INDEX / DIRECTORY / HIBOB

HiBob

Software & Cloud 61 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-08-08
BDS-1000 Score 557 /1000 C Tier C - High

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Compiling the dossier directly from the four supplied audits per the specified structure.I don’t have a file-write tool available in this environment, so I’ll deliver the dossier content directly as markdown below (as 06-main-dossier.md).


HiBob - BDS-1000 Dossier

Key Findings

  • Economic: HiBob is a Tel Aviv-founded (2015) HR-tech company with an ongoing, present-day operational and R&D hub in Israel - roughly half its ~800 employees are Israel-based, and its founders and CEO remain embedded in the Israeli high-tech ecosystem.12
  • Political: CEO Ronni Zehavi sits on the executive committee of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization (Beit HaLochem), publicly framed reserve military service as “a cornerstone of Israel’s strength,” and in November 2025 announced company funding for a IDF veteran-rehabilitation center (“Beit HaLochem 2.0”) in Tel Aviv.34
  • Economic: HiBob granted 1,800 stock options each to 47 reservist employees who served 30+ days of IDF duty during the “Swords of Iron” war, and is a named participant (with Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Cisco and others) in a post-October 7 Sderot tech-hub reconstruction initiative inside Israel proper.56
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of any military, defence-contracting, dual-use, or settlement-territory nexus - HiBob does not appear in SIBAT, OHCHR, or Who Profits databases, and no West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Golan Heights operations were identified.789

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameHiBob (Hi Bob Ltd.)
JurisdictionIncorporated in Israel (Hi Bob Ltd., Tel Aviv); a secondary analytical source describes the Israel-incorporated entity as the contracting party for European customer agreements. Sources conflict on which office is the formally designated “headquarters” (see Corporate Overview).1011
HeadquartersTel Aviv-Yafo, Israel (148 Derech Menachem Begin Street), with additional offices in London, New York, Sydney, Amsterdam and Berlin; some sources describe London as headquarters, others Tel Aviv - a dual-HQ pattern common to Israeli-founded, internationally scaled tech firms.212
SectorCloud-based human capital management (HCM) / HR software-as-a-service (“Bob” platform).13
OwnershipPrivately held; last reported at ~$2.7 billion valuation after a 2023 $150M round. Institutional investors include General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures (Fidelity), Farallon Capital, Arbor Ventures, Seek Ventures, and Israel Growth Partners (Herzliya-based).141516
Key Executives / GovernanceRonni Zehavi, co-founder and CEO - sits on the executive committee of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization (Beit HaLochem); other co-founders: Amit Knaani, Israel David, Andy Bellass.13 No public evidence identified of other named executives or board members with a documented Israel-nexus role.
Israeli-Nexus SummaryIsraeli-founded and Israel-headquartered HR-SaaS company with an active Tel Aviv R&D/operations base, CEO ties to IDF veterans’ philanthropy, and an employee-level reservist stock-option policy; no identified military, dual-use, surveillance, or settlement-territory relationship.

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

HiBob is an Israeli-founded, privately held human capital management (HR) software-as-a-service company whose sole identified product, “Bob,” serves as a general-purpose HR/workforce-management platform for mid-market businesses globally.13 Its documented Israel/Palestine nexus is almost entirely economic and reputational-political rather than operational: the company was founded in Tel Aviv in 2015 and retains an active engineering, product and administrative hub there, with roughly half its workforce based in Israel as of 2024.117 This operational rootedness - not a supply chain, contracting, or dual-use technology relationship - is the strongest and most consistently documented vector across all four domain audits.

The next-strongest vector is political-reputational, centered on CEO Ronni Zehavi’s personal and corporate ties to Israeli military-veteran philanthropy. Zehavi sits on the executive committee of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization (Beit HaLochem), used explicitly patriotic and war-framed language in public statements (Independence Day posts, a November 2025 “Israel 2.0” conference speech, and February 2025 remarks on reserve duty), and in November 2025 the company announced funding for a new IDF veteran-rehabilitation center, “Beit HaLochem 2.0,” in Tel Aviv.3421 At the internal-compensation level, HiBob granted 1,800 stock options each to 47 employees who served 30 or more days of IDF reserve duty during the “Swords of Iron” war - an employee-benefit policy rather than an external military donation.5 HiBob is also a named participant, alongside major multinational tech firms (Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Armis, Melio), in a post-October 7 economic-reconstruction initiative in Sderot, within Israel proper and the Negev - not occupied or contested territory.6

