Exclusive: Index Ventures backs Frame’s $50 million bet that employees are still cybersecurity’s weakest link

I used to think I’d never fall for a phishing scam. Now I’m not so sure. A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine received a text from our editor, or so they thought. It turned out to be completely fake. Scams like this, apparently, are becoming the new normal. That’s the bet behind Frame Security, a New York and Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup. The company launched publicly Monday with $50 million in funding, led by Index Ventures, Team8, and Picture Capital, Fortune learned exclusively. Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport and Elad Gil also participated. Frame is trying to make “security awareness training” sound less like a mandatory HR video, and more like a real cybersecurity category that the company calls “human risk security.” Translation: Employees are still the easiest way into a company, and AI has made tricking them cheaper, faster—and much more convincing. “The world of poorly written phishing emails is pretty much gone,” CEO Tal Shlomo told Fortune. “Attackers and adversaries now know your company very well and in detail.” Frame’s platform lets companies create AI-generated simulations and training based on how employees actually work. That can mean, Shlomo said, a voice-cloned call coming from the CEO, a video, or an attack mentioning open positions, or something recently event-related at the company. These simulated attacks are meant to be equally as convincing as the real ones. Shlomo and his cofounder and CTO, Sharon Shmueli, have a familiar Israeli cyber pedigree (they served together in the Israeli intelligence collection unit, Unit 8200, in the IDF), but with particularly good timing. Shlomo was one of Wiz’s earliest employees, joining at 21. Shmueli—previously CTO at Team8’s venture platform at 25—was the first employee at Bionic, which CrowdStrike acquired. The two met more than a decade ago. “We think as one and operate as two,” Shlomo said. Frame’s pitch is resonating, Shlomo says, because companies are tired of generic training. “It treats