From $1.35 billion unicorn to $575 million sale, At-Bay says the math has changed
CEO Rotem Iram says the cyber insurer has built a much larger business since 2021 while surviving a dramatic reset in technology valuations.
“The disappointment is for people who didn’t understand that the world has changed. The value should be close to the cash the company creates,” Rotem Iram, CEO and co-founder of Israeli cyber insurance company At-Bay, told Calcalist after the company agreed to be acquired by German insurance giant Munich Re Group for $575 million.
Iram was referring to the gap between At-Bay’s current sale price and the $1.35 billion valuation it reached in 2021, during the peak of the technology funding boom. In his view, the comparison is misleading because the market has changed dramatically since then.
“We are not in the same world,” Iram said. “In 2021, we had $50 million in insurance premiums. Today, we are almost six times that in premiums, and we have more than $30 million in cyber revenue.”
“I understand that in 2021 we received a high market value in a zero-interest-rate environment, with high multiples, and we raised according to the market at the time. The market today is realistic. It has returned to the fundamentals. In fact, selling for $575 million in 2026 is a very significant event and a success.”
At-Bay was founded in 2016 by Iram, Roman Itskovich, Etai Hochman and Tilly Kalisky. The company provides cyber insurance to businesses while integrating cybersecurity monitoring, risk analysis and mitigation into its insurance offering. Rather than simply covering losses after a cyberattack, At-Bay seeks to identify and reduce risks throughout the policy lifecycle.
The company has raised approximately $300 million since its founding. Munich Re is among its investors and has been a strategic partner since At-Bay's early years.
The acquisition, announced at an enterprise value of $575 million, remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in 2027. Following the transaction, At-Bay will operate under HSB, Munich Re Specialty's technology-focused insurance business.
At-Bay is now among the 10 largest cyber insurance companies in the U.S., with approximately $280 million in gross written premiums and more than $30 million in annual cybersecurity revenue. The company employs more than 280 people in the U.S. and Israel.
Iram said the transaction will benefit both investors and employees.
“All the investors made money in the deal. We take great care of our investors, and all the employees made money,” he said. “$300 million in new money came in beyond the money we raised. We built a real company with 280 employees, and we will become a full-fledged business unit. No one is leaving. The founders are also staying with the company.”
Iram framed the acquisition as evidence that At-Bay had survived a funding environment that eliminated many of the companies that raised capital during the technology boom.
“When the ground falls away from under your feet, most companies do not survive the value collapse. Few managed to get through the difficult years,” he said. “The disappointment is for people who did not understand that the world has changed. The value should be close to the cash that the company creates.”
“Most growth companies collapsed and failed to survive. We multiplied ourselves sixfold. Such a violent change kills 99% of companies, which is why we are a huge success.”
He also pointed to the difficulty of building an insurance company with venture capital rather than relying on a major financial institution.
“We built an insurance company without significant backing from a financial institution. Starting an insurance company with venture capital money and building a market leader is no easy task. For me, this is a great success,” Iram said. “Many other companies raised a lot of money and had a hard time paying it back. We were very conservative in raising capital, and so we were able to return the investment.”
At-Bay's other investors include Qumra Capital, Microsoft's M12 fund, Shlomo Kramer, Lightspeed, Glilot Capital, Acrew Capital and Khosla Ventures.
The company focuses on small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S., which often lack the cybersecurity resources and expertise available to larger enterprises. Through its unified security platform, At-Bay identifies, monitors and mitigates cyber risks for more than 35,000 insured companies while using the resulting data to improve its underwriting.
For Munich Re, the acquisition is also a bet on the convergence of insurance and cybersecurity.
“At-Bay’s market position and unique capabilities make it a perfect addition to our specialty insurance portfolio and an essential component of our future cyber offering,” said Mike Kerner Member of the Board of Management, Munich Re. “The acquisition further expands the depth and breadth of our specialty insurance expertise, ultimately benefitting all partners and clients of Munich Re Specialty. We expect the business to evolve into a strong earnings growth driver over time.”
Jeffrey O’Shaughnessy, president and CEO of HSB Group: “HSB and At-Bay are a logical match, each with a history and vision of risk prevention, mitigation and market-leading cyber risk solutions. The combination of At-Bay’s market-leading cyber capabilities and HSB’s intense cyber and underwriting expertise will significantly enhance our cyber offering and accelerate our speed to innovate in a market moving towards vertically integrated insurer-security platforms.”