What is conspicuously absent from the evidentiary record, and consistently affirmed as absent across all four domain audits, is any military, dual-use, surveillance, or settlement-territory nexus. HiBob does not appear in Israel’s SIBAT defence-export directories, the OHCHR Business and Human Rights database (including its September 2025 update), or the Who Profits company database.789 No public evidence identified of contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, or any Israeli security body; no ruggedised or mil-spec product variants; no biometric or surveillance product line; no West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Golan Heights operations; and no identified role supplying components, services, or technology to Israeli defence primes (Elbit Systems, IAI, Rafael, IMI). On the digital-infrastructure side, HiBob’s cloud hosting runs on AWS in Ireland and Frankfurt, not Israel, though its Israeli corporate domicile places EU customer data under Israeli law via the EU’s adequacy decision - a structural fact flagged by a secondary analytical source, alongside a theoretical (undocumented) domestic-intelligence access vector under Israeli law.1822

This evidentiary pattern - a real and substantial economic/operational rootedness in Israel and documented reputational-political statements/veteran philanthropy by leadership, set against the consistent absence of military, dual-use, or settlement-territory involvement - produces the BRS 557, Tier C (High) outcome. The score is driven almost entirely by the Economic domain (V=7.89), with a meaningful but lesser contribution from Political (V=5.00), while Military (0.01) and Digital (0.12) are effectively negligible, reflecting audits that found no public evidence of a security-sector or surveillance-technology relationship.

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
2015HiBob founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, by Ronni Zehavi, Amit Knaani, Israel David and Andy Bellass.1
Dec 2020HiBob closes $70M Series B funding round.23
2021HiBob closes $150M Series C led by General Atlantic.24
2022HiBob closes $150M Series D up-round led by General Atlantic.25
Dec 2022General Atlantic (HiBob’s Series C/D lead investor) appoints Yoram Tietz as Senior Advisor in Israel.26
~April 2024CEO Zehavi posts on LinkedIn for Israeli Independence Day referencing “7 months of war” and calling for “the safe return of our 132 hostages from Gaza.”21
Feb 2024HiBob acquires Pento (Denmark/UK payroll automation); company reports ~800 employees, roughly half in Israel.1719
2023HiBob closes additional $150M round at ~$2.7B valuation (PR Newswire/Calcalist reported).1427
Post-Oct 7, 2023HiBob joins Sderot tech-hub economic-reconstruction initiative (with Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Armis, Melio) targeting ~400 jobs for Negev-region graduates.6
Feb 2025HiBob announces stock-option awards (1,800 options each) to 47 reservist employees who served 30+ days of IDF reserve duty during the Gaza war; CEO Zehavi calls reserve duty “a cornerstone of Israel’s strength.”5
Feb 2025HiBob acquires Mosaic (San Diego FP&A platform, ~$35M, ~70 employees join).20
Nov 12, 2025At the “Israel 2.0” conference, Zehavi states high-tech professionals have “moral duty” to support wounded IDF soldiers; HiBob announces funding for “Beit HaLochem 2.0” veteran-rehabilitation center in Tel Aviv and a veterans’ storytelling platform.34

Corporate Overview

HiBob was founded and originally incorporated in Tel Aviv in 2015 as an Israeli entity - it is an Israeli-founded company rather than an acquired one, and the parent entity, Hi Bob Ltd., remains incorporated and headquartered (per corporate-registry data and the company’s own sub-processor disclosure) in Tel Aviv.11011 Public-facing sources conflict on which office carries formal “headquarters” status: some describe London as headquarters, others (office-locator and employer-review sites) describe Tel Aviv, consistent with a dual-HQ pattern common among Israeli-founded, internationally scaled technology firms; no primary corporate-registry filing definitively resolving this was identified.212 The company’s physical footprint spans Tel Aviv, London, New York, Sydney, Amsterdam and Berlin.12

