Dream Security Raises $260 Million at a $3 Billion Valuation to Fight AI Cyberattacks

by Zaira Varghese 20. June 2026 Cybersecurity 0

Dream Security has raised $260 million in fresh funding at a $3 billion valuation, a sign that investors are betting heavily on a coming era of AI-versus-AI cyber warfare. The Israeli startup, founded by former NSO Group chief executive Shalev Hulio, says it will use the money to defend governments and critical infrastructure against a new generation of automated cyber threats.

The raise comes as countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia pour money into digital defense amid rising geopolitical tension and growing fears that artificial intelligence could rewrite the rules of cyber conflict. For investors, the bet is simple: as AI makes attacks faster and cheaper, the market for systems that can stop them is about to explode.

Who is behind Dream Security?

Dream was launched in 2023 by Hulio and former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, just a year after Hulio cut ties with NSO Group, the controversial spyware firm behind Pegasus. NSO faced years of international scrutiny over allegations that its software was used to target journalists, activists and political figures, and Meta accused the company of going after WhatsApp users.

This time, Hulio has taken the opposite path. Rather than building surveillance tools, the company builds AI-powered cyber defense systems for the public sector. Its roughly 350 employees work across Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi and Vienna, and its customers include organizations that run water systems, oil and gas facilities and national infrastructure networks.

Why Dream Security raised $260 million now

Demand, the founders say, has been strong. Hulio told Reuters that Dream generated about $300 million in government sales last year across Europe, the Gulf and Asia, and that it had helped block major attacks attributed to China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. On Wednesday the company also unveiled Atlas, a sovereign AI platform built to let governments secure sensitive systems without leaning on foreign-controlled technology.

That sovereignty pitch is central to why Dream Security is growing so quickly. As alliances shift, governments increasingly want to own and control the software that guards their most critical systems.

The coming ‘AI versus AI’ cyber war

Security researchers have warned that AI can accelerate the discovery of software vulnerabilities, automate phishing campaigns and generate malware at a scale human operators simply cannot match. Hulio believes that shift will define the next decade of conflict.

“Everybody understands that the next cyber war is actually going to be AI versus AI,” he said.
“We built an AI solution that knows how to prevent cyberattacks created by humans, but also cyberattacks created by AI.”

That framing — machines attacking and machines defending — is exactly what investors are now racing to fund.

Sovereignty, investors and an eventual IPO

The round was co-led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11, with participation from Antler, Bain Capital Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners and others. Kurz argues the demand is structural rather than temporary. “Allies sometimes don’t know if they will be able to trust their allies forever, so there’s a big need for sovereignty and being more independent,” he said.

Hulio has not set a timeline, but he made clear an exit is part of the plan. “Eventually, we will go public,” he said. “Our goal is to become a big company, a successful company, and a public company.”

Why it matters

Dream Security’s $260 million round is one of the clearest signals yet that cyber defense is becoming a sovereign-grade priority, on par with energy and telecom. If Hulio is right that the next cyber war is fought between competing AI systems, the companies that can field the strongest defensive models may end up as critical to national security as any weapons contractor.