JERUSALEM, March 12 (Reuters) - Israeli cyber firm Onyx

Security officially launched operations on Thursday after

securing $40 million in initial funding, signalling continued

investor interest in the country's technology sector despite the

ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The tech sector, regarded as one of the largest in the

world, accounts for about 20% of GDP, 15% of jobs and more than

half of Israeli exports, with cybersecurity becoming a

fast-growing segment.

Onyx, which has developed a platform to secure and control

artificial-intelligence agents, has been in so-called "stealth

mode" for the last year-and-a-half, and said it was already

working with multiple Fortune 500 companies.

"Every enterprise is becoming an agent operator - whether

they planned to or not," said Maxim Bar Kogan, co-founder and

CEO of Onyx, who served in Israel's 8200 military intelligence

unit.

"Agents are given access to the most critical systems in the

enterprise, but what are our guarantees they will not make

serious mistakes or get compromised?" he said. "The safe

adoption of AI agents requires security from attacks, as well as

ensuring agents don't make critical mistakes."

The funding round was led by venture firms Conviction

Partners and Cyberstarts, as well as a group of angel investors,

Onyx said. The funds, it said, would be used to expand product

and engineering teams as well as develop new AI models.

Alphabet's Google on Wednesday completed its $32

billion purchase of Israeli cyber firm Wiz.

Despite the conflict in Gaza, Israeli tech startups raised

some $16 billion in 2025, up from $12.2 billion in 2024.