Ben Seri (CTO), Sanaz Yashar (CEO), Snir Havdala (CPO) of Zafran Security.
Courtesy: Eric Sultan | Zafran
Zafran Security, a cybersecurity startup created by an Iranian-born spy whose story helped inspire the hit Apple TV series “Tehran,” has raised $60 million, the company said Tuesday.
Sanaz Yashar, the former spy and CEO of Zafran, told CNBC that the funding round comes as a result of the accelerating speed and pace of cyberattacks due to the on-going AI boon. Zafran uses artificial intelligence and automation technology to manage threat exposure.
It’s “becoming much more severe that it was even a year ago,” she said in an exclusive interview.
The round brings Zafran’s total funding to $130 million since its founding in 2022. Zafran did not disclose the valuation at which it raised, but the startup said it has more than tripled annual recurring revenue since its last round for $70 million in September 2024. Annual recurring revenue is a term often used to measure income expected on a 12-month basis for a product.
The company plans to use the money to hire more people, Yashar said.
Menlo Ventures led the funding round, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts, which was an early investor in the startup Wiz that sold to Google for $32 billion in March.
Companies are looking for ways to reinvigorate their cybersecurity capabilities as AI reshapes the sophistication and capabilities of cyber criminals.
Besides Wiz, Palo Alto Networks in July announced that it acquired identity security provider CyberArk for $25 billion.
Yashar and co-founders Ben Seri and Snir Havdala created Zafran following an investigation into a ransomware attack on a hospital in Israel.
“The data was there,” Yashar told CNBC, adding that cohesive security tools might have prevented the attack. “If the security tools were talking to each other, they could block it.”
Yashar, who moved to Israel from Tehran at 17, served for 15 years in an elite cybersecurity intelligence unit within the Israel Defense Forces known as Unit 8200. She also led major investigations at threat detection firm FireEye and Mandiant, which Google bought in 2022.
Many famous cybersecurity companies have originated from Unit 8200 alum, including Palo Alto Networks, Check Point Software and CyberArk.
Zafran customers include healthcare, financial services, insurance, technology and Fortune 500 companies, Yashar said.
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