Israeli startup Upwind, a leader in runtime-first cloud security, announced Monday that it has raised $250 million in a Series B funding round, pushing its valuation above $1 billion and cementing its status as a unicorn. The round brings the company’s total funding to $430 million since its founding.
The latest round was led by global venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Picture Capital. Existing investors include Cyberstarts, Greylock, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures, TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Partners and NBA star Stephen Curry’s Penny Jar Capital.
Upwind’s rapid rise reflects growing demand in the cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) sector, which has become a cornerstone of modern cloud security. The market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 28% as enterprises increasingly adopt AI-powered cloud architectures. Traditional security models—relying on static snapshots and posture signals—are struggling to keep pace with dynamic, real-time environments, often overwhelming security teams with alerts that fail to indicate actual threats.
“Cloud infrastructures have evolved far faster than the security models designed to protect them,” said Amiram Shahar, CEO and co-founder of Upwind. “The next generation of cloud security requires a fundamentally different method with a runtime-first approach, which is the only way to protect the cloud during the AI era.”
Shahar said Upwind’s approach enables teams to eliminate noise, focus on real risks and protect modern cloud applications more efficiently. Instead of relying on vast volumes of data processed after the fact, the company emphasizes real-time data analysis within the cloud environment itself.
Upwind has seen explosive growth since its previous $100 million round roughly a year ago, reporting a 900% increase in revenue and a 200% rise in its customer base. Its platform is currently used by major global companies including Siemens, Peloton, Roku and NuBank—the world’s largest digital bank. According to the company, Upwind helps security teams reduce their alert load by up to 98%, allowing them to focus on meaningful risks.
Gili Raanan, founder of early-stage investor Cyberstarts, praised the milestone. “It was clear to us that this team is going to drive a meaningful change in cloud security, rather than simply enhance existing solutions,” he said. “Upwind’s establishment comes with an understanding for the need around real-time cybersecurity, and the fact that it has become a unicorn—the seventh unicorn to emerge from cyberstarts—is a special moment for us that highlights how our vision has met an actual need in the ecosystem.”
Elliot Robinson, a partner at Bessemer who led the Series B round, said the firm was impressed by Upwind’s timing and team. “Cloud security is already one of the largest and fastest growing segments in cybersecurity,” he said. “Upwind's modern, runtime-first approach, focus on signal over noise, and battle-tested founding team have translated into a company and product that are trusted and loved by security, engineering and platform (DevOps) teams, and used as a true platform. We’re very proud to partner with Upwind as they build the runtime-first cloud security platform for the next generation of enterprises.”