Ex-Israeli military alums raise $33 million for web3 security startup Blockaid

Blockaid, a Web3 security startup co-founded by two former Israeli military cyber intelligence personnel, has emerged from stealth with $33 million in funding.

The funding came in two rounds – $6 million seed funding and $27 million Series A – Ido Ben-Natan, co-founder and CEO of Blockaid, told The Block. The seed round investors include Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Cyberstarts, Ben-Natan said. The Series A round saw participation from all three investors, as well as Ribbit Capital and Variant, both of which co-led the round.

Blockaid was founded in September 2022 by Ben-Natan and his former colleague Raz Niv. Both previously worked in the cybersecurity research and development team in Unit 8200, the Israeli army’s cyber intelligence unit, and in the office of the Prime Minister of Israel.

Blockaid’s seed round closed at the end of 2022 and the Series A closed less than a year after the seed round, Ben-Natan said. He declined to comment on the structure of the round, its valuation and whether any of the investors have joined as Blockaid board members.

The news comes amid an ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group. Earlier this month, Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel, causing more than 1,000 Israeli casualties.

What is Blockaid?

Blockaid offers web3 security tools to help prevent crypto fraud, phishing and hacks. Blockaid said it is the only platform that can examine off-chain signatures (EIP-712s) as effectively as on-chain transactions, setting itself apart from competitors such as CertiK and Cyvers.

“We simulate and validate blockchain transactions before they are executed,” says Ben-Natan. “Our dApp [decentralized application] Scanning Engine fully simulates all possible user interactions on every dApp. This is done through our dApp Scanning Sandbox, which validates whether the interactions – and the dApp itself – are malicious,” he added.

Blockaid has scanned more than 450 million transactions to date, preventing more than 1.3 million attacks, protecting more than $7.1 billion in assets and averting losses of more than $500 million, Ben-Natan said.

In a recent example, Blockaid said it successfully stopped a phishing attack via Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s X account, protecting users’ wallets where the service was active. However, unsecured wallets containing a total of around $700,000 in assets, including valuable NFTs, fell victim to the attack, it added.

Blockaid’s customers include MetaMask, OpenSea, Zerion Wallet and Rainbow Wallet. Now that new financing is available, the company wants to attract more customers. “Even in these market conditions, we have seen tremendous demand from new customers,” said Ben-Natan. “This round of funding will allow us to continue supporting our existing customers while meeting the long list of new customers waiting for Blockaid to be integrated.”

Blockaid operates out of New York and Tel Aviv and currently has a workforce of about 25 people, Ben-Natan said, adding that the company is looking to hire more people for various positions.