Blog Series | Part 5 | Value Creation Founders’ Series

Today, businesses are leveraging more and more SaaS applications across almost every team and every department. The business landscape is becoming hyper connected and the use of external vendors and third party integrations to enable faster execution and more collaboration is coming at the cost of a compromised security posture. Why? There is more emphasis being placed outside the organization to conduct business than ever before and growth is happening at such a rapid speed that monitoring new software and its impact on a company’s security posture becomes infeasible.

While this expansion in such applications/vendors is so important, a lack in visibility and management of those connections can have the opposite effect. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to understand what is communicating with what, how apps are interacting with one another and what data is flowing between different systems.

We saw this trend developing and its prioritization across security teams becoming higher, and after meeting the founders of Atmosec, we knew we had to invest. Founded by former Armis and Google executives, Atmosec is a SaaS cybersecurity startup platform that focuses on the connection between SaaS apps and alerts based on the behavior between the applications themselves – stopping any potential malicious bilateral movement.

Why did we invest? “We recognize a trend of cybersecurity professionals prioritizing Saas cybersecurity solutions.” said Kobi Samboursky, Founder and Managing Partner at Glilot Capital Partners. “Atmosec as a cybersecurity startup has developed a solution that bridges the gap in securing this SaaS ecosystem, protecting cloud-enabled businesses from increasingly advanced attacks on SaaS services.” Atmosec has entered the space at an opportune time as trends and pain points continue to develop and organizations connect to more and more applications.

Like any cybersecurity startup and portfolio company at Glilot, we’ve begun working with Atmosec via our data-driven Value Creation process to bring them design partners and first customers fast, while allowing them to truly test their product against the market. This strategic exposure has helped the team truly accelerate the Product-Market fit process.

Let’s hear what Aner has to say about today’s SaaS ecosystem.

Q: Let’s back up a step. How are organizations leveraging SaaS services today?

We’ve noticed a big increase in SaaS products used by organizations substantially over the past two years. Now, we are seeing more and more organizations leveraging the power of SaaS services by companies integrating and connecting different products together which both become part of an ecosystem and save work across organizations. Whether it be automatic payments, data insights or better communication, the systems themselves are not necessarily new but rather it is the way they are interacting with one another that is changing, ie. SaaS apps are communicating with other SaaS apps.

Q: Tell me about the security gaps that form with more SaaS intercommunication?

Aside from it being difficult to understand which apps are communicating with one another and how, a large piece that is accelerating this problem is that systems like Google, Slack and even Zapier allow users to connect themselves. What used to be spearheaded by the IT team is now able to be done by every user in an organization so there is no longer a single focal point that is privy to all data surrounding these applications. That’s where we are stepping in, to understand how these things are interacting and behaving so we can actually tell you if one of your API tokens gets stolen or abused.

Q: Great segway, where does Atmosec come in and can you share your founding vision?

Basically, we started thinking about what trends we were seeing in security in general and together honed in on the idea that it’s not only the increase in SaaS but actually the increase in connections. In validating that with CISOs, we are seeing that SaaS cybersecurity is going through a renaissance and we are actually facing a much larger problem than people realize. Why? Most companies in the last few years have all their services in SaaS, it is as if the main artery for security can’t be everything that is inside an organization communicating out but rather is from everywhere in the organization into the SaaS ecosystem.

Increased SaaS connectivity is just where the world is going and I expect that to only increase. When thinking about the maturity of the trend, we haven’t hit the peak yet but we are far enough along that the pain points are starting to show. We’re starting to see attackers understand these avenues as potential vulnerabilities. On the flip side, we have yet to reach the full complexity that this problem can create. What’s my thought process here? When creating a company it’s a good idea to be ahead of the curve, in terms of addressing a problem, so that once a CISO fully grasps that this is a major headache, I already have the solution to solve it.

Q: So this begs the question, how does Atmosec plan to solve this problem?

