• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechCybersecurity

AT&T, Accenture, Nokia Invest $23 Million in Cybersecurity Startup-Creator

Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 23, 2016, 7:30 AM ET
AT&T, Verizon Happy To Be Toe-To-Toe
BOSTON - MARCH 13: John Garbarczyk, of Midwest Store Fixtures, brings a board up the stairs to the second level working on the new AT&T flagship store on Friday, March 13. The store is opening up at 699 Boylston Street, about a block away from the Verizon flagship store. (Photo by Sean Proctor for The Boston Globe via Getty Images)Sean Proctor—Boston Globe Boston Globe via Getty Images

Team8, a cybersecurity startup based in Israel, said Tuesday it raised $23 million. The Series B round of financing includes investors AT&T (T), Accenture (ACN), Nokia (NOK), Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, and Singaporean government-owned Temasek.

The company raised $18 million a year ago, bringing its present fundraising total to $41 million. The latest set of financiers join existing investors Cisco (CSCO), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), and venture capital firms Bessemer Venture Partners, Marker, and Innovation Endeavors, co-founded by Alphabet (GOOG) executive chairman Eric Schmidt.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Nadav Zafrir, co-founder, CEO, and former head of Israel’s intelligence unit 8200, the country’s National Security Agency equivalent, describes his company as a cybersecurity “foundry,” meaning that its purpose is to churn out startups and founders of its own. He tells Fortune that Team8 has plans to launch five companies in five years.

“We don’t invest in cybersecurity companies,” he says. “We actually build them.”

Team8 has hired 130 people in the past year, Zafrir says. Founded in 2014, the company has already launched one company.

Illusive Networks, its sole progeny (so far), has itself raised $27 million in two rounds of funding from investors that include Team8, New Enterprise Associates, and the venture capital arm of Citi Group (C). The firm deploys “deception” technology in corporate IT environments—bogus bait like network administrator credentials, for example—in order to fool and ensnare hackers.

For more on cybersecurity startup funding, watch:

Team8 plans to launch two more companies this year, Zafrir says. The first should debut in about three months and is focused on protecting industrial firm’s networks, such as those of utilities and oil and gas companies. The second should be officially announced in six months and aims to provide data breach cleanup services to businesses victimized by hacks.

“Cyberattacks are evolving and are no longer only a CIO, CSO, or IT department issue,” said John Donovan, chief strategy officer and president of AT&T’s Technology and Operations group, in a statement. “This strategic investment is key to not merely iterating, but innovating against today’s highly adaptive attacker.”

Future plans for Team8 include the launches of two more companies focused on some mix of cloud, mobile, or Internet of things, Zafrir says. He said he expects the latest set of investors to provide Team8 with expertise and engineering skills, as well as insight toward expanding into global markets like Asia.

About the Author
Robert Hackett
By Robert Hackett
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

Man wearing a black suit with a microphone
InvestingMicrostrategy
Michael Saylor’s Strategy flirts again with the danger threshold at which his company is worth less than his Bitcoin
By Jim EdwardsJanuary 2, 2026
13 hours ago
Musk
Travel & LeisureElectric vehicles
Tesla is officially smaller than China’s BYD in EV sales as it reports second-straight year of falling sales
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 2, 2026
14 hours ago
blondie
Lawintellectual property
Betty Boop and Blondie join Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh in the public domain
By Andrew Dalton and The Associated PressJanuary 2, 2026
15 hours ago
Eric Simons
Commentarystart-ups
15 years after skipping college to launch 3 startups, I believe the taboo around questioning higher ed is holding an entire generation back
By Eric SimonsJanuary 2, 2026
16 hours ago
Eric Schmidt sat in a white chair, speaking on a stage.
AIGoogle
How former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is motivated by Henry Kissinger to keep working past 70
By Jordan BlumJanuary 2, 2026
17 hours ago
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, speaks during the Collision 2022 conference at Enercare Centre in Toronto, Canada.
AIElectricity
Google ex-CEO Eric Schmidt jumps into the AI data center business with a failed, 150-year-old Texas railroad turned oil giant
By Jordan BlumJanuary 2, 2026
18 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
Marriott’s CEO spoke out about DEI. The next day, he had 40,000 emails from his associates
By Ashley LutzJanuary 1, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Melinda French Gates got her start at Microsoft because an IBM hiring manager told her to turn down its job offer—'It dumbfounded me'
By Emma BurleighDecember 31, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Buddhist monks peace-walking from Texas to DC persist even after being run over on highway outside Houston
By The Associated PressDecember 30, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Red Lobster’s 36-year-old CEO led the company after bankruptcy. Now he’s plotting the 'greatest comeback in the history of the restaurant industry'
By Sydney LakeJanuary 2, 2026
18 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Banking
Man says Goldman Sachs put him through a gauntlet of 39 one-on-one interviews—and the decisive conversation was less than a minute
By Dave SmithJanuary 2, 2026
19 hours ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
Exiting CEO left each employee at his family-owned company a $443,000 gift—but they have to stay 5 more years to get all of it
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 30, 2025
4 days ago