Torq, an Israeli cybersecurity startup based in Tel Aviv, has announced the successful closure of a $140 million funding round, catapulting its valuation to $1.2 billion. This significant investment solidifies Torq's position as a 'unicorn' in the technology sector, a status previously reported by TheMarker without specific financial details.

The company specializes in an autonomous security operations platform, which it claims is built from the ground up with advanced artificial intelligence. This innovative platform is designed to automate repetitive tasks within security operations, such as sifting through vast quantities of security alerts using AI agents. This automation frees up human employees, allowing them to concentrate on more intricate and potentially critical security issues, thereby enhancing overall operational efficiency and reducing backlogs.

Ofer Smadari, Torq's chief executive officer and co-founder, highlighted the strategic importance of automation. "You don’t want your team to have a huge backlog and using your team just to do the simple things while you can automate everything," Smadari stated, emphasizing the platform's ability to streamline security processes. The company, founded in 2020, significantly pivoted its development strategy following the advent of generative AI technologies.

Smadari explained this pivotal shift, noting, "By the end of 2022, ChatGPT came into our life, and we saw the opportunity to start building agents and AI functionality." This led to the introduction of an AI agent specifically for security operations in the summer of 2023, enabling comprehensive automation and remediation of security tasks.

The latest funding round was spearheaded by Merlin Ventures. Additional participation came from a roster of existing investors, including Evolution Equity Partners, Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners, and Greenfield Partners. Torq maintains a substantial workforce of over 300 employees spread across Israel and the United States.

This is not the first entrepreneurial success for Smadari and his co-founders. They previously established Luminate Security in 2017, which they successfully sold to Symantec Corp. for $250 million in less than two years. Their decision to launch Torq in January 2020, amidst the nascent stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, was driven by a bold outlook. Smadari quipped, "We said, ‘There is nothing like a big worldwide crisis to build another company.'"