On January 11, 2026, Israeli cybersecurity startup Torq announced it just raised $140 million in Series D funding, hitting a $1.2 billion valuation and joining the exclusive unicorn club. But here’s what makes this deal interesting-it’s not about some untested technology. It’s about a company that already proved its model works, scaled incredibly fast, and now needs capital to dominate a massive market.
Why It Raised $140M – Main Reason
In 2025 alone, Torq reported 300% revenue growth. Three hundred percent. That’s not incremental. That’s explosive. The company went from a promising startup to an enterprise necessity in just one year. When you grow that fast, you either capitalize on the momentum or you lose to competitors. Torq chose to capitalize.
But there’s a deeper reason. Torq is solving a problem that every enterprise with a security operations center (SOC) faces: burnout. Security teams are drowning. They get thousands of alerts daily-most of them false alarms. Analysts spend hours investigating low-fidelity alerts instead of dealing with actual threats. It’s exhausting. It leads to burnout. It leads to resignations. And it leaves companies vulnerable.
Torq’s AI agents handle this problem. They investigate alerts automatically, triage threats, and only involve humans when there’s an actual threat. One Torq customer, Valvoline, saw results within 48 hours of deployment. Their team went from drowning in alerts to focused threat response. That story repeated across Fortune 500 companies-Marriott, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Uber, Virgin Atlantic. These aren’t startup pilots. These are real deployments protecting real companies.
The funding was led by Merlin Ventures, a cybersecurity-focused VC firm with deep connections to U.S. federal and government markets. That’s the key insight. Merlin doesn’t invest in technology for technology’s sake. They invest when they see a proven product ready to scale into government contracts. And Merlin bringing their connections to the table signals something important: Torq is ready for the big leagues-federal government and critical infrastructure.
Where Will Torq Use the Fund?
First: U.S. Federal and Government Markets
This is the biggest opportunity. American government agencies-intelligence agencies, defense departments, critical infrastructure protection-all need SOC automation. They need AI that can handle security at scale without losing analysts to burnout. But government contracts are complicated. They require FedRAMP certification, compliance certifications, compliance officers who understand government procurement, and vendors who can navigate bureaucracy.
Merlin Ventures’ entire reason for existing is helping companies win government contracts. They spend decades helping cybersecurity companies move from commercial markets into federal sales. By partnering with Merlin and getting their expertise, Torq can accelerate what would normally take 3-5 years into 12-18 months.
Second: Global Enterprise Expansion
Torq currently protects hundreds of multinational enterprises. But there are thousands more. The company plans to hire an additional 200 employees in 2026 across global operations. That’s sales teams, customer success managers, engineers, and product specialists to support expansion into Europe, Asia-Pacific, and emerging markets. Today, Torq has offices in New York, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Germany, Amsterdam, and London. The new funding scales that global footprint.
Third: Product Development
In April 2025, Torq acquired RevRod, a stealth Israeli AI startup, to strengthen its multi-agent capabilities. The new funding allows them to continue acquiring talent and technology that enhances their platform. Their AI agents reduce investigation time by up to 90% for low-fidelity alerts. The more advanced the AI gets, the more valuable it becomes.
How Torq Makes Money
Torq operates a straightforward SaaS model: they charge enterprises a subscription fee to use their AI SOC platform.
The pricing isn’t public, but here’s how it works. An enterprise’s SOC team uses Torq’s platform to deploy AI agents that handle alert triage, investigation, and response. The more agents you deploy, the more security tasks get automated. Enterprises pay based on the number of agents deployed, the volume of alerts they process, and the level of support they need.
The key difference between Torq and older tools: Torq doesn’t require expensive implementation and professional services. Teams can deploy agents themselves in self-service mode. That means faster time-to-value and lower customer acquisition costs. A security team can start using Torq with minimal professional services, see results in days, and expand usage organically.
This “bottom-up” adoption model is what drove the 300% revenue growth in 2025. Security teams proved value to their organizations themselves, then expanded deployment. That’s why Torq now has Fortune 100 companies managing millions of security tasks autonomously through their platform every single day.
Customers don’t pay per investigation or per alert. They pay a recurring subscription. That creates predictable revenue. When you combine that predictable revenue with 300% growth and Fortune 500 customers, you get the unicorn valuation. Torq has $332 million in total funding now, and given their 2025 growth trajectory, they’re likely already seeing nine-figure annual recurring revenue.
The 2026 plan is to replicate this success in government markets where the margins are often higher and contract values are larger. A single federal contract protecting critical infrastructure could be worth tens of millions annually.
Torq proved the business model works. Now they’re using $140 million to scale what they’ve already built. That’s why investors backed them, and that’s why this funding matters.
Hi Friends, This is Swapnil, I am a content writer at startupsunion.com