Gili Raanan

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Gili Raanan
Gili-wiki.jpg
Born1969
Kfar Saba, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
Occupation Partner at Sequoia Capital & Cyberstarts

Gili Raanan (born 1969) is an Israeli venture capitalist and former founder of multiple software companies. Raanan started Sanctum in 1997, the company that created the Web application firewall AppShield and the web application penetration testing software AppScan. [1] [2] He later started NLayers which was acquired by EMC Corporation. He was a general partner at Sequoia Capital, [3] the founder of Cyberstarts, [4] and board member at Wiz, Adallom, [5] Onavo, [6] and Moovit, [7] Snaptu. [8]

Contents

Biography

Gili Raanan was born in Kfar Saba, Israel. He served in Unit 8200 [9] [10] for ten years. [11] He earned a Bachelor of Computer Science In 2002 from the Tel Aviv University, he received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Recanati School of the Tel Aviv University. [12]

Business career

Raanan started Sanctum in 1997, and created AppShield, a web application firewall [13] and AppScan, a web application penetration testing tool. [14]

Raanan later started NLayers [15] in 2003 which was acquired by EMC Corporation pioneering the science of Application discovery and understanding. [16]

Venture capitalist

In 2009 Raanan joined Sequoia Capital in Israel as a General Partner. [17] In 2018 Raanan founded Cyberstarts, [4] which is an early stage VC focused on Cybersecurity. [18] Raanan is a seed investor in a number of Cybersecurity companies such as Fireblocks, Wiz, Noname, Island.io, [19] Armis and Adallom. These companies tend [10] to be staffed with Unit 8200 veterans.

In June 2024 the Israeli business news outlet Calcalist published an investigation into Cyberstarts' business practices, writing that "points worth tens of thousands of dollars are awarded to CISOs of organizations for deepening relationships with the fund's portfolio companies, aiding their growth" and "mutual oral understanding is that the progress in accumulating points also involves purchases." Raanan and the fund responded by saying that "No CISO received compensation for purchasing products." [20]

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References

  1. ↑ Weinberg, Neal (23 September 2003). "Sanctum's AppShield" . Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  2. ↑ "Quick Takes: AppScan release secures Web applications". 10 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Sequoia - Gili Raanan". Sequoia Capital. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  4. 1 2 "Sequoia Israel Partner Launches New $50 Million Cybersecurity Fund". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  5. ↑ Shamah, David. "Microsoft to acquire Israeli start-up Adallom for $320m". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  6. ↑ "TechCrunch". TechCrunch. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  7. ↑ Orbach, Meir (2020-05-04). "Intel Inks Deal to Acquire Moovit for $1 Billion". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  8. ↑ Russell, Jon. "Facebook Takes Internet.org And Its Free Mobile Data Services To India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  9. ↑ Hill, Kashmir. "Meet The Ex-NSA And Ex-Unit 8200 Spies Cashing In On Security Fears". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2024-03-30. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  10. 1 2 Holmes, Aaron (2022-08-16). "How a Former Sequoia Capital Partner Cornered the Israeli Security Startup Market — The Information" . The Information. Archived from the original on 2023-09-22. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  11. ↑ Wrobel, Sharon (2023-09-24). "Israel’s Cyberstarts closes $480m fund for cybersecurity investments | The Times of Israel". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2024-03-03. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  12. ↑ "Gili Raanan: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  13. ↑ Messmer, Ellen. "CNN - New tool blocks wily e-comm hacker tricks - September 7, 1999". edition.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  14. ↑ "Sanctum focuses on QA, Web services with Appscan". Computerworld. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  15. ↑ "NLayers raises $3m from Walden, Gemini - Globes". en.globes.co.il. 2003-07-14. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  16. ↑ "EMC Buys Israeli startup nLayers". Ynetnews. Associated Press. 2006-06-09. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  17. ↑ "Gili Raanan Joins Sequoia Capital - PE Hub". 2009-03-18. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  18. ↑ "Israeli cybersecurity VC fund CyberStarts raises $50m". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  19. ↑ "Cyberstarts Hits 300% Yearly Returns for Backers Such as Sequoia". Bloomberg.com. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  20. ↑ "The Gili Ra'anan model: Questions emerging from Cyberstarts' remarkable success". ctech. 2024-06-13. Archived from the original on 2024-06-16. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
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