We’ve grouped our solution into three pillars, which are identifying the risk, understanding the behavior between all SaaS apps and then automatically preventing and protecting your ecosystem through automated security hygiene. It starts with the idea that you can’t see what you don’t know and then transforms into the idea that once you know something is there, it becomes about understanding if it is behaving correctly or not. For us, once we understand the connection, we understand its behavior.

Q: What are some of your design partners and customers saying?

A lot of feedback we’ve received is that up until now much of this process of understanding vulnerabilities has been manual for a CISO and his/her team. Whether it is understanding what is connected, what might be anomalous, trying to find an attack that may have gone unnoticed or just mapping out the ecosystem, a CISO could spend days to review and still find him or herself to be limited to major platforms rather gaining a full picture of business critical infrastructure.

With Atmosec, we are able to highlight places a CISO might not have a chance to look. Each time someone with an organization adds a new app or permission, we’re able to help that CISO understand this in real time and detect anomalies.

The last and most underrated piece is the automation of all these processes. Generally CISOs and security organizations are understaffed, both because it is hard to train people and because the amount of attention security has gotten over the last five years has grown exponentially. But with a new vendor, or any vendor, it is all about what you can take off in terms of workload so that our customers can focus their attention on key things that need their input.

Q: You’ve just come out of stealth, what’s on the roadmap?

Of course we want to focus on giving as much value to our customers as we can, this may mean supporting more systems. As we can continue getting more familiar with each system we’re able to offer more complicated and complex solutions to adhere to an even more sophisticated attack and understand how to more deeply secure these systems. This ultimately comes from understanding how these systems behave and react.

We also want to understand further how our customers are leveraging the system – what are they doing with the information, what are they taking to heart and what are the things they need to continue automating?

The last piece is of course building deeper trust. As our customers gain trust, they gain ease of mind and time to focus on other major issues.

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We are so excited to join Atmosec’s journey as they help organizations grow and secure their SaaS ecosystem with confidence.

Thank you to Aner for the time and insights in how to better secure hyper connected companies.

Most investments start with a pitch. This one started in basic training. I’ve known Dr. Asif Sinay, QEDMA’s CEO, for nearly 25 years. Watching his evolution from a fellow Talpiot cadet, always curious and questioning the status quo, into a leading physicist and tech executive—now running one of the most promising startups in quantum computing—has been a privilege. Our latest Glilot+ investment in QEDMA is the result of this front-row seat to the company’s journey since day one.

When Asif and I caught up a few years ago and I learned about the founding of QEDMA, I could not have been more impressed with his co-founders. The name of Prof. Dorit Aharonov, a world-renowned pioneer in the field of quantum fault tolerance from the Hebrew University, immediately caught my ear, having studied several of her papers back in my university days. If Dorit was on board, Asif was likely onto something huge. Rounding out the founding team was Prof. Netanel Lindner from the Technion, one of the leading minds today in quantum computing systems. The three independently realized that understanding the unique noise profile of each quantum device could unlock practical error-mitigated quantum computers and propel the industry forward. Asif brought the team together, and thus QEDMA was born.

The Quantum Bottleneck: Why Errors Matter

Quantum computing holds extraordinary promise—from simulating complex molecules with pharmaceutical applications to solving exponentially complex optimization problems, and perhaps most importantly (at least to us at Glilot Capital)—undermining the fundamental cryptographic principles on which the entire cybersecurity industry was built decades ago. But there’s one major problem holding it all back: errors, the “noise” inherent in quantum systems.

Quantum bits (qubits) are incredibly fragile. As systems grow in size and calculations become more complex, error rates quickly compound, overwhelming useful output with noise. While quantum error correction offers a theoretical solution, the cost is enormous—up to 1,000 physical qubits to reliably encode a single logical one. That’s simply not viable with today’s hardware.

