Sola Security Debuts AI-Powered SOAR Product with $30M Boost

A startup led by the ex-head of Palo Alto Networks’ application security business emerged from stealth with $30 million to make security tools more accessible.

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Tel Aviv, Israel-based Sola Security plans to use the seed funding to create a self-service, collaborative security orchestration, automation and response platform that reduces the reliance on highly skilled security engineers, according to co-founder and COO Ron Peled. Unlike traditional SOAR technology, Peled said Sola emphasizes ease of use, accessibility and a community-driven approach.

“What we see today in the market is a mix of many, many solutions and many, many tools that any security team would want to have, but they can’t always either afford themselves to have it,” Peled said. “Or even if they have the best-of-breed security stack that is based on multiple layers, they still need to connect the dots between all of them, and that’s what we are trying to do with Sola.”

Why Traditional SOAR Tools Come Up Short

Sola Security, founded in May 2024, employs seven people and hauled in $30 million in a round led by S Capital and veteran venture capitalist Mike Moritz. The company has been led since establishment by Guy Fletcher, who started and led Cider Security in January 2021 and sold it to Palo Alto Networks in December 2022 for $198.3 million. He was then Palo Alto’s chief appsec officer until February 2024 (see: Palo Alto Networks to Buy Startup Cider Security for $250M).

The cybersecurity industry is struggling with fragmented security solutions, with teams using multiple tools but struggling to integrate them into a cohesive security stack. Peled said Sola aims to solve this problem by providing a self-service, AI-powered security automation platform that seamlessly integrates security operations while being accessible to both security professionals and IT teams.

Peled said the investment will help Sola move beyond traditional security software and debut a platform that enables users to build and customize security solutions without requiring specialized expertise. As for the investors, Peled said Moritz brings deep industry insights and a long-term vision while SentinelOne-affiliated S Capital provides valuable cybersecurity market connections.

“It’s not only about innovative technology or providing a new product,” Peled told Information Security Media Group. “It’s trying to build a new concept for security and for the community. And in order to do that, you need to raise a very significant amount of money, because it’s not another tool or technology. Once it will be out, I think that the industry will immediately recognize how it is different.”

Implementing traditional SOAR tools often requires dedicated security engineers who write complex scripts, configure integrations and fine-tune automation workflows – a luxury not all companies can afford, he said. Sola seeks to democratize security automation by reimagining SOAR as a self-service, no-code platform that can be used by security professionals and IT managers alike regardless of skill level.

“What we’ve been trying to do here is change a little bit and make this a real self-service product that even if you don’t have a stack of five highly-skilled security engineers, you will still be able to build a solution for yourself very easily, very quickly, very simply, without the overhead and without the heavy lifting that is involved with the existing products,” Peled said.

What Sets Sola’s Approach to Self-Service Apart

Instead of requiring engineers to configure security workflows manually, Peled said Sola’s platform allows users to drag-and-drop security automation components and interact with an AI-powered assistant that can help them understand and mitigate security risks. Sola’s goal is to create a tool that a junior IT manager can use to build security workflows without requiring advanced security knowledge.

“This is not a single-purpose security product,” Peled said. “It’s a product that has to be very broad in terms of the challenges that it’s trying to tackle, because it’s addressing both practitioners and professionals from different domains.”

Peled said Sola is bypassing traditional enterprise sales models in favor of a product-led growth strategy that relies on a self-service model for users to explore and adopt the platform without heavy sales involvement. Sola also encourages security professionals to share their solutions with peers as part of community-driven growth, and it relies on AI-powered assistance to reduce friction for first-time users.

“We start primarily with a PLG motion – product-led growth,” Peled said. “This self-service aspect is really important for us, not having a huge team of sales professionals pushing the solution. Instead, we are focusing on marketing and targeting those who can benefit the most from our solution, while also fostering a builder community in security.”

Rather than purchasing multiple security tools or hiring expensive security consultants, Peled said teams will be able to use Sola to build their own security solutions on demand. In the near future, when cybersecurity startups seek funding, Peled said investors will question whether their idea needs to be a standalone company or if it could simply be built using Sola.

“In two or three years from today, when new entrepreneurs go to raise money, the VCs will ask them, ‘That’s a great idea, but can’t you do it with Sola?'” Peled said. “And that’s the idea. If you can build it with something else, this will be it.”