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 [1] [2] and one of the inventors of CAPTCHA (US patent application with 1997 priority date [3] ), the WAF (web application firewall) and many other inventions in the fields of application security and discovery. Raanan started Sanctum in 1997, and invented the first Web application firewall AppShield [4] and the first Web application penetration testing software AppScan. [5] He later started NLayers which was acquired by EMC Corporation pioneering the science of Application discovery and understanding. [6] He is an investor and a General Partner at Sequoia Capital, [7] the Founder of Cyberstarts, [8] and was a board member at Adallom, [9] Armis Security, [10] Onavo, [11] Moovit, [12] and Innovid [13] (NYSE:CTV).

Contents

Biography

This CAPTCHA of "Quick3" obscures its message from computer interpretation by twisting the letters and adding slight background color gradient. It is taken from the 1997 patent application. Captcha early.JPG
This CAPTCHA of "Quick3" obscures its message from computer interpretation by twisting the letters and adding slight background color gradient. It is taken from the 1997 patent application.

Gili Raanan was born in Kfar Saba, Israel. 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. [14]

Business career

Raanan started Sanctum in 1997, and invented the first Web application firewall AppShield [4] and the first Web application penetration testing software AppScan. [5]

As part of the research on Application Security Raanan co-invented CAPTCHA, as described in the patent application "The invention is based on applying human advantage in applying sensory and cognitive skills to solving simple problems that prove to be extremely hard for computer software. Such skills include, but are not limited to, processing of sensory information such as identification of objects and letters within a noisy graphical environment". [15] Raanan later started NLayers in 2003 which was acquired by EMC Corporation pioneering the science of Application discovery and understanding. [6]

Venture capitalist

In 2009 Raanan joined Sequoia Capital in Israel as a General Partner. [16] Raanan was a board member at Adallom, Onavo and Snaptu. [17] In 2018 Raanan founded Cyberstarts, [8] which is an early stage VC focused on Cybersecurity. [18] Raanan is a seed investor in a number of fast-growing Cybersecurity companies such as Fireblocks, Wiz, Noname, Island.io, [19] Armis and Adallom. In 2023 Raanan was ranked #19 at the Forbes Seed Midas list [20] and #9 at the Forbes Midas list of Europe. [21]

Philanthropy

In 2010 Raanan was one of the early contributors to SpaceIL's Beresheet, Israel’s privately funded, engineered and launched mission to the Moon’s surface. [22]

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References

  1. ↑ "Method and system for extracting application protocol characteristics". 1999-07-01.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ↑ "Method and system for dynamic refinement of security policies". 2002-12-31.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ↑ "Method and system for discriminating a human action from a computerized action". 2004-03-01.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 Weinberg, Neal (23 September 2003). "Sanctum's AppShield" . Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  5. 1 2 "Quick Takes: AppScan release secures Web applications". 10 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  6. 1 2 "CMDBs: An IT Goldmine?". 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  7. ↑ "Sequoia - Gili Raanan". Sequoia Capital. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  8. 1 2 "Sequoia Israel Partner Launches New $50 Million Cybersecurity Fund". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  9. ↑ Shamah, David. "Microsoft to acquire Israeli start-up Adallom for $320m". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  10. ↑ "Insight buys IoT security co Armis at $1.1b valuation". en.globes.co.il (in Hebrew). 2020-01-07. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  11. ↑ "TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  12. ↑ Orbach, Meir (2020-05-04). "Intel Inks Deal to Acquire Moovit for $1 Billion". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  13. ↑ "Sequoia Leads $9.5 Million Round In Interactive Video Advertising Startup Innovid". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  14. ↑ "Gili Raanan: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  15. ↑ "Method and system for discriminating a human action from a computerized action". Eran Reshef, Gil Raanan, Eilon Solan, Watchfire Corp, International Business Machines Corp. 2004-03-01.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. ↑ "Gili Raanan Joins Sequoia Capital - PE Hub". 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  17. ↑ Russell, Jon. "Facebook Takes Internet.org And Its Free Mobile Data Services To India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  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. ↑ "Gili Raanan". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  21. ↑ "The Midas List Europe 2023". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  22. ↑ "When a startup is rocket science, for real". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
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