This is where QEDMA comes in. QEDMA is bridging the gap between today’s noisy quantum devices and tomorrow’s scalable quantum computing. Their approach is entirely software-based and hardware-agnostic—making it both powerful and practical from a market reach standpoint. By learning the specific noise characteristics of each quantum processor, QEDMA can tailor quantum algorithms to suppress and mitigate errors during the algorithm’s execution on that processor. The result: significantly larger and deeper quantum circuits can run successfully on today’s available hardware. Importantly, QEDMA is already developing proprietary methods that will combine error mitigation with error correction, building a unified stack that scales with quantum hardware improvements.

Real-World Validation from IBM and Beyond

When we started our due diligence of QEDMA, we quickly realized that the solution was not just promising in theory—QEDMA’s approach has already been validated by the industry. In September 2024, IBM selected QEDMA as one of only three companies whose technology would be embedded directly in its Qiskit platform, the leading open-source SDK for quantum computing. After benchmarking QEDMA’s performance, IBM found that it enabled up to 1,000x increases in quantum circuit volume—a dramatic improvement in what has been computationally possible on IBM’s own hardware till that point. It was only natural, then, to bring IBM Ventures into the Series A round, alongside leading Asian fund Korea Investment Partners (KIP), existing investors TPY Capital, and several other quantum expert funds and angels.

This strategic partnership, alongside several yet-unannounced similar ones with the world’s leading quantum hardware vendors, served as a strong signal to us that QEDMA was not just a transitory tool in the burgeoning quantum computing industry—it was well-positioned to become a critical layer in the quantum software stack, enabled for every quantum hardware out there.

Why Glilot+? Why Now?

At Glilot+, our core focus has always been cybersecurity and enterprise software, built on Israeli deep-tech cutting-edge technologies. We believe that the rise of quantum computing is set to redefine the cybersecurity landscape itself. Once quantum computers reach scale and computational advantage over classic systems, they’ll potentially have the power to break today’s cryptographic protocols—forcing a total rethinking of how we secure digital systems.

We have been tracking this space closely for several years. While many startups are chasing new ways to build qubits, we made a clear decision: we would invest only in software-layer solutions, where we could leverage our experience and conviction, while avoiding the ongoing battle over quantum hardware technologies being waged by some of the world’s largest and most well-funded companies, including IBM, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others. We met many teams—but QEDMA stood out, both from a standpoint of its practicality in today’s market (evidenced by QEDMA’s early commercial traction), and from its promise for future quantum systems. QEDMA is exactly the kind of company we set up Glilot+ to support, and we are proud to lead this Series A round and back Asif, Dorit, Netanel, and the whole team in building a critical foundation for the quantum era.

Blog Series | Part Two | From Unknowns to Unicorns

Over the many years I’ve been part of the technology and finance scene, I have seen a very clear evolution with respect to both VC and startup cultures. These are two intertwined industries that are unique in that they do not rely upon experience or past successes to determine future success. Rather, they require agility and keen observations into the changes that are taking place at all times. Over the past decade, I have noticed incredibly positive shifts that are contributing to both VC and startup success in Israel today. 

The Israeli Startup Market is Maturing

The total amount of money flowing into the Israeli market has grown significantly. When Glilot started in 2011, VCs managed about two-billion USD. Now in 2021, we are seeing a significant increase to around ten billion USD. Furthermore, when Glilot first started, the big companies born in the 90’s such as Checkpoint, Verint and Nice were trading at a one to two billion USD market cap. There were no unicorns – the idea of a startup with over a one-billion USD valuation was unheard of in Israel.

This has changed completely over the last decade.

We now have a large, mature industry that is working like a well-oiled machine.  When the Startup Nation launched in the 90s, the focus was primarily on semiconductors followed by telecom, with enterprise software not being on the radar. The last decade changed this and thus began the era of enterprise software. The list of exits over the past decade has largely consisted of startups serving other companies, and turning Israel into a hub for multinational companies as a result of the quality of the startups here.