HiBob’s two disclosed acquisitions - Pento (Denmark-founded, UK-headquartered payroll automation, acquired February 2024 for an estimated $40M) and Mosaic (San Diego-based FP&A/fintech platform, acquired February 2025 for ~$35M) - are both non-Israeli targets, with HiBob itself functioning as the Israeli-founded parent in both transactions; no defence or settlement nexus was identified for either acquired company.1920 No public evidence identified of HiBob acquiring an Israeli-origin technology company, of a formal venture-investment arm, or of patent/licensing arrangements with Israeli research institutions (Technion, Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute). On the vendor side, HiBob’s sub-processor disclosure names two Israel-domiciled technology vendors - Cloudinary Ltd. (image/media processing, founded 2012, Petah Tikva) and Descope Technologies Israel (2022) Ltd. (identity/SSO/authentication) - alongside AWS and Cloudflare as its primary cloud/network infrastructure providers.28 A prior case study also names Dig Security, an Israeli cloud-security startup, as HiBob’s cloud-data-visibility provider before its December 2023 acquisition by Palo Alto Networks; no evidence confirms whether the direct relationship continued post-acquisition.29

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of any direct defence-contracting, procurement, dual-use product, or supply-chain relationship between HiBob and Israeli military, security, or defence-industrial bodies. The only documented military-adjacent channels are philanthropic/employee-facing: CEO Zehavi’s role on the executive committee of the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization (Beit HaLochem), his November 2025 remarks framing support for wounded IDF soldiers as a “moral duty,” HiBob’s announced funding of the “Beit HaLochem 2.0” rehabilitation center, and the company’s internal stock-option policy rewarding 47 reservist employees (1,800 options each, longest service 265 days) for IDF reserve duty during “Swords of Iron.”345

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

HiBob’s sole product is enterprise HR SaaS software with no ruggedised, mil-spec, or defence-grade variant identified, and the company does not appear in SIBAT’s Homeland & Cyber Defense Israel Directory or general defence directory.730 No public evidence identified of export licences, end-user certificates, defence-prime supply relationships (Elbit, IAI, Rafael, IMI), logistical/base-services contracts, or munitions/weapons-systems involvement. The documented veteran-support activities are philanthropic and compensation-related rather than defence-industrial: the stock-option grant is an internal employee-benefit policy, and Beit HaLochem is a veterans’-welfare and rehabilitation body, not a defence contractor.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Ronni Zehavi (CEO) - Beit HaLochem executive committee member.3 No public evidence identified of any named Israeli defence entity (IMOD, IDF procurement branches, Elbit, IAI, Rafael, IMI) in direct relationship with HiBob.

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

HiBob’s own sub-processor disclosure names two Israel-domiciled vendors - Cloudinary Ltd. and Descope Technologies Israel (2022) Ltd. - as active technology vendors, and a prior case study identifies Dig Security (later acquired by Palo Alto Networks) as a former cloud-security-scanning provider.2829 HiBob’s corporate/legal parent, Hi Bob Ltd., is Israel-incorporated, meaning its contracting entity for European customers is governed by Israeli corporate law under the EU’s adequacy decision (Commission Decision 2011/61/EU).1122 HiBob’s AI assistant (“AiMind”) uses AWS Bedrock foundation models via retrieval-augmented generation over customers’ own HR documents, with OpenAI and Microsoft Azure OpenAI listed as optional AI sub-processors.3128

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No public evidence identified of HiBob using or reselling facial recognition, biometric, or surveillance technology (e.g., Trigo, BriefCam, AnyVision/Oosto, Trax); no evidence of predictive-policing or workforce-surveillance tools beyond HiBob’s own marketed HR analytics. Production customer data is hosted on AWS in Ireland (primary) and Frankfurt (disaster recovery) - not in Israel - and HiBob does not operate its own Israeli data-centre infrastructure.18 No public evidence identified of participation in Project Nimbus or any Israeli government-backed cloud/AI programme, nor of contracts with Israeli defence or intelligence bodies for technology provision. A secondary analytical source flags Shin Bet/Unit 8200 as a “theoretical” access vector under Israeli law given HiBob’s Israeli incorporation, but this is explicitly noted as theoretical rather than evidenced.22 HiBob does not appear in the OHCHR database or Who Profits.89

