Mike Fey

Co-Founder & CEO at island

Reviewed Updated Mar 22, 2026

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Island CEO and ex-McAfee/Symantec operator backing Israeli cybersecurity startups as angel. Focuses exclusively on enterprise security with 100% Israeli founder concentration; three major exits (Demisto, Axis, Bionic) acquired at $350M+.

Location Southlake, TX
Check Size $5K-$50K
Last Verified Investment Oasis Security (Series A) — Jan 31, 2024
Social LinkedIn
Stage Focus
seed series-a
Sector Focus
cybersecurity data-security

Background

Mike Fey grew up in a small Ohio town and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 12. He began his career as a developer at Lockheed Martin before joining Mercury Interactive as a Java specialist 3.

Fey rose through the ranks at McAfee, progressing from engineering roles to Executive Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Products, and later served as Chief Technology Officer of Intel Security, playing a pivotal role in Intel’s $7.7 billion acquisition of McAfee in 2010 12. In 2014, he joined Blue Coat Systems as President and Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for all aspects of sales, marketing, support, services, and product management 4. He led Blue Coat to aggressive growth, culminating in its $4.7 billion acquisition by Symantec in 2016 4. Fey then became President and COO of Symantec upon the closing of the Blue Coat acquisition 4.

In February 2019, Fey was appointed CEO of Mesosphere (later rebranded to D2iQ), a Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure company, to lead its next phase of growth 5. He oversaw the company’s rebrand from Mesosphere to D2iQ in 2019 5.

In 2020, Fey co-founded Island with Dan Amiga, who had previously invented remote browser isolation technology as founder and CTO of Fireglass (acquired by Symantec in 2017) 67. Island introduced the world’s first Enterprise Browser, building security, governance, and productivity features directly into a Chromium-based browser 8. The company has raised approximately $730 million and reached a valuation of nearly $5 billion as of March 2025 9. Island maintains offices in Dallas, London, and Tel Aviv 7.

In 2024, Fey co-founded Picture Capital alongside Mickey Boodaei, Dan Amiga, and Rakesh Loonkar, a venture vehicle through which the four cybersecurity veterans pooled “tens of millions of dollars” of their own capital to back Israeli technology companies 10.

Stated Thesis

Fey has not published a formal angel investment thesis, but his investing activity and public statements reveal a clear orientation toward cybersecurity and enterprise security infrastructure. He focuses on early-stage cybersecurity companies at seed and Series A stages, with a typical check size of $5K-$50K 11.

His approach to investing appears informed by his decades of operational experience. In an interview on the Dealmakers podcast, he emphasized: “Look for problems that I could find that for and spend my career more on those than optimizing existing platforms” 3. This philosophy of seeking novel solutions to fundamental problems, rather than incremental improvements, appears to guide both his operating and investing decisions.

On team building, which likely informs his founder evaluation, Fey has stated: “As fast as possible identify the great people. And lean on them as much as they can handle” 3.

Through Picture Capital, his investment vehicle with fellow cybersecurity founders, Fey has expanded his focus to supporting Israeli high-tech companies during periods of sector withdrawal by other investment funds 10.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 8 verified investments and 4 board positions compiled from Crunchbase, Rho, PitchBook references, press releases, and aggregator profiles. Fey’s total investment activity may be somewhat larger than what is publicly documented; this analysis covers his confirmed portfolio.

Sector distribution (8 verified investments): - Cybersecurity / enterprise security: 8 of 8 (100%) — Demisto, Securiti, Cycode, Axis Security, Bionic, Oasis Security, Valence Security, Cyclops Security

Fey’s portfolio is exclusively cybersecurity. Every verified investment is in the security space, ranging from SOAR (Demisto), to data privacy (Securiti), source code security (Cycode), network security (Axis Security), application security (Bionic), non-human identity management (Oasis Security), SaaS security (Valence Security), and AI-powered security search (Cyclops Security).

Stage distribution (8 verified investments): - Seed: 5 of 8 (63%) — Cycode, Axis Security, Bionic, Cyclops Security, Demisto - Series A: 3 of 8 (38%) — Securiti, Valence Security, Oasis Security

Fey invests predominantly at seed stage, consistent with his small check sizes ($5K-$50K). His Series A participations are typically as one of several angel investors alongside institutional leads.

