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Gili Raanan

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Gili Raanan
Born1969
Kfar Saba, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
OccupationPartner at Sequoia Capital & Cyberstarts

Gili Raanan (born 1969) is an Israeli venture capitalist and one of the inventors of CAPTCHA[1], the WAF[2][3] and many other inventions in the fields of Cybersecurity. Raanan started Sanctum in 1997, and rolled out 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 where he worked on the science of Application discovery and understanding.[6] He was an investor and a General Partner at Sequoia Capital,[7] the Founder of Cyberstarts,[8] and is the first investor and board member at Wiz (company), Adallom,[9] Armis Security,[10] Onavo,[11] Moovit,[12] and Innovid (NYSE:CTV)[13].

Biography[edit]

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 served in Unit 8200[14][15][16] for ten years.[17] 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.[18]

Business career[edit]

Raanan started Sanctum in 1997, and invented the first Web application firewall AppShield[19] and the first Web application penetration testing software AppScan.[20]

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".[1] Raanan later started NLayers[21] in 2003 which was acquired by EMC Corporation pioneering the science of Application discovery and understanding.[22]

Venture capitalist[edit]

In 2009 Raanan joined Sequoia Capital in Israel as a General Partner.[23] Raanan was a board member at Adallom, Onavo and Snaptu.[24] In 2018 Raanan founded Cyberstarts,[8] which is an early stage VC focused on Cybersecurity.[25] Raanan is a seed investor in a number of Cybersecurity companies such as Fireblocks, Wiz, Noname, Island.io,[26] Armis and Adallom. These companies tend[15] to be staffed with Unit 8200 veterans. In 2023 and 2024 Raanan was ranked at the Forbes Seed Midas list[27] and at the Forbes Midas list of Europe.[28]

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."[29]

Philanthropy[edit]

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.[30]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b US Abandoned US20050114705A1, Reshef, Eran; Raanan, Gil & Solan, Eilon, "Method and system for discriminating a human action from a computerized action", issued 2005-05-26, assigned to Watchfire Corporation and IBM 
  2. ^ US Expired US6311278B1, Gil Raanan, Tal Moran, Yoron Galant, Yuval El-Hanani, Eran Reshef, "Method and system for extracting application protocol characteristics", issued 2001-10-30, assigned to Watchfire Corporation and F5 Networks, inc 
  3. ^ US Abandoned US20030226038A1, Raanan, Gil & Linhart, Chaim, "Method and system for dynamic refinement of security policies", issued 2003-12-04, assigned to Watchfire Corporation 
  4. ^ Weinberg, Neal (23 September 2003). "Sanctum's AppShield". Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  5. ^ "Quick Takes: AppScan release secures Web applications". 10 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  6. ^ "CMDBs: An IT Goldmine?". 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  7. ^ "Sequoia - Gili Raanan". Sequoia Capital. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  8. ^ a b "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.[permanent dead link]
  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.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ a b 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.
  16. ^ Knafo, Dor (2020-03-16). "A Message From the Founders". Axis Security. Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ "Gili Raanan: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "Sanctum focuses on QA, Web services with Appscan". Computerworld. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  21. ^ "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.
  22. ^ Press, Associated (2006-06-09). "EMC Buys Israeli startup nLayers". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
  23. ^ "Gili Raanan Joins Sequoia Capital - PE Hub". 2009-03-18. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  24. ^ Russell, Jon. "Facebook Takes Internet.org And Its Free Mobile Data Services To India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  25. ^ "Israeli cybersecurity VC fund CyberStarts raises $50m". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  26. ^ "Cyberstarts Hits 300% Yearly Returns for Backers Such as Sequoia". Bloomberg.com. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  27. ^ "Gili Raanan". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  28. ^ "The Midas List Europe 2023". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  29. ^ "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.
  30. ^ "When a startup is rocket science, for real". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
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