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

Blockaid, a web3 security startup co-founded by two former Israeli military cyber intelligence personnel, has come out of stealth with $33 million in funding.

The funding came in two rounds — $6 million seed 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, who both co-led the round.

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

Blockaid's seed round closed in late 2022, and the Series A closed under a year after the seed round, Ben-Natan said. He declined to comment on the structure of the round, valuation, and whether any of the investors have joined as Blockaid's 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, resulting in 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 fully examine off-chain signatures (EIP-712s) as effectively as on-chain transactions, distinguishing itself from competitors such as CertiK and Cyvers.

"We simulate and validate blockchain transactions before they are executed," Ben-Natan said. "Our dApp [decentralized application] Scanning Engine fully simulates all possible user interactions on any dApp. It does this 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 over 1.3 million attacks, protecting over $7.1 billion worth of assets and averting losses of over $500 million, according to Ben-Natan.

Giving a recent example, Blockaid said it successfully stopped a phishing attack through Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's X account, safeguarding users' wallets where its service was active. However, unsecured wallets totaling approximately $700,000 in assets, including valuable NFTs, fell victim to the attack, it added.

Blockaid's clients include MetaMask, OpenSea, Zerion Wallet and Rainbow Wallet. With fresh funding in place, the firm looks to onboard more clients. "Even in these market conditions, we have seen immense demand from new customers," Ben-Natan said. "This funding round will enable us to continue to support our existing customers while simultaneously catering to the long list of new customers waiting to integrate Blockaid."

Blockaid operates out of New York and Tel Aviv and currently has a headcount of around 25 people, Ben-Natan said, adding that the firm is looking to hire more people across functions.