Google the phrase “Israel cyber industry” and you will find a mass of descriptions of one of the most powerful cyber armies in the world. It is if young Israelis are born with an extra gene that drives them towards the subject.

If that is not enough, the army and security services provide yet more training, free so-to-speak. So before the age of 30, thousands of entrepreneurial Israelis are pouring into the commercial world of cyber technology.

Only yesterday, three more cyber companies from the Holy Land raised money, primarily from overseas investors: –

• Cybellum – US$2.5 million
• Secret Double Octopus – US$6 million
• SentinelOne – US$70m, and the investors include Ashton Kutcher’s team.

To quote research from PitchBook and released to Bloomberg:

365 Israeli cybersecurity companies raised a total of $581 million in 2016, (a 9% increase on last year, and) about 15 percent of all capital raised by the industry globally. About a quarter of the 65 Israeli cyber start-ups founded last year have already succeeded in raising funds.

Roughly speaking, 60% of Israeli cyber companies manage to raise funds within two years of set up, with an average about US$9 million per round. That figure falls to 21% for other hightech sectors. No wonder that President Trump has asked Giuliani to lead a mission to Israel to evaluate the levels of future cooperation on the subject.

One stat that may have future significance. There is less of a tendency towards exits. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues in 2017.

Where to next? TechCrunch observed that:

Even as the global cybersecurity market experiences a slowdown in investment, the Israeli sector continues to grow. Companies are raising significant capital, even in tough times. Innovation from Israeli companies is a real bright spot as new security fields keep emerging. We are optimistic about the ability of Israel’s cybersecurity entrepreneurs to continue to innovate on a global stage.