Dor Knafo

Dor Knafo joined Cyberstarts as a General Partner in 2025, bringing with him a deep conviction that the most impactful cybersecurity companies are built by technical founders who can make the complex feel inevitable. He is especially drawn to entrepreneurs who not only understand the architecture of modern cyber threats but can clearly articulate the precise problem their technology is solving.

Dor was previously the CEO and Co-Founder of Axis Security, a pioneer in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture and one of Cyberstarts’ first seed investments. Founded in 2018, Axis reimagined how enterprises provide secure access to business applications, introducing a cloud-native platform that offered zero-trust connectivity for users across any device, location, or network. Under Dor’s leadership, Axis raised over $100 million from leading investors and built a global customer base spanning Fortune 500 companies. The company was acquired by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) in 2022 and became a foundational part of HPE’s security portfolio.

Prior to founding Axis, Dor served in Unit 8200 of the Israeli Defense Forces, where he worked at the intersection of cyber operations and large-scale enterprise systems. There, he developed a firsthand understanding of the gap between theoretical security models and the messy realities of real-world deployment—insights that later became central to his approach as a founder and investor.

Dor lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and two children. He finds joy in precision, quiet mornings, and conversations that don’t try too hard.