Israeli cyber firm Onyx Security launches operations with $40 million funding round

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM, March 12 (Reuters) - Israeli cyber firm Onyx Security officially launched operations on Thursday after securing $40 million in initial funding, signalling continued investor interest in the country's technology sector despite the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The tech sector, regarded as one of the largest in the world, accounts for about 20% of GDP, 15% of jobs and more than half of Israeli exports, with cybersecurity becoming a fast-growing segment.

Onyx, which has developed a platform to secure and control artificial-intelligence agents, has been in so-called "stealth mode" for the last year-and-a-half, and said it was already working with multiple Fortune 500 companies.

"Every enterprise is becoming an agent operator — whether they planned to or not," said Maxim Bar Kogan, co-founder and CEO of Onyx, who served in Israel's 8200 military intelligence unit.

"Agents are given access to the most critical systems in the enterprise, but what are our guarantees they will not make serious mistakes or get compromised?" he said. "The safe adoption of AI agents requires security from attacks, as well as ensuring agents don't make critical mistakes."

The funding round was led by venture firms Conviction Partners and Cyberstarts, as well as a group of angel investors, Onyx said. The funds, it said, would be used to expand product and engineering teams as well as develop new AI models.

Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O on Wednesday completed its $32 billion purchase of Israeli cyber firm Wiz.

Despite the conflict in Gaza, Israeli tech startups raised some $16 billion in 2025, up from $12.2 billion in 2024.