Israeli cyber security startup Apex gets initial investment from Sam Altman

"We started Apex to build the extra layers of security that's needed for enterprises to adopt (AI)," said Apex's CEO, Matan Derman

Israeli cyber security start-up Apex, which focuses on protecting the rapid use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, said on Thursday it received an undisclosed investment from OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman.

In all, Apex raised $7 million in a seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures, with participation from Altman and others, it said. Altman did not immediately comment.

Apex said it had been running trials with a number of Fortune 500 companies and investment firms and was close to finalising paid contracts. The new funds will go toward accelerating product development, hiring workers and marketing, the company said.

With demand growing for AI tools - including OpenAI's ChatGPT - that help to complete tasks much faster, their users are seeking ways to protect their own data and prevent threats and inappropriate data from entering their systems.

"There is a whole new segment of threats and risks using AI models. It starts with data leakage and problems on the data side. It goes to privacy, compliance and what comes back into an organisation," Matan Derman, Apex's CEO, told Reuters.

That marked a pivotal moment for the cyber security industry, which until has focused on prevention and blocking unwanted access, he said.

"We started Apex to build the extra layers of security that's needed for enterprises to adopt (AI)," he said. "We will try to take this as far as we can."

Israel is a global leader in cyber security with hundreds of startups.

Ten months ago, Derman co-founded Apex with Tomer Avni, whom he met when both served as officers in the Israeli military's elite 8200 intelligence unit. Since then the company has been operating in so-called stealth mode, working in secrecy with selected companies.

"Every board, every CEO, every investor and every entrepreneur is talking about AI and how they can leverage AI," Avni said. "So, the need for security is much more imminent." Avni said that AI is the latest in major shifts in technology, that began with the emergence of personal computers, and then moved to networks and the cloud - with each requiring added security.

"AI is probably going to be bigger than all these (prior) revolutions," he said, "because AI is just everywhere."