Irregular Named Israel’s Most Promising Startup for 2026 Following Partnership with Anthropic and OpenAI

Israeli security lab Irregular takes the #1 spot on the Top 50 Startups list, partnering with OpenAI and Anthropic to lead the frontier of AI model control.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 28, 2026, 5:10 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Calcalist

A New Benchmark for AI Model Security

Irregular has emerged as the premier security lab for frontier artificial intelligence, positioning itself as a vital infrastructure partner for industry giants like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. Founded in November 2023 by Dan Lahav and Omer Nevo, the company specializes in "model control," a specialized field that assesses how advanced systems behave under the pressure of autonomous threats. The startup’s rapid rise was punctuated by its ranking as the most promising Israeli company in the 2026 Calcalist and CTech Top 50 list. According to the founders, their mission is to redefine cybersecurity for the generative era, aiming to build a foundational entity comparable to industry leaders like Palo Alto Networks or CrowdStrike.

Strategic Partnerships with Frontier Labs

The company’s credibility is anchored by high-level collaborations with the architects of modern AI, including a contract with Anthropic that bears the signature of founder Dario Amodei. Irregular’s labs provide a controlled environment where developers can "red team" their models, simulating sophisticated attacks to identify vulnerabilities before public release. This partnership-first approach has allowed the small Tel Aviv team to consult directly with leaders like Sam Altman on the defense of large language models. By identifying risks that established security firms have yet to address, such as the ability of AI agents to coordinate workarounds to bypass safety protocols, Irregular has secured a unique position within the global AI supply chain.

The Financial Trajectory of a Profitable Unicorn

While many startups in the AI space remain pre-revenue, Irregular achieved profitability in 2025, largely due to several seven-figure contracts signed with major tech corporations and government entities, including the British government. Despite this early financial independence, the company raised $80 million in September 2025 across two rapid-fire funding rounds. The investment was led by Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures, with participation from notable Israeli figures such as Wiz founder Assaf Rappaport and Eon’s Ofir Ehrlich. The funding, which valued the company at approximately $450 million, was intended to scale compute resources and expand a recruitment process that now sees a volume of applicants fifty times its previous norm.