The profile of Israeli entrepreneurs has also changed to a more experienced bunch and it is the companies of second-timers or entrepreneurs that came from C-level tech and business positions at large companies that Glilot and other VCs have focused on. An Urgency for Working at Startups

Another significant change that occurred over the last decade across the Israeli tech industry is the increased desire to launch or work for a startup. The demand to work for an innovative company that will change the world is very high, compared to the desire to work for a big stable company.

People want to make an impact.

For Glilot, this notion resonated from our inception and our investments in, and support of, these startups is what defined our brand identity. Now, a decade later, Glilot has grown to a center-stage VC fund. To this day we have maintained our vision of a founder-friendly fund, which provides as many resources as possible to our portfolio companies in order to drive their growth as trusted partners.

Continued Optimism as Technology Takes Center Stage

With the great developments that took place over the  past decade, I also hold a great deal of optimism about the next decade. I truly believe in a bright future. Technology will continue to take center stage and it will be driven by continued focus on the cloud and cloud migration (which accelerated during the pandemic). I believe we will see less investment in companies that cater to huge data centers, but rather those with a focus on cloud infrastructure (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS). Fortunately, this is where Glilot is strong.  Furthermore, when we began, not many startups aspired to be big, but rather to make a quick exit.

Today, startups are planning to grow through to IPOs as opposed to early exits.

Glilot has positioned itself well to support these companies, with its Value Creation team, robust Advisory Board and most recently, its new early-growth fund, Glilot+. Of course we will see challenges throughout, but the market is responding to these trends and the needs that come with them. In summary… Building a startup is like building a physical building.

The foundation is very important, which is why we at Glilot focus on providing unique support at the start of the startup’s journey.

We, along with our portfolio companies remain flexible and agile, yet strategic. Successful startups think big and broad but are strong in product technology. Without the ability to do both well, they will not succeed. Finally, it’s still all about the people – not just the Founders but also the first hires across the board – whether in development, marketing, sales or the like. Developing the capabilities to get the best product out there with right people is key. Glilot has remained true to its vision which I believe is a driving force for success over the past decade and will continue to guide us in the future.

Manchester City, one of the most dominant football teams in the world, has been a force under Pep Guardiola. They’ve won back-to-back championships, set records, and played breathtaking football. But this season (2024/2025), something changed—or rather, something did not change. The same tactics that had made them unstoppable were no longer working as well. Opponents adapted, the competition evolved, and suddenly, their dominance was in question. Success, ironically, had become their biggest threat.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to sports. In business, companies that don’t evolve, even at the peak of their success, eventually decline. The best leaders understand that what worked yesterday won’t necessarily work tomorrow. That’s why at Glilot Capital Partners , even after achieving an almost 90% net IRR in our first fund and being named the best-performing fund globally, we constantly challenged ourselves to change. The market was evolving, competition was getting tougher, and technology was shifting. Staying still wasn’t an option.

The Nokia Lesson: What Happens When You Don’t Adapt

Nokia was once the undisputed leader in mobile phones. Their devices were everywhere, their brand was synonymous with reliability, and their market share was unrivaled. Yet, when the smartphone revolution began, Nokia was slow to adapt. They underestimated the shift, clung to their existing technology, and resisted embracing change. The result? They went from being the king of mobile to an afterthought in just a few years. Their failure wasn’t due to a lack of resources or talent—it was due to an inability to recognize that staying the same was the riskiest move of all.

Microsoft’s Bold Pivot: Betting on Change

In contrast, Microsoft provides a masterclass in embracing change. In the early 2010s, the company was seen as a legacy giant losing relevance in the new cloud and mobile-driven world. Many believed their dominance in enterprise software would gradually fade. But Satya Nadella took over and made bold moves—shifting the company’s focus to cloud computing with Microsoft Azure , embracing open-source technology, and rethinking their entire software distribution model. At first, some questioned these changes. But today, Microsoft is stronger than ever, with its cloud business driving massive growth and its stock price soaring. Their success came not from holding onto the past but from actively reinventing themselves.

