Cybersecurity startup OX Security raises $34m seed round

• Author: Ofir Dor
• Published date: 29 September 2022
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

OX Security operates in the hot field of securing the software supply chain, protecting all the processes involved in developing and distributing software before it reaches customers. This field, in which several Israeli startups are active, gathered momentum following the hacking of US company SolarWinds Corporation that was uncovered in late 2020 and was described as the most serious such incident in US history

In that attack, the hackers, apparently from Russia and acting with state backing, managed to penetrate the software development system at SolarWinds, a company that develops IT infrastructure monitoring systems. The hackers contaminated the development process and introduced attack tools into the periodic update sent by SolarWinds to its customers. When the customers downloaded the update, the hackers at once gained access to the systems of the organizations concerned, which included US government agencies, exemplifying the great potential damage in such supply chain attacks.

OX Security was registered as a company in late July this year after its two founders, by Neatsun Ziv and Lior Arzi, left Check Point. Both had worked there for about a decade. In their last positions at the company, Ziv served as VP Cyber Products, while Arzi was director of End Point Cyber Security. Ziv is currently CEO of OX Security and Arzi is chief product officer.

For Ziv, this is a second attempt at entrepreneurship. He founded startup Vanadium and managed it between 2003 and 2011. Vanadium, which dealt in end point security, raised $5 million and reached annual sales of over $1 million, but was eventually shut down. "That was the period after the crisis of 2008, when investors saw cyber as passé. The fact that we had reached sales of $1 million didn't impress anyone," Ziv says.

Ziv and Arzi decided to work on OX Security in October 2021 as part of the Team8 company building incubator, which gave the company its first investment. The pair reached Team8 through Ziv's acquaintance with Team8 managing partner Amir Zilberstein from their military service in the IDF's 8200 signals intelligence unit. Unlike in Team8's usual model, in which the group decides on an area in which it will deal and then looks for entrepreneurs who will work on a solution, Ziv and Arzi came with their own mature idea. Immediately after obtaining investment from Team8, the pair decided to expand the seed round and bring in additional investors, led by Evolution Equity Partners, and Microsoft's...