Geographic focus: - Israel-founded companies: 7 of 8 (88%) — Demisto, Cycode, Axis Security, Bionic, Oasis Security, Valence Security, Cyclops Security - US-founded: 1 of 8 (13%) — Securiti (San Jose, CA)

Fey has an overwhelming tilt toward Israeli cybersecurity startups, consistent with his deep ties to the Israeli security ecosystem through Island co-founder Dan Amiga and his involvement in Picture Capital.

Exit track record: - Demisto: Acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $560M in 2019 12 - Axis Security: Acquired by HPE for approximately $500M in 2023 13 - Bionic: Acquired by CrowdStrike for approximately $350M in 2023 14

Three of eight known portfolio companies have been acquired, all at valuations of $350M+, representing a strong exit rate for early-stage cybersecurity investments.

Co-investor patterns: - Cyberstarts (Gili Raanan) appears across multiple Fey investments (Bionic, Axis Security, Cyclops Security) - YL Ventures co-invested in Cycode and Valence Security - Dan Amiga (Island co-founder) co-invested in Axis Security and Cyclops Security

Notable patterns: - Fey consistently takes board seats alongside his investments (Cycode since 2019, Axis Security since 2019, Bionic since 2019) 1516 - His investments are exclusively in companies with Israeli founding teams, with the sole exception of Securiti - All investments map to domains where Fey has direct operating expertise from McAfee, Blue Coat, Symantec, or Island

Portfolio

Company Stage Year Sector Source
Demisto Seed/Series A 2016 SOAR / Security Orchestration 12
Securiti Series A 2019 Data Privacy & Security 17
Cycode Seed 2019 Source Code Security 18
Axis Security Seed 2020 Network Security / SSE 13
Bionic Seed ~2019 Application Security / ASPM 14
Valence Security Series A 2022 SaaS Security 19
Cyclops Security Seed 2022 AI Cybersecurity Search 20
Oasis Security Series A 2024 Non-Human Identity Management 21

This table represents Fey’s confirmed angel investments. Additional investments through Picture Capital (founded 2024) are not yet publicly documented beyond Cortanix 10.

Board positions (not necessarily equity investments): - Cycode — Board Member (2019–present) 15 - Axis Security — Board Member (2019–2023, acquired by HPE) 16 - Bionic — Board Member (2019–2023, acquired by CrowdStrike) 16 - Open Systems — Advisory Board Member (2019–present) 22

In Their Own Words

“To truly change the safety and security of [browsers], we had to build it in.” — Mike Fey, Insight Partners interview 6

“As we got deeper into it, we realized — wait a second — we can get productivity by design, we can get observability by design.” — Mike Fey, Insight Partners interview 6

“When we show up, customers start asking, ‘Why do I even need this architecture anymore?’ It’s one of the first times in cybersecurity where we’re seeing entire families of products no longer needed.” — Mike Fey, Insight Partners interview 6

“If we help the world understand that bringing a consumer browser to work is an antiquated concept… I think we’ll be wildly successful.” — Mike Fey, Insight Partners interview 6

“Too many startups and too many products were just trying to outdo the last one, trying to not make the mistakes the product before it made.” — Mike Fey, Dealmakers podcast 3

“Look for problems that I could find that for and spend my career more on those than optimizing existing platforms.” — Mike Fey, Dealmakers podcast 3

“People that enjoy being together and are great at their jobs allows you to build a very special team.” — Mike Fey, Dealmakers podcast 3

“I couldn’t convince anyone to move to the Valley but I’ve had 100% success moving people to Dallas.” — Mike Fey, WFAA interview 23

“We have the capacity for massive organizations [in DFW] and as a startup, it’s a great place to be because I’m not fighting with 7,000 freshly funded startups.” — Mike Fey, WFAA interview 23

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Fey’s portfolio companies are primarily Israeli cybersecurity startups with limited public English-language founder commentary about individual angel investors. Insight Partners Managing Director Teddie Wardi described Fey and the Island team as having “rare ‘N of 1’ quality to overcome technical complexity” 6, but this is an investor quote about Fey as an operator, not a founder quote about Fey as an investor.

