Guardicore founders raise $32 million for new stealth cyber-AI startup
After three years at Akamai, which acquired Guardicore for approximately $600 million in 2021, Pavel Gurvich and Ariel Zeitlin have launched a new venture named Tenzai that has already received significant backing from VC firms Greylock and Battery.
Pavel Gurvich, co-founder of Guardicore, has raised $32 million for a new cyber startup named Tenzai, Calcalist has learned. Gurvich, a seasoned cybersecurity entrepreneur who until recently served as managing director of Akamai's R&D center in Israel and as SVP & GM of the Enterprise Security group, is launching a new venture focused on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
The startup, which remains in stealth mode, is backed by U.S. venture capital firms Greylock Partners and Battery Ventures. Joining Gurvich on the founding team are Ariel Zeitlin (co-founder of Guardicore), Ofri Ziv (one of Guardicore’s first employees), Itamar Tal, and Aner Mazursky.
In 2021, Akamai acquired the Israeli cybersecurity company Guardicore for approximately $600 million, marking its largest and most significant acquisition in Israel. Following the deal, and additional subsequent acquisitions, Akamai’s Israel-based cyber division, led by Gurvich, evolved into the company’s global cybersecurity hub.
Since the Guardicore acquisition, Akamai has further expanded its security portfolio by acquiring Israeli startups Neosec and Noname Security, each for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Guardicore, founded in 2013 by Pavel Gurvich, Ariel Zeitlin, and Dror Sal’ee, raised over $110 million from investors including Qumra Capital, Cisco Investments, Dell Technologies Capital, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Partech, ClalTech, Battery Ventures, 83North, TPG, and Greylock.
