Dream, the Israeli cyber and AI startup founded by former NSO chief Shalev Hulio, said on Thursday that it has raised $260 million at a $3 billion valuation. The new figure is three times higher than the company’s previous round, which closed about a year and a half ago. Since starting commercial operations in late 2024, Dream says it has booked roughly $300 million in orders. The company has 350 employees and has now raised a total of $412 million.
Hulio built Dream after leaving NSO, the controversial offensive-cyber company behind Pegasus. NSO drew global criticism after revelations that its spyware had been used to track journalists, human rights activists and political opponents, and reports alleged it helped Saudi Arabia monitor journalist Jamal Khashoggi before his killing. NSO was placed on the U.S. blacklist in 2021, and Hulio left the company a year later.
Dream was founded in 2023 by Hulio, former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Gil Dolev, a cyber expert who also worked with Hulio at NSO. Unlike NSO, Dream sells governments systems designed to protect them from cyberattacks and manage sensitive state data without relying on external cloud infrastructure from foreign companies. The company says it is now trying to sell that approach to European countries and others that want to reduce dependence on U.S. computing infrastructure.
Dream says it is already working with governments in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Hulio said, “Artificial intelligence is a new national infrastructure. And when it comes to critical national infrastructure, access is not enough. Countries need control and independence.” The new funding will be used to accelerate development and deployment of its AI and defense systems for governments and critical infrastructure in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas. The round was led by Bicycle Capital, with participation from 11 Group, investor Dovi Frances, Clal Insurance and others.
