Defense technology keeps attracting big money to Israel. According to Globes and Calcalist, defense-tech company Kela is raising about $200 million at a post-money valuation of about $1.2 billion. Calcalist reported a $1 billion pre-money valuation, so the two figures are consistent. According to reports, the round is led by Stripes and D1, with participation from Bill Ackman and Eric Schmidt.
What Kela does
Kela was founded in July 2024 and develops a platform that connects different defense systems so armies can integrate new technologies quickly. Before this round it raised about $100 million, and existing investors include Sequoia, Lux Capital and In-Q-Tel, which invests on behalf of the US intelligence community.
Reasons for caution
Critics note that the valuation is very high relative to revenue, reported to be only tens of millions of dollars. There are also questions about the cybersecurity of the "open architecture" approach the company promotes. According to some reports, the round is still in progress.
The trend
Kela joins a wave of Israeli defense-tech companies raising large sums amid global demand for defense technologies. Ackman, who also invested in Two Delta this week, is steadily increasing his involvement in Israeli tech.
