Israeli-founded cybersecurity startup Upwind Security said Monday it had nabbed $250 million in fresh capital from investors, giving it a valuation of $1.5 billion.

The fresh investment makes the Tel Aviv startup a new Israeli “unicorn” — a company valued at $1 billion and above. Israel is home to 39 tech unicorns as of the end of 2025, according to data from the Israel Innovation Authority.

The funding round was led by global venture capital fund Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation of Israeli-founded venture capital firm Picture Capital. The round brings Upwind’s total funding to $430 million.

At its previous funding round in December 2024, the startup raised $100 million from investors at a company valuation of $900 million to expand operations across its offices in Israel, the US, and the UK, meet growing demand for protecting cloud applications, and double its workforce. Upwind currently employs about 300 workers, with 150 based in Israel.

Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Tel Aviv, Upwind was founded in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Amiram Shachar, together with Liran Polak, Lavi Ferdman and Tal Zuri. The same team previously founded Israeli startup Spot.io, which was sold to NetApp for $450 million in 2020. The startup is........

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