Upwind Security raises $250m, becomes unicorn

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Israeli cloud infrastructure security company Upwind Security announced today that it has completed a $250 million Series B financing round at a company valuation of $1.5b. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation of Picture Capital and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greylock, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures, TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Partners and Penny Jar Capital by Stephen Curry.

Datadog in advanced talks to buy Israeli co Upwind Security

The company has raised $430 million to date including this latest round after raising $100 million in December 2024, at a valuation that market sources then estimated at $850-900 million.

The company was founded in 2022 by CEO Amiram Shachar, Liran Polak, Tal Zur and Lavi Ferdman who previously founded cloud security management company Spot.io, which was sold to NetApp for $450 million in 2020. Upwind says the latest financing round comes after a 900% increase in income and 200% growth of customers in the past year. The company is the seventh unicorn to emerge from Cyberstarts and now has substantial capital to continue investing in product development and growth.

Upwind has developed a comprehensive cloud security platform (CNAPP) using a unique approach, powering traditional CNAPP capabilities with runtime context to provide prioritized findings and help organizations focus on real risks rather than being overwhelmed by irrelevant risks. The platform’s runtime-powered approach consolidates numerous security functionalities. Upwind was the first to include and identify the importance of API security and deep application runtime context as part of a CNAPP.

Shahar says, Cloud infrastructures have evolved far faster than the security models designed to protect them. The next generation of cloud security requires a fundamentally different method with a runtime-first approach, which is the only way to protect the cloud during the AI era. Upwind was founded with the understanding that effective cloud security has to derive from runtim -first data analysis within the cloud environment itself. The company’s approach enables security teams to eliminate noises, while focusing on real risks and protecting modern cloud applications more accurately and efficiently.»

Published by Globes, Israel business news — en.globes.co.il — on January 26, 2026.