Ben Seri (CTO), Sanaz Yashar (CEO), and Snir Havdala (CPO) of Zafran Security;
Provided by: Eric Sultan | Zaffran
Zafran Security, the cybersecurity startup founded by an Iranian-born spy whose story inspired a hit movie apple The company announced Tuesday that its TV series “Tehran” has raised $60 million.
Sanaz Yashar, a former spy and CEO of Zafran, told CNBC that the latest funding round comes as a result of the ongoing AI boom that has accelerated the speed and pace of cyberattacks. Zafran uses artificial intelligence and automation technology to manage threat exposure.
“It’s much more serious than it was a year ago,” she said in an exclusive interview.
This round brings Zafran’s total funding to $130 million since its founding in 2022. Although Zafran did not disclose its valuation at the time of the raise, the startup said it has more than tripled its annual recurring revenue since its last round for $70 million in September 2024. Annual recurring revenue is a term often used to measure a product’s expected revenue on a 12-month basis.
The company plans to use the funds to hire more people, Yashar said.
Menlo Ventures led the funding round, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts, an early investor in startup Wiz, which sold it to Google for $32 billion in March.
As AI reshapes the sophistication and capabilities of cybercriminals, companies are looking for ways to reinvigorate their cybersecurity capabilities.
In addition to Wiz, Palo Alto Networks announced in July that it had acquired identity security provider CyberArk for $25 billion.
Yashar and co-founders Ben Seri and Snir Havdala created Zafran after investigating ransomware attacks on Israeli hospitals.
“The data was there,” Yashar told CNBC, adding that integrated security tools may have prevented the attack. “If your security tools are communicating with each other, you may be able to block it.”
Yashar, who immigrated to Israel from Tehran at the age of 17, served for 15 years in the Israeli Defense Force’s elite cybersecurity intelligence unit, known as Unit 8200. She also led large-scale investigations at threat detection companies FireEye and Mandiant, which were acquired by Google in 2022.
Many well-known cybersecurity companies have come out of Unit 8200 graduates, including: Palo Alto Networks, check point software and cyber ark.
Yashar said Zafran’s customers include healthcare, financial services, insurance, technology and Fortune 500 companies.
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