With cyber security

Former Chancellor Kurz is now a billion-dollar entrepreneur

Sebastian Kurz and a co-founder: now a multimillionaire on paper

(Bild: Dream)

A further capital injection of 100 million dollars from various investors makes it possible: the Israeli cyber security company "Dream", co-founded by Sebastian Kurz, now has a market value of 1.1 billion dollars.

Dream, the Tel Aviv-based cyber security company founded by Sebastian Kurz and two partners in early 2023, announced a new investment of 100 million dollars on Monday. The round of investors was led by US investor Bain Capital. The investment increases the company's valuation to 1.1 billion dollars, officially making "Dream" a "unicorn". This is the term used to describe young companies that are worth over a billion. "I am grateful that the Israeli company has developed so well so quickly," beams Kurz in an interview with "Krone". 

According to the latest information, the former chancellor still owned around 20 percent of the company before the latest capital increase, making him the richest former politician in the country, at least on paper. However, Kurz is likely to have acquired his shares with his contacts and not with money. He must therefore continue to work for "Dream" in order to retain his stake. This makes his return to politics unlikely.

The "Dream" team like on a movie poster: Shalev Hulio, Sebastion Kurz and Gil Dolev (from left to right)

(Bild: Fotomontage Dream)

"Dream specializes in protecting the critical infrastructure of states and industrial companies with the help of artificial intelligence and currently employs around 150 people at its headquarters in Tel Aviv and branches in Abu Dhabi and Vienna. 

According to its own description, "Dream" stands out due to its unique approach. This brings together the best minds in the field of cyber security and artificial intelligence, who have jointly developed a cyber language model specifically for the protection of critical infrastructure. This analyzes threats in real time, detects potential security risks and can identify and avert cyber attacks at an early stage.

After an initial financing round of 20 million dollars, a second round of 35 million dollars followed in the fall of 2023. At this point, "Dream" was already valued at 200 million dollars after just under a year. The latest financing round, led by Bain Capital, secured a further investment of 100 million dollars. This has increased the company's value more than fivefold and broken through the billion-dollar barrier.

Sebastian Kurz: "Cyber attacks are no longer just a problem for companies - they are one of the biggest threats to states and their critical infrastructure. Many states are faced with the challenge of defending themselves against an ever-increasing number of increasingly complex attacks, while their own systems are often outdated and inadequately protected. This is exactly where we come in with Dream: We develop solutions based on artificial intelligence, trained by the best hackers in the world, that can not only detect such attacks at an early stage, but also prevent them."

Dream currently has customers in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. The new partnership with Bain Capital will primarily drive the company's expansion into additional markets, including the USA and South America.