Israeli Cybersecurity Startups Lead LinkedIn Ranking

LinkedIn ranked Israeli identity security firm Oak first in its 2026 Top Startups list on Wednesday, with cybersecurity and artificial intelligence companies taking prominent positions among the 15 emerging firms. Oak launched publicly in July with a $60 million seed investment led by Greylock Partners, Accel and CRV.

Shai Morag co-founded Oak with Tal Marom. According to the article, Morag previously founded two cybersecurity companies that Palo Alto Networks and Tenable acquired.

Cybersecurity at the Top

Oak took first place, followed by doubleAI, a three-year-old AI development firm, in second, and Wonderful, an AI operating-system developer, in third. Kela Technologies appeared twice: as an open software platform in fourth place and as a business-to-business cybersecurity firm in fifth.

The other companies on the list were Cyera, a private network security company; Notch, an AI automation company; Mate Security, a cybersecurity firm; Eon, a cloud data protection company; Port, a workflow automation company; Encore AI, an AI data analysis company; Limitless Labs, an AI firm for precision manufacturing; Adaptive6, a spending control company; Dream, an AI cybersecurity company; and FINQ, an AI fintech firm.

The list features companies working on cybersecurity solutions, what LinkedIn called AI “expert intelligence,” and workflow automation. LinkedIn said it identified the companies using only data available on its platform. The ranking tracks activity and hiring signals, not product performance or the companies’ security records.

How LinkedIn Measured Growth

LinkedIn said it drew on five sections of data: employee growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. The platform’s statement described the annual list as surfacing “the 15 emerging Israeli companies growing fast, gaining attention and recruiting top talent right now.”

LinkedIn measured engagement through views and follows of company pages by people who weren't employees, along with views of startup employees’ profiles by non-employees. Job interest came from views of advertised roles and applications to those roles. To measure the attraction of top talent, LinkedIn assessed each company’s ability to hire workers from LinkedIn’s global Top Companies lists.

These measures put employee activity, audience attention and recruitment at the center of the ranking. The published description doesn't set out separate security-performance criteria for cybersecurity firms, including Oak, Mate Security and Dream.

Eligibility Rules

Companies had to meet LinkedIn’s requirements to qualify. They had to be no more than seven years old, privately held, fully independent and not owned by a larger firm. They also needed at least 30 employees employed from July 2025 to June 2026.

The rules excluded companies that laid off 10% or more of their workforce between July 1, 2025, and publication of the list. LinkedIn said it relied only on information from its own platform. Its criteria, then, describe how companies grew, attracted attention and recruited through LinkedIn; the article offers no further assessment of their products or operations.