“In two years, I want Vega to be where Cyera or Wiz are today, and maybe even faster”
CEO Shay Sandler lays out Vega’s hyper-growth plan after already raising $185 million in three rapid rounds, the latest of which boosted the startup's valuation to about $800 million, while Cyberstarts’ Lior Simon details the investor logic behind one of Israel’s fastest fundraisings.
Vega is undoubtedly the current hit of Israeli cyber. It was founded in early 2024 and has already raised $185 million in three rapid rounds, the latest of which boosted its valuation to about $800 million. The company, founded by Shay Sandler (CEO) and Eli Rozen (CTO), both Unit 8200 graduates and former employees of Granulate, which was sold to Intel and whose operations were later closed, is developing a platform for identifying and investigating cyber threats directly from an organization’s storage environment, without the need for cumbersome data centralization. In an interview with Calcalist, Sandler and Lior Simon, general partner at the Cyberstarts venture capital fund and the company’s first investor, discuss Vega’s activities and vision.
Shay, you founded the company in January 2024, exactly two years ago. How did it all start?
“We left Intel after Granulate’s exit with a crazy hunger. We knew we wanted to build a significant cyber company, and we knew we would do it with Cyberstarts even before they knew. We set out on a journey to understand who was doing what in the market, and we raised an initial $5 million to start forming the strongest team possible.”
Lior, why invest in two entrepreneurs who didn’t yet have a product in hand?
“At that stage, there were only Shay and Eli. They didn’t arrive as classic serial entrepreneurs with a well-known track record, but they had a unique energy, a combination of high self-confidence with humility and openness to learn. I saw a spark in people who see the goal and don’t ask ‘if’ they will reach it, but ‘how.’ They wanted to build a DNA of inexhaustible hunger for an ambitious and competitive market.”
What does Vega actually do that is different from the market?
Shay: “Our technology allows organizations to identify and investigate threats directly within their corporate storage environment, unlike older approaches that required transferring all information to a central location. That is an expensive and slow process, we bring the capability to the data. This enables unprecedented speed of response.”
Lior: “In a meeting between the three of us, we realized that we see the market 180 degrees opposite to how it has been conducted to date. Vega is not trying to fix the existing model; it is proposing a new architecture.”
You raised $185 million in two years. Why do you need so much money?
Shay: “Anyone who wants to build a significant cyber company today must step on the gas much harder and earlier than before. This money is intended for building a global sales and support organization. Today we already have 100 employees and a sales team of 15 people. The goal is to reach the giant companies, the banks, the Fortune 500 firms. We recently signed a seven-figure deal with one of the largest banks in the world.”
Don’t such sums of money ‘spoil’ entrepreneurs?
Shay: “Money creates a healthy sense of discomfort, you have to meet and exceed expectations every quarter. We raised funds to generate significant revenue, not to celebrate.”
Do you aim to be the next Wiz?
Shay: “In two years, I want Vega to be where Cyera or Wiz are today, and maybe even faster. The speed with which organizations are adopting us is unprecedented. We are recruiting employees all the time.”
Lior, what makes Vega the ‘next big thing’ for you?
“The fact that no ‘market education’ is required. The problem Vega solves is so painful and obvious that customers simply embrace the solution.”
Shay, how does a two-year-old startup manage to convince a cybersecurity manager at an American bank to entrust it with their data?
“At Granulate, we learned that large organizations are thirsty for solutions that reduce noise. Today, the SOC (security operations center) in large organizations is flooded with alerts. When we come and tell them, ‘We are not another tool that screams that something is wrong, we are a platform that investigates the threat in your own environment and distills the truth,’ they listen. The customer is not looking for another feature; they are looking for operational silence.”
You recruited 100 employees in a very short time. How do you maintain organizational culture when you are moving so fast?
Shay: “This is perhaps the hardest part. We are not looking for the ‘standard programmer.’ I recruit people with hunger in their eyes, those who are not afraid to go all out. Entrepreneurs naturally want to run fast and just build a product, but the process with Cyberstarts taught me to stop and build a backbone for the organization. The money we raised was not for parties, it was for building human infrastructure.”
Lior, aren’t you worried that this pace will lead to burnout too quickly?
Lior: “In the modern cyber world, speed is an element of a company’s security. Vega is deceptive, it looks simple from the outside, but it is very complex technologically. We see a market adopting the product at a speed we haven’t encountered before, so my job is to make sure they have all the resources to avoid taking their foot off the pedal.”
Where will we see Vega in two years?
Shay: “The vision is to become the new standard for data analysis in cyber. AI is embedded in our platform to turn the human researcher into Superman. We want to double revenue every year and prove that it is possible to build a billion-dollar company in Israel that remains independent. The goal for 2026 is to be the dominant player that giant companies cannot do without.”