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Cloudinary Ltd. (Israel, image/media processing vendor); Descope Technologies Israel (2022) Ltd. (Israel, identity/SSO vendor); Dig Security (Israel-founded, cloud-security vendor, since acquired by Palo Alto Networks); AWS and Cloudflare (primary infrastructure, non-Israeli); Hi Bob Ltd. (Israel-incorporated parent/contracting entity).282911

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

HiBob was founded and remains headquartered/operationally rooted in Tel Aviv, functioning as a direct, ongoing (not portfolio) operational investment inside Israel, with roughly half of its ~800 employees based there as of February 2024.117 The company has raised successive institutional funding rounds ($70M Series B 2020; $150M Series C 2021; $150M Series D 2022; $150M round 2023 at $2.7B valuation), with material shareholders including General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Israel Growth Partners (Herzliya-based).2324251415 HiBob’s internal reservist stock-option policy (47 employees, 1,800 options each) and its participation in the Sderot post-October 7 tech-hub economic-reconstruction initiative (alongside Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Cisco, and others) are dated after the July 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion and November 2024 ICC arrest warrants.56

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

HiBob sells no physical goods, so product-origin, labeling, settlement-sourcing, and customs/importer-of-record questions are not applicable to its disclosed SaaS business model.13 No public evidence identified of a state ownership stake, “critical national infrastructure” designation, golden-share structure, or direct IMOD/IDF procurement contract. Both of HiBob’s acquisitions (Pento, Mosaic) are of non-Israeli companies with no defence or settlement nexus identified. No public evidence identified of HiBob, its founders, or its institutional investors (General Atlantic, Bessemer, Farallon, Battery, Eight Roads, Entrée Capital, Israel Growth Partners, Rhone Growth) appearing in the Don’t Buy Into Occupation 2025 report or the Al-Haq DBIO V report.323334 No public evidence identified of Israel Bonds sales, sovereign debt underwriting, or trade-finance facilities to Israeli defence primes, and no primary financial disclosure breaks out Israel-specific revenue from HiBob’s global ARR estimates.35

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Hi Bob Ltd. (Israel-incorporated parent); General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, Israel Growth Partners (institutional shareholders); Ronni Zehavi, Amit Knaani, Israel David, Andy Bellass (founders); Sderot tech-hub co-participants: Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Armis, Melio (economic, non-defence initiative).114156

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

CEO Ronni Zehavi’s public statements consistently frame Israeli national identity and the post-October 7 war in patriotic terms: an April 2024 Independence Day LinkedIn post referencing “7 months of war” and hostages, a February 2025 statement calling reserve duty “a cornerstone of Israel’s strength,” and November 2025 remarks at the “Israel 2.0” conference describing a “moral duty” to support wounded IDF soldiers.2153 HiBob’s Sderot tech-hub participation and its Beit HaLochem-related philanthropy (executive-committee seat, “Beit HaLochem 2.0” funding, veterans’ storytelling platform) are the company’s most concrete political/reputational vectors.634

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No public evidence identified of physical HiBob operations, dealerships, or subsidiary activity in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Golan Heights; its offices are all located within pre-1967 Israel or other countries (Tel Aviv, London, New York, Sydney, Amsterdam, Berlin).1236 HiBob does not appear in the OHCHR settlement-business database.89 No corporate-level (as opposed to CEO-personal) statement on the Israel-Palestine conflict was identified; no evidence of HR enforcement actions against employee political speech; no evidence of lobbying registrations, PAC filings, or direct donations to FIDF/JNF/Regavim/Im Tirtzu-type organizations, consistent with HiBob’s private-company status.37 A boycott-alternatives directory lists HiBob as an Israeli-founded company without citing settlement-specific grounds or a dated organized BDS campaign.38

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Ronni Zehavi (CEO - Beit HaLochem executive committee, public statements); Beit HaLochem/IDF Disabled Veterans Organization (veterans’-welfare body, not a state or defence entity); Sderot initiative co-participants (Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Armis, Melio).36

BDS-1000 Score (V4)

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military1.000.500.700.01
Digital2.001.502.000.12
Economic8.506.509.007.89
Political7.005.008.005.00

V_MAX is set by Economic (7.89), driven by HiBob’s high Impact and Proximity scores as an Israeli-founded company with an ongoing, substantial Tel Aviv operational and R&D base, institutional capital ties, and documented post-October 7 economic participation inside Israel. Political contributes the largest secondary weight (5.00) via CEO Zehavi’s documented public statements and Beit HaLochem philanthropy, while Military and Digital are near-zero, reflecting audits that found no public evidence of a defence-contracting, dual-use, or surveillance-technology relationship. Scoring follows the scale-free method: Impact (activity type) × Magnitude (scale) × Proximity (directness), computed solely from evidence in the four domain audits and finalized through a human vetting pass.

