Unit 8200, Israel's premier recon and cyberwarfare unit, has emerged as the ultimate talent gold mine for Silicon Valley, according to a comprehensive report by the Wall Street Journal, one of the top economic voices. The buzz among high-profile venture capitalists in U.S. tech hubs is all about this new breed of founders – those who have honed their skills in this elite intelligence unit.
This trend is particularly striking given the overall dip in American high-tech investments. Startups are finding it tough to secure funding, and venture capital investments have dropped to nearly half of their 2022 peak.
The article highlights that many of Unit 8200 alumni, renowned for their cutting-edge cyber security and warfare prowess, have launched dozens of cyber security firms. At least five of these are publicly traded in the U.S., collectively valued at around $160 billion. Plus, private companies started by these former Unit 8200 soldiers are worth billions more, with some alumni becoming influential VCs and even mentoring others.
The piece mentions Wiz, whose CEO Assaf Rappaport (though technically a Unit 81 military technology alum) was almost scooped up by Google recently for a cool $23 billion. Among those interviewed are Kobi Samboursky from Glilot Capital Partners, Yotam Segev, CEO of Cyera and Yoav Regev, CEO of Sentra. Regev, who was head of Unit 8200’s cyber department until 2021, jokes in the article that the top mission for commanders is not to interfere with the talented folks reporting to them.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Unit 8200 grads are acing the game of keeping major companies secure using the skills and intensity they picked up during their service. They and the companies they’ve built are “hot commodities” as more industries shift massive amounts of business docs to the cloud –constantly under siege by hackers. "Once upon a time," the authors note, "Unit 8200 alumni would discreetly mention their service, but now they’re flaunting it in press releases to attract clients."
Gadi Evron, CEO of the cyber security startup Nostic and a unit alum, quips: "I chat with investors, and after a while, I say, 'Hey, it's been 10 minutes, and I haven't mentioned 8200,' and everyone laughs."