Age 25, no investors: The prodigy sells the startup he founded just a year ago

Belgian company Hex-Rays acquires Israeli startup Ventris in a deal valued at $30-35 million. Ventris, founded a year ago by Elon Glicksberg (25) without raising capital, developed an operating system for AI agents for security research. All company employees will continue in their roles.

Belgian company Hex-Rays, which develops cybersecurity tools for reverse engineering and code analysis, is acquiring the Israeli startup Ventris in a deal estimated at $30-35 million. All Ventris employees will continue working at Hex-Rays after the acquisition, and the company plans to recruit additional vulnerability researchers and developers. Ventris, founded about a year ago without raising capital from investors, developed an operating system for artificial intelligence agents used for security research. The company's founder and CEO is Elon Glicksberg (25), who began programming and cybersecurity in middle school, served in various roles in Unit 8200, and led projects there. After his military service, he joined another startup as its first employee to gain experience. He was joined by Amit Shendel, who served with him in 8200 and serves as CTO. The system developed by Ventris allows security researchers to define and execute research processes using AI agents, measure performance, and verify findings. It analyzes source code and binary files to detect known vulnerabilities, zero-day vulnerabilities, malware, and backdoors, and operates in air-gapped environments. The headline highlights the founder's young age and the fact that the company did not raise capital, but the body describes a standard technology acquisition deal.