Analysis
What does it take to join the $250+ million revenue club?
An analysis of the companies that made the $250+ million revenue list reveals what sets the most successful Israeli tech companies apart: a long-term vision, strategic use of AI, and the discipline to grow steadily through customer focus, M&A, and IPO-readiness.
A billion-dollar valuation and the unicorn label have been the status symbols of Israeli entrepreneurs and investors for the past decade, as if they were a badge of honor certifying readiness for the next stage of startup life. But in today’s reality of rising interest rates, tightening capital markets, and increasingly demanding investors, the markers of success are changing. Now, more and more funds and founders are being measured by one simple metric: actual annual revenue.
A special project by Calcalist published this week reveals a list of private companies generating at least $250 million in annual revenue. The list reflects a clear trend in Israeli high-tech: a shift toward profitability and sustainable growth. These are private technology companies that have not gone public and have not exited, yet report revenues in the hundreds of millions, some even exceeding the $1 billion or $2 billion mark. It’s a signal that Israeli tech is maturing, leaving behind the era of hype for an era of financial discipline.
Here are some of the consistent characteristics shared by the companies on the list, as drawn from their profiles:
- Most are at least 10 years old
- They prioritize building stable businesses over pursuing quick exits
- They have demonstrated an ability to adapt to challenging market conditions
- Many rely heavily on artificial intelligence as a growth driver
- They are aiming for IPOs but are not rushing into the public markets
- They invest in building large, loyal customer bases
- They engage in strategic mergers and acquisitions
With a few exceptions, most of the private Israeli high-tech companies in the "$250 million" club were founded around 2015, meaning they’ve already weathered a decade of volatility, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the high-tech downturn of 2022, and the ongoing conflict in Israel. Many of the founders and executives are no longer the “wonder kids” working out of garages or fresh out of 8200 military service. They are seasoned leaders, intimately familiar with the economic life cycle of a tech business. They’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars across multiple funding rounds and invested those resources wisely in sales infrastructure, pricing, and customer retention.
Revenue exceeding $250 million is not just a milestone, it’s a strong indicator of business health. Moon Active and Vast Data are prime examples. Others, like Rapyd in fintech and Wiz in cybersecurity, have already hit the $1 billion revenue mark, while many others remain well above the $250 million threshold. The implication is clear: these companies have built scalable and efficient business models.
Unlike the hype-driven fundraising boom of 2020–2021, when virtually every company achieving a $1 billion valuation was celebrated, these unicorns also pass the real test: revenue. In the past, valuation was the most public metric, because startups often had no profits to show. Today, revenue is the more meaningful measure, and often the industry’s best-kept secret. From Lightricks (valued at $1.8 billion) to Wiz ($32 billion), these are not inflated bubbles, but real businesses with strong revenue streams. Vast Data has reached positive cash flow, Mixtiles has been profitable for years and funds its operations from revenue, and companies like Gong, Redis, and Snyk have significantly narrowed their losses.
Many of these companies are targeting IPOs on Wall Street, but some have had to delay or rethink those plans due to market volatility and steep declines in public valuations compared to private ones. Rapyd, for instance, saw its valuation drop from $10 billion to $4.5 billion. Navan and Via have already filed confidential IPO prospectuses, only to postpone their debuts. Forter remains private with a $3 billion valuation, while its competitor Riskified, which did go public, now trades at well under $1 billion.
The path to success hasn’t been easy. Many of these companies faced serious challenges that forced them to pivot. Navan, for example, saw its travel planning revenue wiped out by COVID-19, but rebounded by focusing on business travel expense management. Via abandoned its consumer model to focus on enterprise solutions in public transit software. Lightricks had to adjust to the AI wave disrupting its content editing tools, prompting rounds of layoffs and a pivot to developing proprietary video-generation models. Snyk also made several significant layoffs as it restructured.
These companies aren’t operating in a vacuum, they serve thousands of customers globally, including Fortune 100 and 500 firms, governments, and large enterprises. Wiz provides cybersecurity solutions to half of the Fortune 100, Navan works with Lyft, Zoom, Netflix, and Unilever, and Gong serves Google and four Fortune 10 firms. Claroty supports a quarter of the Fortune 500, while Armis Security counts the U.S. Postal Service, United Airlines, and Colgate-Palmolive among its clients. This global client base underscores these companies’ resilience and competitiveness.
Artificial intelligence is another critical thread running through the list. Many of these companies have made AI central to their business. Gong, for example, provides AI-powered sales intelligence tools and supports 90% of the top language modeling companies. Forter is entirely built on AI and transaction history analysis for fraud prevention. Others are actively defending against AI’s disruptive forces: Lightricks is racing to develop AI video tools, and Snyk is creating protections for AI-generated code.
Merger and acquisition activity is also a defining trait. Rapyd acquired PayU, AppsFlyer expanded through multiple acquisitions, and Claroty bought Medigate for a notable $400 million to deepen its position in medical cybersecurity. Armis Security made over recent years three acquisitions, including two Israeli companies, to boost revenue. And Wiz’s landmark $32 billion acquisition by Google remains a symbol of what’s possible in the Israeli tech ecosystem.
