Dream, an Israeli artificial intelligence company that provides sovereign AI and cybersecurity services to governments, has closed a $260 million funding round at a $3 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg via the Economic Times. The round nearly triples Dream’s valuation from $1 billion in February 2025.
Bicycle Capital and Group 11 led the round, with additional participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Antler, and Tru Arrow Partners.
Sovereign AI for Governments That Won’t Use American Clouds
Dream was founded in 2023 by Shalev Hulio, Gil Dolev, and Sebastian Kurz. Hulio previously co-founded NSO Group, the maker of the controversial Pegasus spyware. Kurz is a former chancellor of Austria who is currently being investigated for alleged corruption (he was cleared of perjury charges last year).
The company’s pitch is straightforward: governments that handle sensitive data cannot rely on cloud infrastructure controlled by foreign companies. “As AI becomes central to national security, economy and public services, governments face a fundamental choice: depend on systems they do not control from the US or China, for example, or build capabilities they fully own,” Hulio told Bloomberg.
The timing is pointed. Last week, the White House restricted access to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for foreign nationals, a decision Hulio described as “a wake-up call for all nations to understand that if they want to move to AI, they can’t rely on foreign model clouds or tools.”
Hero: An Autonomous Agent for Zero-Day Patching
Dream launched Hero in late 2024, an autonomous AI agent that helps governments identify and patch security vulnerabilities. The product sits within Dream’s broader platform of on-premise AI tools for government operations, which Kurz says allow clients to “fully own, control, and operate” the technology.
Beyond cybersecurity, Dream’s platform handles counterfraud, procurement, and supply chain theft detection. The company has generated nearly $300 million in total sales since beginning commercial operations in late 2024, according to Bloomberg.
Expansion Across Four Continents
The new capital will fund deployment of Dream’s sovereign AI and cyber defense platforms across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. “Especially in Europe, there’s much need to prepare for these new threats,” Kurz told Bloomberg.
The round positions Dream as one of the largest dedicated sovereign AI companies globally, operating in a segment where the Anthropic export control episode demonstrated that dependency on American AI providers carries real geopolitical risk for foreign governments.