Blog – Merlin VC

Why we dig Dig

May 19, 2022/in Blog Dig/by Seth Spergel

Today Dig Security is coming out of stealth, and we are excited to be joining them in their journey as an investor and partner. Like most VCs, we talk to a lot of startups, and it’s often a difficult decision about whether this is “the one” that we want to commit to. For Dig, it was surprisingly easy. From our first conversation, it was clear CEO Dan Benjamin was an expert storyteller who could clearly lay out the problem at hand, why it needed to be solved, and why Dig was the team to solve it. The three co-founders, Dan, Ido Azran and Gad Akuka (first initials D-I-G — get it?), are all second-time founders tackling a problem they have first-hand knowledge of based on their previous roles.

Merlin Ventures featured on N12 panel at Israeli Cyber Conference

May 18, 2022/in Blog/by Stephen Mccarney

Earlier this week, Merlin Ventures Managing Partner Shay Michel participated in a panel discussion about Israel as a cyber nation. The discussion was broadcast on the news channel N12 and you can watch Shay’s appearance in the recording below (in Hebrew).

Cyolo’s pressure-free guide to getting started with zero trust

April 20, 2022/in Blog Cyolo/by Website Administrator

This post was originally published in Cyolo’s blog. Cyolo is a Merlin Ventures portfolio company.

4 things that can help your startup achieve Gartner Cool Vendor recognition

March 24, 2022/in Blog/by Website Administrator

Since 2004, being named a Gartner “Cool Vendor” is something every technology startup aspires to. As one of Gartner’s most popular programs, Cool Vendors shines a spotlight on new and emerging small companies. Startups will pore over guides about how to work with Gartner or look for insider secrets to becoming a Cool Vendor—doing anything they can to improve their chances of earning the coveted status.

Advice for young startups eyeing federal: What kind of tech does the U.S. Government need?

November 17, 2021/in Blog/by Website Administrator

High-profile cyberattacks against federal systems and critical infrastructure underscore the importance and urgency of strengthening U.S. cybersecurity capabilities. The landmark bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) (H.R.3684), signed into law this week, includes about $2 billion in cybersecurity funding for new cybersecurity initiatives across Federal, State, Local, Tribal and Territorial governments. While the investment is welcome, sadly even $2 billion will not make our government systems immune to attack. The scope of the attack surface and dynamic nature of the threat environment make holistically strengthening cybersecurity a complex endeavor. Equally important, high levels of technical debt resulting from a reliance on legacy systems further hinder modernization efforts.

Advice for young startups eyeing federal: Do certifications matter?

October 25, 2021/in Blog/by Website Administrator

One of the things we pride ourselves on at Merlin Ventures is preparing our portfolio companies for the federal market. What that means varies by company, but one area we like to focus on up front is helping you to understand the various federal certifications that exist (there are a bunch!) and which ones you actually need to be concerned about. Perhaps even more important than understanding which certifications matter is developing a timeline that makes sense for your company. Getting it right means you are prepared to take orders when customers are ready to place them. Getting it wrong means potentially wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on a certification that may expire before it ever helps you.

Advice for young startups eyeing federal: Does the U.S. Government buy Israeli tech?

September 24, 2021/in Blog/by Website Administrator

With many Israeli startup founders coming out of Unit 8200 and other cybersecurity-related groups within the Israeli military, the solutions they develop are often a natural fit for the types of threats government agencies face. As a result, it’s not surprising that Israeli CEOs are deeply interested in knowing whether they can sell their products to U.S. government agencies. When they ask, we try to give as definitive an answer as we can: Yes, no and maybe.

What Merlin Ventures looks for in startups

September 9, 2021/in Blog All Companies/by Website Administrator

There’s no doubt that 2021 has seen record-setting attacks, including last week’s announcement about an Atlassian Confluence vulnerability being exploited in the wild. Driven in part by the geopolitical climate, cyberattacks against U.S. federal, state, and local governments are growing in frequency, sophistication, and boldness. Between high-profile attacks such as the SolarWinds and Kaseya breaches and a shift to cloud computing that has rendered traditional perimeter security obsolete, government agencies are facing an increasingly urgent need to prioritize security.

Why we created Merlin Ventures

August 24, 2021/in Blog/by Website Administrator

There are 607 venture capital firms operating in Israel. (Trust us. We had our poor analyst count them.) Of those, 146 do cyber investments. So clearly what Israel, and the world at large, needs now is pretty much anything other than one more cyber-focused VC.

Amazon Web Services acquires Merlin Ventures portfolio partner Wickr

June 25, 2021/in Blog/by Website Administrator

Amazon Web Services announced today that they have acquired Wickr, the IT industry’s most secure, end-to-end encrypted, communication platform. The 10-year-old company has grown rapidly and has been a Merlin Ventures portfolio partner since 2019. Merlin congratulates Wickr on this exciting next step in its evolution!

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