Pegasus creator's Dream targets Latin America's new right

Dream, the Israeli cybersecurity startup co‑founded by Shalev Hulio — the creator of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware — has accelerated an expansion into Latin America as it seeks sovereign customers in the region. The company, which tripled its valuation to $3 billion this year and employs more than 300 people across offices in Tel Aviv, Vienna and Abu Dhabi (with a Munich office planned), says it provides AI‑powered defensive platforms to detect threats and patch vulnerabilities. Dream has built a sovereign data centre near Modiin, Israel, and reports sales that have reportedly exceeded $300 million, more than doubling over the past two years.

"Defensive cybersecurity is a fundamentally different business from offensive surveillance," investors led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11 have accepted, the company says — a distinction central to Dream's pitch as it courts Washington‑aligned governments in Latin America.

Context and details

• Founders and leadership: Dream was launched in January 2023 by Shalev Hulio, with co‑founders Sebastian Kurz, the former Austrian chancellor, and Gil Dolev, founder of intelligence‑gathering firm Wayout Group. Kurz was convicted in February 2024 of making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry and subsequently acquitted on appeal in May 2025.
• Market rationale: Industry estimates cited by the company point to cyber incidents in Latin America rising roughly 25% annually. A World Bank assessment gave the region an average cybersecurity preparedness score of 10.2 out of 20.
• High‑profile regional incidents: Costa Rica’s 2022 experience is highlighted as a cautionary tale — the Conti ransomware group attacked roughly 30 government institutions, demanded $10 million, and prompted President Rodrigo Chaves to declare a national emergency on 8 May; weeks later the Hive group struck the healthcare system, forcing hospitals to revert to paper.
• Sovereign sales strategy: Dream positions itself to sell to national security agencies where political alignment and government‑to‑government trust matter. The company operates across three continents and counts sovereign clients in the Middle East among its largest accounts, although it does not publicly name those customers.
• Competitive landscape: The sovereign defence AI market is drawing new entrants, with startups such as Rilian raising funds to deploy AI into air‑gapped government environments, but Dream’s scale, its government relationships and its proprietary training infrastructure are cited as significant advantages.

Outlook

Latin America would extend Dream’s footprint to a fourth continent and offer a customer base whose cybersecurity budgets are growing from a low base, presenting clear commercial logic: sell to governments that need the technology, can afford it, and are politically willing to buy from an Israeli firm. The company’s timing coincides with a regional political shift that has brought several Israel‑friendly leaders to power — for example Argentina’s Javier Milei and Colombia’s recently elected Abelardo De la Espriella, who has pledged to restore diplomatic relations with Israel.

Yet the expansion raises questions that civil‑society groups and privacy advocates are likely to press: can the founder who built what critics call the most powerful surveillance tool ever made convincingly draw a line between defensive platforms and the offensive spyware legacy associated with Pegasus? Dream’s backers and executives maintain the businesses are distinct, but that argument will be tested as the company seeks sensitive sovereign contracts across Latin America.