LinkedIn unveils ranking of best Israeli startups of 2026, with cybersecurity, AI firms leading

LinkedIn shared its 2026 ranking of the best Israeli startups on Wednesday, with the newly unveiled identity security firm Oak, which was launched publicly in July with a $60 million seed investment, leading the ranking.

Greylock Partners, Accel, and CRV led Oak's seed funding, and Shai Morag, who has already founded two cybersecurity companies acquired by market giants such as Palo Alto Networks and Tenable, co-founded the company with Tal Marom.

"Our annual LinkedIn Top Startups list surfaces the 15 emerging Israeli companies growing fast, gaining attention and recruiting top talent right now," said LinkedIn in a statement.

The three-year-old AI development firm doubleAI placed second, AI operating system developer Wonderful placed third, open software platform Kela Technologies was fourth, and business-to-business (B2B) cybersecurity firm Kela Technologies placed fifth.

LinkedIn explained that it identified companies working on pioneering cybersecurity solutions, AI "expert intelligence," and automation of workflows, while only data from LinkedIn was used to develop the ranking.

The full ranking includes Cyera (Private network security), Notch (AI automation), Mate Security (Cybersecurity), Eon (Cloud data protection), Port (Workflow automation), Encore AI (AI data analysis), Limitless Labs (AI for precision manufacturing), Adaptive6 (Spending control), Dream (AI cybersecurity), and FINQ (AI fintech firm).

The professional social networking platform explained that the ranking focused on five sections of data available on LinkedIn: employee growth, engagement, job interest, and attraction of top talent.

It also specified that engagement was measured with "views and follows of company pages by non-employees, as well as non-employees’ views of startup employees’ profiles."

The "job interest" ranking used views of and applications to advertised roles, while the acquisition of top talent was measured by ranking the company's ability to hire workers from LinkedIn’s global Top Companies lists.

LinkedIn also explained that companies included in the ranking were required to be no more than seven years old, privately held, fully independent (and not owned by larger firms), and to have at least 30 employees employed from July 2025 to June 2026.

It also clarified that startups that laid off 10% or more of their workforce during July 1, 2025, and the list’s publication were ineligible for the ranking.