Israel is unusual in the West: It still has a draft. At the end of high school, instead of applying to colleges, students make bids to join elite units in the military. From the paratroopers to the combat divisions to the elite intelligence group Unit 8200, competition to get the best assignments is fierce.

Israel’s startup ecosystem has thrived by leveraging this talent to build tremendous businesses: post-draft, the country’s “technowarriors” staff many of its most successful tech companies. Veterans of 8200 and other units founded Sequoia portfolio companies Wiz, Island, Cyera, Eon and Decart, among others—and today, about half of global cybersecurity investment goes into Israeli companies. 

Kela’s mission is to redeploy this technowarrior talent back into the defense sector. The vision is two-fold: in the short term, to upgrade Israel’s internal defense capabilities. The company’s initial focus is border protection, an urgent priority post-October 7th. In the long term, the ambition is to convert Israel into a defense tech hub for Western militaries—a source of strategic advantage for NATO and the U.S. as they seek to deter their adversaries.

As conflicts become more tech-native—we have seen previews of this in Ukraine—the Israeli skillset is becoming increasingly important for the Pentagon and for NATO countries. Cyberwarfare, AI, autonomous systems, jamming and counter-jamming techniques, and GPS-denied navigation are just a few of the ways modern defense is becoming technologically sophisticated. Historically, a nation’s industrial might determined its military power. If technology begins to play a co-equal role, then Israel should evolve an even more critical role in defending the Western alliance: as a major exporter of advanced defense technology.

Kela’s founders share a deep expertise in military intelligence. Alon Dror graduated from Israel’s highly selective Talpiot program, which accepts only 25 to 60 cadets per year. After Talpiot, he served as a Tank Platoon Commander and in MAFAT, Israel’s R&D directorate, where he won the Israel Defense Prize. Hamutal Meridor served in Unit 8200 before entering the private sector, where she was General Manager for Palantir’s Israel business. Alon and Hamutal share highly complementary skillsets: Alon is a mission-oriented R&D leader and Hamutal is a business-oriented strategist. Both see Kela as their life’s work.

We at Sequoia had independently formed a thesis around Israeli defense tech, and were primed on this idea when we re-connected with Alon and Hamutal, both of whom we had pre-existing relationships with, during a trip to Israel in April 2024. We were so invigorated by the team’s plans that we extended a breakfast meeting into a full-day conversation. We also traveled to Jerusalem to meet Jason Manne, the company’s third co-founder and an algorithms team leader (Major) in an elite combat-focused R&D unit. Jason was accurately described to us as “the guy you come to when you need something built in two days that usually takes two months.” We were privileged to lead Kela’s $10M seed round shortly thereafter.

The final dominos fell into place over the summer: Omer Bar-Ilan, a technical genius known for his work on Israel’s Iron Dome, joined as Kela’s fourth co-founder. We also partnered with Lux Capital’s Brandon Reeves and Josh Wolfe, who led the company’s Series A and brought on a fantastic angel coalition. The former deputy commander of Unit 8200 was an early advisor to Kela, and numerous retired generals helped to hone the vision and value proposition.

Since its founding, the Kela team has been relentlessly focused on product R&D. Kela’s product is an open architecture platform to integrate sensor data for defense. The company aims to leverage existing commercially available and military-grade technology. It does this by 1) militarizing existing commercial technology (e.g., drones), 2) integrating disparate military technology systems (e.g., specialized sensors), 3) delivering these capabilities to personnel through a single, easy-to-use command center interface and 4) embedding advanced intelligence and AI.

Seven months into building, Kela’s product is now live in the field with multiple active projects. The team’s speed has been a critical differentiator, allowing Kela to achieve in days what legacy companies might require weeks, months, or even years to accomplish. This has earned it early plaudits from both generals and soldiers, who value Kela’s deep understanding of their mission, the company’s technological rigor, and the team’s quick, seamless execution.

With strong demand in Israel and early market pull from American and NATO customers, Kela is now scaling up. The company has recruited 20 elite individuals, each of whom is standalone brilliant, and who collectively have become a force to be reckoned with. We are excited to announce our new venture to the world. Calling on all technowarriors—come join us!