# Dor Knafo

> Dor Knafo is an Israeli cybersecurity entrepreneur and general partner at Cyberstarts. He co-founded Axis Security with Gil Azrielant in 2018 and served as CEO through its acquisition by HPE in 2023. His earlier work included security research at Fireglass and Symantec and five years in Unit 8200.

- **Role:** General Partner at Cyberstarts
- **Organizations:** Cyberstarts, Axis Security, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fireglass, Symantec, Israel Defense Forces Unit 8200
- **From:** Ashdod, Israel
- **Nationality:** Israeli
- **Education:** B.Sc. in Computer Science, cum laude, IDC Herzliya (now Reichman University)
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led Axis Security through its acquisition by HPE., Built an enterprise cloud-security business with approximately $100 million in reported funding., Selected with co-founder Gil Azrielant for Forbes Israel’s 2021 30 Under 30 list.

## Career timeline

- **—** — Served for five years in Unit 8200 as a senior software engineer.
- **2016** — Presented AWS security research at Black Hat USA with Fireglass co-founder Dan Amiga.
- **2017** — Co-presented research on malicious-document analysis at Black Hat Asia; worked at Fireglass and subsequently Symantec.
- **2018** — Co-founded Axis Security with Gil Azrielant; became CEO.
- **2020** — Axis emerged from stealth in March with $17 million in combined funding and announced a $32 million Series B in September.
- **2021** — Axis announced a $50 million Series C led by Spark Capital in March; reported total funding of about $100 million.
- **2022** — Axis unveiled Atmos, its Security Service Edge platform, in April.
- **2023** — HPE completed the Axis acquisition on March 15; acquisition-date fair value consideration was $412 million.
- **2025** — Joined Cyberstarts as a general partner; appointment publicly announced in June.
- **2026** — Identified in January reporting as leading Cyberstarts’ investment in Spirit, then in the process of raising $50 million.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led Axis Security through its acquisition by HPE.
- Built an enterprise cloud-security business with approximately $100 million in reported funding.
- Selected with co-founder Gil Azrielant for Forbes Israel’s 2021 30 Under 30 list.
- Co-presented at Black Hat USA 2016 and Black Hat Asia 2017.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — CTech reported that Knafo and Gili Raanan were exploring a second Tel Aviv location for Cyberstarts portfolio companies.
- **2026-01** — CTech identified Knafo as leading Cyberstarts’ investment in Spirit, which was then raising $50 million at a reported $400 million valuation; the report described a fundraising process, not a completed round.
- **2025-06** — Publicly announced his move to Cyberstarts as general partner.

## Links

- Website: https://www.cyberstarts.com/team/dor-knafo
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dor-knafo/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/DorKnafo

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dor-knafo
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26