Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how software is built. What began with AI copilots helping developers write code is evolving into autonomous AI agents capable of planning, building, testing and deploying software with minimal human intervention. For enterprises, however, this new era presents a critical challenge: how do you embrace AI without sacrificing quality, governance and control?
Israeli startup Port believes it has the answer.
Going Global: Amir Ish-Shalom of Port
The company has developed what it calls an Agentic Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) platform—the infrastructure that allows organizations to deploy AI throughout the software development process while maintaining visibility, consistency and governance.
"We're seeing the industry move from AI-assisted engineering to AI-led engineering," said Amir Ish-Shalom, VP of R&D at Port. "That evolution requires a platform that helps AI agents work in a controlled and scalable way."
Rather than replacing developers, Port serves as the foundation that connects people, AI agents and engineering systems into a unified workflow. The platform acts as a centralized control layer, ensuring AI-generated work follows organizational standards while giving engineering teams a single source of truth across increasingly complex development environments.
One of Port's biggest differentiators is flexibility. Large enterprises often have unique engineering processes, tools and workflows that can't simply be replaced by off-the-shelf AI solutions. Port allows organizations to bring their existing operating models into the platform rather than forcing them to adapt to rigid software.
"We provide a very flexible data model that allows companies to bring their own model into our platform and work exactly as they do today," Ish-Shalom explained.
That approach has attracted major customers, including GitHub, whose platform serves more than 160 million developers worldwide. Port provides GitHub with an internal platform that helps engineering teams operate from a centralized source of truth, supporting AI-driven software development at massive scale.
As enterprises race to integrate AI into every stage of software development, governance is becoming just as important as automation. Organizations need confidence that AI-generated code meets quality standards, follows internal policies and can be trusted in production environments.
Port's platform is designed to provide exactly that balance: enabling engineering teams to move faster with AI while maintaining the oversight required by large organizations.
Looking ahead, the company sees itself at the forefront of an entirely new category of enterprise software.
"I hope we'll be leading the Agentic SDLC space with thousands of customers," Ish-Shalom said. "We're enabling the evolution that we're seeing now."
For Ish-Shalom, Israel's startup ecosystem remains a competitive advantage in building that future.
"We have some of the best and brightest minds in Israel," he said. "They aren't afraid of challenges. We're giving organizations the control they need to move quickly with AI while maintaining the quality and governance they require."
As AI increasingly becomes an active participant in software engineering rather than simply an assistant, platforms like Port may become essential infrastructure for the next generation of enterprise development.
- In cooperation with Team8, Discount Tech and Deloitte Catalyst.