GenAI: The Ultimate Test of Adaptability

Today, we are witnessing another massive shift—Generative AI. It’s reshaping industries, transforming the way businesses operate, and redefining competitive landscapes. Companies that embrace this change and integrate AI into their operations, products, and decision-making processes will unlock incredible opportunities. Those that resist, dismiss, or delay will find themselves left behind. #GenAI is not just another trend; it’s a fundamental shift, much like the internet or cloud computing before it. The question is: Will your company evolve with it or be disrupted by it?

The Key Takeaway: Change Isn’t Optional

Whether in sports, startups, or global enterprises, the principle remains the same—complacency is the enemy of long-term success. Winning today doesn’t guarantee winning tomorrow. The best teams, the best companies, and the best leaders are those who recognize when it’s time to adapt and act decisively.

Pep Guardiola understands that, he has been around for a while, he introduced some changes, but none was enough. I cant tell if he should have been more aggressive on changing field tactics, or replacing old stars or something else. Some times its difficult to know what is the right change, but one thing for sure, no matter how successful you are , you need to change, otherwise you will surely fail(!)

Blog Series | Part One | It’s all About the Entrepreneurs

Since founding Glilot Capital ten years ago, I’m amazed, but not surprised, at how much has evolved in the venture capital and tech landscape. I consistently evaluate the steps we have taken as a venture fund and look to the industry as a whole, learning valuable lessons along the way that have been key in supporting our portfolio companies from seed to scale. 

First obvious lesson is that the founders are the most important piece of the puzzle. The work we do is meaningless without them, as we do what we do to help the founders and increase the odds for them to be successful. There are many contributing factors to the success of a startup including product offering, GTM and Investors support. But at the end of the day, without solid Founders, the startup foundation will crack.

The startups that succeed today are run by Founders who can lead while being part of the team; Those who possess technological know-how as well as strong business acumen, and those who have the desire and persistence to be successful, no matter what falls in their path.

Consistently Challenge Your Model of Conduct

I’ve learned that no matter how successful you become, you must also continue to consistently challenge your beliefs and model of conduct. In the VC world this is especially tricky. As humans, we tend to rely on our experience to drive us forward – that we can replicate the past experiences that led to success in order to drive further success. However, in the VC and tech ecosystem, if you rely on this model, you are bound to make many mistakes. I’ve learned that we need to constantly reexamine our thesis – to base our decisions on what is relevant today or what we believe will be relevant in the future, not two years ago, because in this industry, two years is a lifetime ago.

These learnings are what has enabled us to succeed and get to where we are after a decade –  The biggest achievement of which, in my opinion, is helping the entrepreneurs become successful. Former generations of entrepreneurs would launch their startups and end up with minimal money in their pockets, if any. This would often result in their return to the workforce as employees in large companies, or set them back in their career in some way. 

Success is Not Only Exits and Returns

Today I look back and am in awe of the high success rate of entrepreneurs. At the beginning of Glilot’s run, we were measuring success by the number of exits and returns. Today we add to that the fact that we are seeing many second-time entrepreneurs – a testament to the fact that our partnership with them offers more than just monetary value, but it positions them well for the future.

So What Does the Future Hold?

The Israeli ecosystem is in a great place right now and I’m more optimistic than ever about how it will play out over the next decade. From a technological perspective, I believe we will continue to see a boom of cybersecurity and cloud related companies.

The motivation and ‘no-fail’ attitude of the entrepreneurs behind these companies are driving them to move forward, and will lead them to grow as companies instead of exit.

