VC Survey 2026
“What's most important is the hype factor, and today it means the AI factor”
Glilot Capital Partners co-founder Kobi Samboursky joins CTech as part of the VC Survey 2026: The Next Leap, to discuss his predictions for Startup Nation in the coming years, from the impact of AI on today’s valuations to the next wave of cyber-led growth.
Kobi Samboursky
(Video: Orel Cohen)
“We tend to think in terms of metrics and multiples, however, none of those is the ‘critical’ one,” says Kobi Samboursky, founder and managing partner of Glilot Capital. “What's most important is the hype factor, and today it means the AI factor. In other words; if you are super relevant to the AI era, your valuation will explode, if not, you're in a difficult position.”
Following the turbulence of recent years and the stabilization of 2025, the Israeli tech ecosystem is entering a new era: The Next Leap. Samboursky joined CTech to share insights for its VC Survey 2026, which invites prominent investors to discuss the topics, trends, and “leaps” expected in the year ahead.
Samboursky pushes back on the prevailing enthusiasm around dual-use technologies, arguing that “building a company is much more than creating a technology.” At the same time, he says Startup Nation is “witnessing a perfect storm here,” driven by the convergence of cybersecurity and AI. But ultimately, Samboursky believes Israel will see “great companies emerge in the coming years that will make the last decade pale in comparison.”
You can read the entire interview below:
Fund ID
Name of Fund: Glilot Capital Partners
Total Assets Under Management (AUM): $1.3B
Partners/Managers: Kobi Samboursky, Arik Kleinstein, Nofar Amikam, Lior Litwak, Rinat Remler
Notable Portfolio Companies (Active): Upstream, AtBay, Healthy, Upcharger, LayerX, ScaleOps, Noma, Guardz
Notable Exits: Insights, Ermetic, Cider
The Liquidity Leap: After a period defined by cash preservation, will 2026 see the reopening of the IPO window for Israeli tech, or will M&A remain the sole viable liquidity event?
I believe that we will see some Israeli IPOs in 2026; however, M&A will remain the main liquidity source. The good news is that the Israeli M&A market is growing significantly (the jump from 2023 to 2024 and then from 2024 to 2025 is amazing). Moreover, we are seeing that the glass ceiling on M&A valuation keeps breaking which is a great indication of a strong market, specifically in the Cyber and AI domains.
The Valuation Leap: Moving past the market correction, what is the single most critical metric (e.g., EBITDA, NRR) that will drive premium valuations in 2026?
I am going to surprise you, we tend to think in terms of metrics and multiples, however, none of those is the "critical" one. What's most important is the hype factor, and today it means the AI factor. In other words; if you are super relevant to the AI era, your valuation will explode, if not, you're in a difficult position. Still, if you force me into choosing a metric, it will be Top Line ARR Growth. An aggressive growth in ARR shows that you are in a relevant and growing market.
The Agentic Leap: As we transition from 'Copilots' to autonomous 'Agents,' which specific vertical will be the first to fully trust AI with independent decision-making?
AI is improving by the day, but I believe we are still far from fully autonomous systems in mission-critical, highly complicated tasks. In these areas, humans will remain essential and AI will be used as "copilot" to augment and enhance human operations. We will see full autonomy first in simpler tasks that are not mission-critical and where scale and efficiency matter. It starts with consumer driven use cases (note that the big AI players are mostly consumer driven). Similarly in B2B, the leading use cases will be those that help companies support large scale clients like customer success, digital marketing and mass content generation.
The Dual-Use Leap: Israel has mastered Defense Tech. Which civilian industry (e.g., Construction, Agri, Logistics) will see the biggest disruption from adapting these battle-tested technologies?
I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of Dual-Use. Building a company is much more than creating a technology. More than technology, it's about building a product that fits a specific user, building a Go-To-Market machine and so forth. Building a company to sell to two very different markets is very difficult and risky (not to mention, not efficient) specifically for young companies. My advice, if the defense use-case is not big or interesting enough, build something else.
The Agentic Leap: As we transition from 'Copilots' to autonomous 'Agents,' which specific vertical will be the first to fully trust AI with independent decision-making?
As you know, most of my work is in Cyber Security. Unfortunately, I can't say it's ignored these days (very different from when we first started). Still, some areas in cyber do not get the attention they deserve (while others are extremely crowded). I can't add much more, but I will say it's all about the combination of Cyber and AI.
In general, I believe that despite all the recent hype around cyber, the next few years are going to be stronger than ever before. We are witnessing a perfect storm here, with three mega phenomenon happening at the same time:
a. Cyber is booming
b. AI is having a huge impact on Cyber
c. The Israeli Cyber industry is at its peak, investments, talent, etc.
I am certain that we will see great companies emerge in the coming years that will make the last decade pale in comparison.
Finally, what are 2-3 startups that, in your opinion, are likely to make a leap forward in 2026?
From Glilot Capital’s Portfolio:
- Noma: The world leader in cyber for AI, protecting companies from a wide array of AI related cyber attacks. With leading clients, a leading team and $132M raised in less than two years.
- ScaleOps: The leader in Cloud Cost Optimization. Specifically with AI, our cloud costs are exploding and ScaleOps helps companies manage the costs and save a lot of money. One of the fastest journeys I have witnessed.
- Sweet: AI Native Real Time CNAPP, the leader of next generation cloud security. It's mind blowing to see how existing solutions turned almost not relevant given the market and technology shifts. With Real Time and AI, Sweet is taking on this opportunity.
