employing a total of 350 people. The company intends to use the newly raised funds to speed up the rollout of its national cyber defense and sovereign AI platforms across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and into the Americas.
Hulio emphasized the growing role of artificial intelligence in modern cyber warfare. “Everybody understands that the next cyber war is actually going to be AI versus AI,” he said. “We built an AI solution that knows how to prevent cyber attacks created by humans, but also cyberattacks created by AI.”
Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who is also a co-founder of Dream, pointed to rising global tensions as a driver of demand. “Allies sometimes don’t know if they will be able to trust their allies forever, so there’s a big need for sovereignty and being more independent,” he said.
The funding round was jointly led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11, with additional investment from Antler, Bain Capital Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners, and other international investors.
Looking ahead, Hulio said the company has ambitions beyond private ownership. “Eventually we will go public,” he said. “Our goal is to become a big company, a successful company and a public company.”