Methodology Note

End Notes

Footnotes

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiBob 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

  2. https://builtin.com/company/hibob/offices 2 3

  3. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/9kcounfjm 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

  4. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/9kcounfjm 2 3 4 5

  5. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rkaehmmyyx 2 3 4 5 6

  6. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/hyx180ipa 2 3 4 5 6 7

  7. https://www.sibat.mod.gov.il/industries/directory/documents/sibatdir-hls-en2018-19.pdf 2 3

  8. https://www.ohchr.org/en/business/bhr-database 2 3 4

  9. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/ 2 3 4

  10. https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.hi_bob_ltd.d1a068be2cde741264b3013296500711.html 2

  11. https://www.hibob.com/privacy/hibob-subsidiaries-and-sub-processors/ 2 3 4

  12. https://www.glassdoor.com/Location/HiBob-Tel-Aviv-Yafo-Location-EI_IE1953857.0,5_IL.6,19_IC2421096.htm 2 3 4

  13. https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/hibob 2 3

  14. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mid-market-hr-tech-leader-hibob-adds-150m-in-new-round-of-funding-to-support-continued-expansion-301931723.html 2 3 4

  15. https://www.bvp.com/atlas/the-rise-of-hibob 2 3

  16. https://www.igpcapital.com/portfolio/hibob/

  17. https://www.mainsights.io/ma-news/danish-founded-payroll-provider-company-pento-acquired-by-israeli-hr-tech-company-hibob 2 3 4

  18. https://www.hibob.com/privacy/security/ 2 3

  19. https://tech.eu/2024/02/13/tiger-global-backed-pento-acquired-by-israeli-hr-platform-hibob/ 2 3

  20. https://www.hibob.com/news/hibob-acquires-financial-planning-and-analysis-platform-mosaic-expanding-capabilities-to-empower-people-first-cfos/ 2 3

  21. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronnizehavi_happy-independence-day-my-country-israel-activity-7195757005259567106-DPnR 2 3

  22. https://sota.io/blog/hibob-eu-alternative-2026-israel-gdpr-adequacy-cloud-act-hr-software 2 3

  23. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hibob-closes-70m-series-b-funding-round-to-significantly-expand-market-footprint-in-hr-technology-301189875.html 2

  24. https://www.generalatlantic.com/media-article/hibob-secures-150m-series-c-funding-led-by-general-atlantic-to-help-midsize-businesses-modernize-hr-in-the-evolving-world-of-work/ 2

  25. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hibob-raises-150m-series-d-up-round-led-by-general-atlantic-to-capitalize-on-significant-business-momentum-301607390.html 2

  26. https://markets.financialcontent.com/clarkebroadcasting.mymotherlode/article/bizwire-2022-12-13-yoram-tietz-to-join-general-atlantic-as-senior-advisor-in-israel

  27. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjlobxdjp

  28. https://www.hibob.com/privacy/hibob-subsidiaries-and-sub-processors/ 2 3 4

  29. https://www.devx.com/cybersecurity/hibobs-data-security-success-how-cloud-automation-secures-a-scaling-hr-platform/ 2 3

  30. https://www.sibat.mod.gov.il/OurServices/Pages/%E2%80%8BDefense%20and%20HLS%20directory.aspx

  31. https://medium.com/hibob-engineering/from-devops-dream-to-ai-reality-scaling-aws-bedrock-at-hibob-ce172c23bbed

  32. https://paxforpeace.nl/publications/dont-buy-into-occupation-2025/

  33. https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/reports/dont-buy-into-occupation-report-2025/

  34. https://www.alhaq.org/publications/26931.html

  35. https://getlatka.com/companies/hibob.com

  36. https://www.hibob.com/about/

  37. https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech-and-start-ups/article-760127

  38. https://israelitechalternatives.com/companies/hibob