Israeli startup Surf AI has emerged from stealth today with $57 million in funding. The company is engaged in one of the hottest cybersecurity sectors – using AI agents to manage and operate enterprise security systems.
The financing rounds were led by Accel, alongside Gili Raanan’s Cyberstarts and Boldstart Ventures. The company, which was founded in Tel Aviv in September 2024, is already selling its products to customers worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, and plans to expand operations and hire employees in Israel and the US.
Surf AI operates in a space that is becoming increasingly powerful as attackers deploy AI. Organizations are required to deal with complex systems that include identities, cloud infrastructures, data, and business systems, while constantly coordinating between teams and tools. However, in practice, a large part of security processes is still performed manually or cyclically, sometimes once a month or quarter, which creates a continuous gap between identifying risks and handling them.
Surf AI is trying to bridge this gap through an AI agent-based platform that continuously monitors all organizational assets, identifies anomalies in real time, and automatically activates remediation processes, under human supervision. The system gathers data from a variety of systems in the organization and builds a dynamic context graph that maps assets, permissions, and role holders, in order to understand not only what the exposure is, but also who is responsible for it and how to properly handle it.
Deep understanding of the organizational context
Surf AI cofounder CEO Yair Grindlinger, explains that the main problem being tackled is not new, but until recently it could not be automated. According to him, organizations have always wanted to reduce exposure on an ongoing basis, but this required a deep understanding of the organizational context, including the identity of asset owners, internal hierarchies, and business processes.
He says, “The good news is that because of AI, it is possible for the first time to build a system of agents that monitor the entire organizational environment and handle problems in real time. According to him, the company’s distinctness is not the use of AI agents, but the ability to build a broad and continuous picture of the context. The system does not settle for a snapshot, but analyzes data over time, including changes in permissions, actual uses, and communication between employees. This way, it is possible to understand, for example, who is really responsible for a particular asset, even if at a given moment another user was the last to touch it.
Grindlinger has over two decades of experience in cybersecurity. He was one of the founders of FireLayers, which was sold to Proofpoint, where he later served in senior management positions. According to him, one of the main lessons he learned is that the real challenge in cybersecurity is not only technological but also operational. “Day-to-day of security is much less glamorous than you think. It’s about gray processes of approvals, updates, and coordination. It’s the bread and butter of the organization, and that’s where the real problem lies,” he says.
Grindlinger founded Surf AI with Elad Horn, Roie Cohen Duwek, Avner Gideoni, and Brenton Gumucio. The company currently has 66 employees, most of them in Israel, and also operates teams in the US. At this stage, it is focusing on large organizations, where the complexity and scope of assets make the challenge particularly significant.
Investors in the company believe that this is a conceptual change in the way organizations manage information security. Gili Raanan, founder of Cyberstarts, said that AI-based automation cannot work without a deep understanding of the organizational context, and that Surf AI succeeds in creating an action layer based on such an understanding. Accel and Boldstart also stress the need for new operational models that will allow security teams to cope with the pace of attacks and the increasing complexity of systems.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 17, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
-1024x683.jpg "Trump, Congress, and the FISA Fiasco")
-1024x683.jpg "Strait Outta Hormuz: Getting the Iran Oil Story Straight")
