Team8

Team8 was founded in 2014 by Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg, and Liran Grinberg. Headquartered in Tel Aviv and New York, it operates as a private venture capital firm and company builder (foundry). The core Team8 organization employs under 100 people, though its portfolio companies employ thousands globally. The firm specializes in building and backing startups in cybersecurity, data infrastructure, fintech, and digital health. A major recent event was the 2024 announcement that co-founder Nadav Zafrir would become the CEO of Check Point Software Technologies, stepping back from his daily operational role at Team8. Concurrently, Team8 announced the closing of $500 million across new funds in early 2024.

Team8 operates two primary investment models: a venture creation model (foundry) where it builds companies from scratch alongside entrepreneurs, and a traditional venture capital model investing in Seed and Series A/B stages. The firm's operational moat is its "Village" network—a structured community of hundreds of global CISOs, data executives, and corporate leaders who validate market gaps, provide product feedback, and frequently become early design partners for Team8's portfolio companies. The in-house research team maps industry pain points before initiating the formation of a new startup.

As a venture group, Team8's "products" are the companies it builds and funds. Notable companies originating from the Team8 foundry include Claroty (industrial and IoT security), Sygnia (cyber incident response, acquired by Temasek for $250M), and Illusive Networks (acquired by Proofpoint). Recent successful portfolio exits include Talon Cyber Security (enterprise browser) and Dig Security (data security posture management), both acquired by Palo Alto Networks in late 2023, as well as Gem Security, acquired by Wiz in 2024.

In the Israeli cybersecurity investment ecosystem, Team8 competes for deal flow and entrepreneurial talent against funds like Cyberstarts, YL Ventures, and Glilot Capital Partners. Team8 differentiates itself through its deep operational involvement in the foundry model and its extensive corporate network. The firm has maintained a strong exit trajectory, capitalizing on consolidation trends in the cybersecurity market by selling multiple portfolio companies to major platform vendors like Palo Alto Networks, Wiz, and Cisco (which acquired Portshift in 2020).

Team8's primary headquarters and research hub are located in Tel Aviv. The firm's identity is deeply tied to the Israeli military intelligence ecosystem; co-founder Nadav Zafrir is a former commander of IDF Unit 8200, and a significant portion of the firm's analysts, researchers, and portfolio founders are veterans of Unit 8200, Unit 81, and Mamram. In Israel, the core entity typically hires technology researchers, investment analysts, talent acquisition specialists, and go-to-market experts who serve as shared resources for the early-stage startups built within the foundry.