Dream Security
Israeli–Austrian cyber-defence and "sovereign AI" company for governments, founded in 2022–23 by former NSO Group chief executive Shalev Hulio, a former IDF Home Front Command officer who served in operations in the occupied West Bank, and former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz
| Dream Security
| |
|---|---|
| Trade name | Dream |
| Logo |  Dream logo |
| Type | Private company |
| Founded | October 2022 (announced; some sources give 2023) |
| Founder(s) | Shalev Hulio, Sebastian Kurz, Gil Dolev |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel and Vienna, Austria |
| Industry | Cyber security; artificial intelligence; national security |
| Services | National cyber defence and "sovereign AI" systems for governments and critical infrastructure |
| Homepage | dreamgroup.com |
Dream Security, trading as Dream, is an Israeli–Austrian company that sells cyber-defence and artificial-intelligence systems to governments and operators of critical infrastructure.[1] It was founded by Shalev Hulio, co-founder and former chief executive of the spyware company NSO Group, with the former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Gil Dolev, who had worked at NSO and the Prime Minister's Office.[2] Hulio served in the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command and took part in operations in the occupied West Bank, including the 2002 assault on the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.[3] In June 2026 the company said that it had raised $260 million at a valuation of $3 billion.[1]
History
On 12 October 2022 Globes reported that Hulio was leaving NSO Group, "12 years after founding the Israeli cyberattack company with Omri Lavie and Niv Karmi" (Omri Lavie; Niv Karmi), to found Dream Security to protect gas, oil and water installations from "ransom and terror attacks". It said that Dream "will also be serving government agencies and selling its wares to national organizations, with an emphasis on Europe in the first stage", and that Hulio, who had stepped down as NSO chief executive in August 2022, remained an adviser to NSO and was helping to find a buyer for it.[2] The company had raised a $20 million pre-seed round led by Dovi Frances with his own money; other investors included Adi Shalev, NSO's first investor, Noam Lanir, Shalom Meckenzie, Yevgeny Dibrov and Nadir Izrael of Armis, and Assaf Hefetz of Snyk. Globes said it was due to register as a limited company in November 2022 and open offices in "the German Templar Colony in Sarona", in Tel Aviv.[2] BBC News later wrote that Kurz co-founded the company in 2023.[4]
Funding
On 18 June 2026 Dream announced, from Tel Aviv and Vienna, a $260 million round co-led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11, with Antler, Bain Capital Ventures and Tru Arrow Partners, valuing it at $3 billion "just three years after its founding". The company said it had secured nearly $300 million in total contract value since it began commercial operations in late 2024, and described itself as "the sovereign AI and cyber defense company for governments".[1]
Founders and military service
- Shalev Hulio, co-founder and chief executive, co-founder and former chief executive of NSO Group, maker of the Pegasus spyware.[2] In a 2019 profile, Ynetnews wrote that he "didn't serve in the IDF's elite Unit 8200". It reported that "His final posting was as commander of a search and rescue team in the Home Front Command" (Home Front Command), that "He was the first deputy commander of the Home Front's infantry brigade and was involved in a series of operations in the West Bank", and that this "included action during Operation Defensive Shield, at the height of the second intifada" (Operation Defensive Shield). There he took part in an operation planned by Aviv Kochavi, then commander of the Paratroopers Brigade, "by sending troops straight through the walls of the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, instead of fighting their way through dangerous alleyways". Hulio told the paper: "We were actually the first team to do that ... We were the trailblazers for the fighters of Defensive Shield." He left the IDF as a captain, continued reserve duty, and was recalled for the 2006 Second Lebanon War.[3]
- Gil Dolev, co-founder: "formerly of Adallom, NSO and the Prime Ministers Office", according to Globes (Adallom; Prime Minister's Office).[2]
- Sebastian Kurz, co-founder, president and vice-president for business development: chancellor of Austria until 2021.[2]
Controversies
NSO Group
Dream's chief executive co-founded and ran NSO Group. Ynetnews wrote in 2019 that reports "directly tie the company and its products to a series of tyrannical regimes, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mozambique, Kenya, Congo, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey", and that NSO tools sold to Mexico to fight drug cartels were also used "to track journalists and others who dared to criticize the government".[3]
Sebastian Kurz
BBC News reported that Kurz "resigned as chancellor in 2021 and quit politics amid a series of allegations". He was convicted in 2024 of giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee and given an eight-month suspended sentence, and an appeal court overturned the conviction on 26 May 2025. The BBC said he "still faces investigation on separate corruption allegations", which he denies, over claims "that he used public money to pay for favourable media coverage and to fund polls which exaggerated support for him".[4]
See also
- NSO Group
- Home Front Command
- Cyber and tech firms founded by ex Unit 8200 or occupation forces veterans
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dream, Dream Raises $260M and Reveals Its Sovereign AI for Nations PR Newswire, 18 June 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Assaf Gilead, Former NSO CEO and ex-Austrian Chancellor found startup Globes, 12 October 2022, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Weaving a cyber web Ynetnews, 11 January 2019, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bethany Bell and Frances Mao, Sebastian Kurz: Austria's ex-chancellor wins appeal against perjury conviction BBC News, 26 May 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.