Mapping the Israeli intelligence-startup pipeline.
An open dataset and interactive tool exposing the deep, structural connections between Israel's tech industry and its military-intelligence apparatus — Mossad, Unit 8200, IDF, Shin Bet, and more.
Browse the data | Interactive network graph | Download raw data
Israel's tech industry is not a neutral commercial sector. It is a deliberate extension of the country's military-intelligence machine:
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The founders are spies. Wiz, the $32 billion company Google acquired, was built by four Unit 8200 veterans who met during a decade of intelligence service. This is not an exception — it is the norm.
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The investors are generals. SoftBank's Israel operations are run by Yossi Cohen, who served as Director of the Mossad until 2021. CyberStarts, a $1.5B fund, openly recruits Unit 8200 graduates through its "Sunrise program." Former CIA Director David Petraeus invests in Israeli surveillance startups.
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The technology is dual-use. Cybersecurity tools built by intelligence veterans can — and do — serve as surveillance infrastructure. Companies like NSO Group (Pegasus), Cobwebs, and Cellebrite were founded by intelligence alumni and sold to governments that used them against journalists, activists, and dissidents.
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The pipeline is institutional. This is not about individual career choices. Israel's military service is mandatory, and the intelligence units actively funnel their best graduates into the startup ecosystem. Glilot Capital is named after the Intelligence Corps base. The line between state intelligence and commercial technology is deliberately blurred.
Every company you use, every app on your phone, every cloud service your government procures — you deserve to know who built it and where they came from.
| Count | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Investors | 388 | Venture capital firms, angel investors, and funds with confirmed military, intelligence, defense, political, or surveillance connections |
| Companies | 1,759 | Portfolio companies funded by flagged investors — inheriting risk through their funding sources |
| People | 1,124 | Team members, partners, and executives at flagged investment firms |
| Connections | 1,082 | Documented ties to military units, intelligence agencies, defense contractors, political figures, and surveillance entities |
Every entity is classified based on the strength and nature of its connections:
- Critical (34 investors, 158 companies) — Direct leadership roles in intelligence/military; active surveillance technology; settler organization ties
- High (121 investors, 831 companies) — Confirmed intelligence unit service; defense industry involvement; significant political connections
- Medium (233 investors, 770 companies) — Indirect connections; defense-adjacent technology; political relationships
Each connection is categorized: military, intelligence, defense_industry, surveillance, political, lobby, settler_organization, academic, media_influence
Every claim is backed by evidence — source descriptions, named individuals, specific units, and documented roles.
Wiz ($32B, acquired by Google) — All four founders served together in Unit 8200 and Unit 81 for nearly a decade. Funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Blackstone, CyberStarts, and Howard Schultz. Google's acquisition links Unit 8200 alumni directly to Project Nimbus, Google's cloud contract with the Israeli military.
SoftBank Vision Fund — Israel operations headed by Yossi Cohen, Director of the Mossad from 2016 to 2021. Cohen was recruited by Mossad at age 22 and oversaw the operation to steal Iran's nuclear archive. He now decides which Israeli companies receive SoftBank's billions.
CyberStarts ($1.5B+ fund) — Founded by Gili Raanan, who spent 10 years in Unit 8200 and won the IDF Presidential Medal. The fund's Sunrise program explicitly recruits fresh Unit 8200 and Unit 81 graduates, functioning as a direct commercialization pipeline for military intelligence capabilities.
David Petraeus (former CIA Director) — Invests in Israeli surveillance startups including Carbyne, a call-tracking platform co-founded by former Israeli intelligence officers.
Pre-structured research data for investigative reporting. Every connection includes evidence descriptions and source investor references. Download the JSON/CSV and cross-reference with your own reporting.
Before signing contracts with Israeli tech companies, check whether the founders or investors have intelligence backgrounds that could pose security risks. 158 companies in this dataset have critical risk exposure through their investors.
Document the revolving door between Israeli intelligence and commercial surveillance technology. Map how military capabilities become commercial products sold to authoritarian regimes.
Identify which companies and investors are connected to the Israeli military-intelligence apparatus. The dataset includes settler organization connections and defense industry ties.
You use technology every day built by people whose previous job was mass surveillance, signals intelligence, or military operations. This dataset helps you make informed choices.
| File | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
investors.json |
JSON | Flagged investors with connections, risk signals, and research summaries |
companies.json |
JSON | Portfolio companies with inherited risk exposure and investor evidence |
people.json |
JSON | Team members with roles and organization connections |
graph.json |
JSON | Network graph data (4,033 nodes, 4,714 edges) for visualization |
stats.json |
JSON | Summary statistics |
*.csv |
CSV | Spreadsheet-friendly versions of investor, company, and people data |
- Browse & search — Search any investor, company, or person. Filter by risk tier and connection type. Click any entity for full evidence.
- Network graph — Interactive visualization of the entire network: investors, companies, people, and military/intelligence organizations. Click any node to explore its connections.
- Screening: 5,373 Israeli tech investors were screened against multiple sources including Wikidata, web search, GDELT news archives, and boycott databases.
- Deep research: 388 flagged investors were investigated using adaptive research protocols — researching the people behind each fund, not just fund names.
- Evidence-based classification: Every connection is categorized by type and backed by description. Risk tiers can go up or down based on evidence — accuracy over alarm.
- Inherited risk: Companies are flagged based on who funds them. If your lead investor's managing partner ran a Mossad operation, that matters.
We build credibility through accuracy, not speculation. Every claim in this dataset is based on documented evidence. If a connection cannot be confirmed, it is not included. Risk tiers reflect the strength of evidence, not assumptions.
If you find an error, open an issue.
This dataset is released as a public good. Use it freely for journalism, research, activism, policy work, procurement decisions, or personal awareness.
Attribution appreciated but not required.
388 investors. 1,759 companies. 1,124 people. 1,082 confirmed connections. Open data.