Additionally, something has changed in the dynamics of the entrepreneurial world over the last couple of decades. 20 years ago, it was more difficult to be an entrepreneur. Today there is an increase in the amount of available funding, making it easier to build a company from the ground up as opposed to changing an existing company. Startups will continue to grow in the Israeli ecosystem as Israeli entrepreneurs have proven themselves to be successful and we will find ourselves seeing more unicorns and more multi-billion dollar companies.

Finally, the VC and tech world is slowly becoming more diverse. We are starting to see increases in under-represented communities such as women,  the Ultra-Orthodox and Arabic communities, but it’s still not where we want it to be. This is a harder goal to achieve, but given the increased awareness, I am optimistic we will see a more diverse representation.

This is also something I have been pushing forward as Co-Chairman of Power in Diversity, a bottom-up initiative inspired by Kate Mitchell and the American National Venture Capital Association. We aim to increase diversity in the Israeli startup industry.

In Conclusion

The last decade has shown many shifts, from an increase in Israeli serial entrepreneurs to an increase in cloud and cyber startups, and more. The venture capital space is one that is ever-evolving, and one that requires a consistent thrive to stay ahead of the curve. I am optimistic that this is only the beginning, and look forward to seeing what the next decade will bring. 

The Moment When Your Heart Is Pounding (And Why It Means You’re On the Right Track)

Every entrepreneur has been there. That moment when your heart is racing, doubt creeps in, and you wonder if you have what it takes to keep going. As a founder—and a (sometimes reluctant) runner—I know that feeling all too well.

Years ago, after a long break from running, I decided to get back into it. Not even a kilometer in, my heart was pounding, my lungs were burning, and I thought, “I’m completely out of shape.” But I kept at it, trained consistently, and pushed through the discomfort. And here’s the thing—even now, after years of running, that feeling still hits me in the first couple of kilometers. The difference? I expect it. I know that if I push through, my breathing will settle, my body will adjust, and I’ll find my rhythm.

Startups work the same way. Every founder faces moments that feel impossible. The difference between a first-time entrepreneur and a seasoned one isn’t avoiding challenges—it’s knowing those challenges are temporary, pushing through, and finding your stride.

Experience: The Ultimate Endurance Trainer

I learned this the hard way when the dot-com bubble burst and nearly took my first startup with it. Clients disappeared, budgets dried up, and raising capital became nearly impossible. It felt like the world was caving in. But instead of throwing in the towel, we looked for other opportunities—and found unexpected traction in Japan, where the economy was more stable. That experience was brutal, but it shaped how I approach challenges. Later, when other ventures hit rough patches, I had the resilience and confidence to navigate them, knowing persistence and adaptability always win.

Take Stewart Butterfield, the founder of Slack. Before Slack revolutionized workplace communication, he was building a gaming company that ultimately failed. But instead of walking away, he saw potential in an internal communication tool they had built and pivoted. That experience—the failure—helped him recognize an opportunity others might have missed.

Building Your Entrepreneurial Endurance: A Guide for First-Time Founders

You can’t shortcut experience, but you can prepare for those gut-check moments by learning from others and building mental resilience. Here’s how:

• Surround Yourself with Experience: Find investors and serial entrepreneurs who’ve been through tough times. Their insights can help you avoid mistakes and keep perspective.
• Hire Leaders Who’ve Weathered Storms: A great executive isn’t just someone with big wins—it’s someone who has battled through setbacks and come out stronger.
• Study the Journeys of Successful Founders: Don’t just focus on their wins. Understand the struggles they faced and how they overcame them.
• Trust Yourself and Your Team: When pressure builds, lean on your co-founders, key team members, and advisors for support and encouragement. Build a culture where problems are tackled together, not in isolation.

The grind is inevitable. That early-stage chaos, the uncertainty, the stress—it’s like the burning in your lungs at the start of a run. But if you expect it, embrace it, and keep pushing forward, you’ll break through.

So, the next time your heart is pounding and it feels like everything is falling apart—remember, this is part of the process, embrace the challenge, and keep running.