ByANNA AHRONHEIM

JUNE 18, 2026 12:42

Updated: JUNE 18, 2026 14:02

Dream, a firm focused on artificial intelligence and cyber defense tools for governments and vital infrastructure, has secured $260 million in its latest round. This brings the company's valuation to $3 billion only three years after launch.

Bicycle Capital and Group 11 co led the investment, joined by Antler, Bain Capital Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners and others. The firm noted that the new capital comes after securing nearly $300 million in contract value since starting commercial work in late 2024.

The company markets its offerings as sovereign AI platforms that operate fully inside environments controlled by national authorities. This setup lets governments safeguard their information and apply it without reliance on overseas suppliers.

Sebastian Kurz, president and co founder, observed that governments have shifted from debating AI adoption to figuring out ways to retain oversight. He called sovereign AI essential for building national strength and staying competitive.

In remarks from Tel Aviv, Kurz told The Jerusalem Post that he and Hulio launched Dream to address how AI would reshape global dynamics and cyber threats.

With the United States and China ahead in the AI sovereignty push, he stressed that other nations require independent technology to avoid external dependence.

Kurz added that Europe lags in this field, which positions the European Israeli company to offer significant support.

He noted that nations will evolve into supernations through AI use. Nuclear power once defined super status, but digital domains such as cyber, quantum and AI now hold the key.

Shalev Hulio, co founder and CEO, compared the AI era to past waves of infrastructure spending that drove growth and security. The company's goal is to assist governments in safeguarding and applying their data as AI becomes central to defense and public services.

"Land built empires. Industry built nations. Artificial intelligence will build the next super nations," he said. "Every nation holds data. Few can shield it. Fewer can harness it. Sovereign AI provides the answer. We created Dream to help governments protect their information, turn it into knowledge, and turn that knowledge into national strength. A nation's future must never rest on technology beyond its control."

The former Austrian chancellor highlighted how AI can boost efficiency across industries. Dream supplies what he called "AI in a box" - systems tailored for nations and critical infrastructure.

The company currently provides three core platforms. Sphere delivers unified national cyber defense by merging intelligence, exposure tracking, attack path review, digital twin modeling and AI powered detection with response.

Hero serves as an independent AI security researcher that spots weaknesses and keeps testing protections. Atlas functions as the sovereign AI platform that links scattered government data to produce organized insights inside secure, nationally controlled settings.

"Everything comes down to data," Kurz said. "The real need is the ability to create value from it."

Growing footprint

Investors view the firm as operating at the crossroads of AI, cybersecurity and government technology.

"Governments worldwide increasingly want secure and sovereign methods to roll out artificial intelligence," said Shu Nyatta, co founder and managing partner of Bicycle Capital. "Dream has developed a distinctive platform where AI meets cybersecurity and government technology. The company is shaping one of the most vital technology areas for the decade ahead."

Founded in 2023 by Hulio, Kurz and Gil Dolev, Dream has around 350 staff in Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi and Vienna. The new funds will speed rollout of its sovereign AI and national cyber defense tools across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Total capital raised now stands at $412 million.

In February the company launched a sovereign AI data center near Modiin. Built with an investment in the tens of millions of dollars, the site serves national agencies and critical infrastructure operators that demand complete authority over data, model training and deployment.

The facility features a GPU cluster using NVIDIA B200 systems. This allows Dream to train its own language models and specialized AI tools aimed at cybersecurity, healthcare, transportation, finance and government decision support.

Through the Modiin center, Dream seeks to bolster its place in Israel's expanding AI sector, which covers defense focused AI projects, secure cloud setups and national cyber strengths. The site will back ongoing work on AI systems that meet top standards for security, reliability and accountability.