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Why Is Steph Curry Investing in Israeli Security Tech?

The greatest shooter ever is part of a financial ecosystem in which Silicon Valley capital pours into Israeli technology companies with ties to the IDF.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors tugs at his jersey in a game against the Atlanta Hawks on January 11, 2026, in San Francisco, California.

Steph Curry is the greatest shooter ever. His three-ball revolutionized the game, ushering in the “pace and space” and “five-out” era. After 16 seasons in the NBA, he’s more than a sure-fire Hall of Famer; he’s a mythic hero.

But Curry’s mythology rests not just on his basketball brilliance but also his goodness. He is the humble superstar, the smiling assassin. Throughout his long career, he’s remained largely controversy-free. He’s the corny dad, the dutiful husband. His relative lack of height—he’s listed at 6 foot-2—makes suburban kids believe they can do what he does while bricking shots in the driveway.

Curry’s activism has rarely strayed beyond consensus liberalism. When the United States fractures, he offers a milquetoast quote. During the Minneapolis protests, he called the turnout “beautiful,” saying it “speaks to how important people felt it was to have their voice heard.” He funds literacy and nutrition programs in Oakland through the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation.

In 2023, the NBA named him the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion, an award established in 2021 to recognize players advancing racial and economic justice. The honor stamped him as morally fluent, a superstar operating on the right side of history.

But now after four championships, two MVPs, and a Finals MVP—and just three years after the NBA celebrated Curry’s acts of social justice—Curry is underwriting the architecture of the Israeli security state. Curry is helping to give cover to a system in which Silicon Valley capital fuels the private-sector companies that prop up Israeli oppression.

As a special adviser to Penny Jar Capital, Curry has participated in major venture rounds funding Israeli cybersecurity start-ups. Penny Jar has backed Upwind Security, which raised more than $300 million, and Zafran, which secured $30 million. Those firms sell cybersecurity tools and maintain deep ties to Israel’s security infrastructure. Upwind monitors cloud systems and alerts customers if someone tries to break in. Zafran makes software that scans a company’s computer networks and tells it which security weaknesses need to be fixed first. Both companies are led by veterans of Israel’s elite military intelligence units, including Unit 8200 and Mamram.

Unit 8200 started in the 1950s as a signals unit rigging antennas on hills and tapping lines, but it grew into Israel’s version of the National Security Agency, a vast intelligence factory built to intercept, decode, hack, and feed information up the chain. The unit effectively works as an incubator, training soldiers in warfare and then spitting them out as founders and executives in Israel’s cybersecurity economy. One of Zafran’s founders, CEO Sanaz Yashar, was a spy in Unit 8200 for 15 years, and his story inspired the Apple TV thriller Tehran.

There is no public, official statement from Zafran Security or Upwind framing their work as connected to the war on Gaza. Nor does either company advertise its products as tools of military aggression. But Upwind’s leadership and staff—many of whom served in Israel’s military intelligence units—have been called up as reservists during the war, a fact referenced in communications from company founders on LinkedIn. Upwind’s CEO, Amiram Shachar, shared a photo of himself with Curry following October 7, and the company has said it will be added to the US government’s list of certified cybersecurity providers, underscoring its integration into national security........

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