Sources

  1. Symantec press release, “Symantec Announces Appointment of Michael Fey as President and Chief Operating Officer,” July 2016. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160711006331/en/Symantec-Announces-Appointment-Michael-Fey-President-Chief↩↩

  2. Montgomery Summit speaker profile, “Mike Fey.” https://montgomerysummit.com/speakers/mike-fey/↩↩

  3. Alejandro Cremades, “He Built A $1.3 Billion Business By Giving Companies Complete Control Over The Browser,” Dealmakers podcast transcript. https://alejandrocremades.com/he-built-a-1-3-billion-business-by-giving-companies-complete-control-over-the-browser/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  4. Dark Reading, “Symantec Announces Appointment of Michael Fey as President and Chief Operating Officer Upon Closing of Blue Coat Acquisition,” July 2016. https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-careers/symantec-announces-appointment-of-michael-fey-as-president-and-chief-operating-officer-upon-closing-of-blue-coat-acquisition↩↩↩

  5. D2iQ press release, “Mesosphere Announces Appointment of Mike Fey as Chief Executive Officer,” December 2018. https://d2iq.com/press-release/mesosphere-announces-appointment-of-mike-fey-as-chief-executive-officer↩↩

  6. Insight Partners, “Island’s enterprise browser isn’t just safer — it’s securing and redefining how we work,” accessed March 2026. https://www.insightpartners.com/ideas/island-leadership-story/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  7. Island website, “About,” accessed March 2026. https://www.island.io/about↩↩

  8. BusinessWire, “Island Introduces First Enterprise Browser to Radically Improve Enterprise Security and Redefine the Nature of Work,” February 2022. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220201005253/en/Island-Introduces-First-Enterprise-Browser-to-Radically-Improve-Enterprise-Security-and-Redefine-the-Nature-of-Work↩

  9. Island press release, “Island Secures $250 Million as Valuation Continues to Soar to Nearly $5 Billion,” March 2025. https://www.island.io/press/island-secures-250-million-as-valuation-continues-to-soar-to-nearly-5-billion↩

  10. Globes, “Top cyber entrepreneurs form joint investment fund,” February 2024. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-cyber-entrepreneurs-form-joint-investment-fund-100147117↩↩↩

  11. Signal by NFX, “Michael Fey’s Investing Profile,” accessed March 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/michael-fey↩

  12. Rho blog, “Funding Your Security Startup: 10 Active Angels to Know,” accessed March 2026. https://www.rho.co/blog/angel-investors-for-security↩↩

  13. PRNewswire, “Axis Security Emerges from Stealth with $17 Million in Funding to Redefine Private Application Access,” March 2020. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axis-security-emerges-from-stealth-with-17-million-in-funding-to-redefine-private-application-access-301025089.html↩↩

  14. Calcalist Tech, “CrowdStrike acquiring cyber startup Bionic for $350 million,” accessed March 2026. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hyquwtlka↩↩

  15. The Org, “Michael Fey — Director at Cycode,” accessed March 2026. https://theorg.com/org/cycode/org-chart/michael-fey↩↩

  16. The Org, “Michael Fey — CEO & Co-Founder at Island,” accessed March 2026. https://theorg.com/org/island/org-chart/michael-fey↩↩↩

  17. Fintech Global, “SECURITI.ai launches from stealth, alongside $31m Series A,” August 2019. https://fintech.global/2019/08/09/securiti-ai-launches-from-stealth-alongside-31m-series-a/↩

  18. BusinessWire, “Cycode Raises $4.6 Million in Funding to Deliver Industry’s First Source Code Control, Detection and Response Security Solution,” September 2019. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190924005660/en/Cycode-Raises-4.6-Million-in-Funding-to-Deliver-Industry%E2%80%99s-First-Source-Code-Control-Detection-and-Response-Security-Solution↩

  19. BusinessWire, “Valence Security Announces $25M Series A,” October 2022. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221026005190/en/Valence-Security-Announces-%2425M-Series-A-to-Scale-Delivery-of-Collaborative-SaaS-Security-Remediation-Solutions-to-Customers↩

  20. PRNewswire, “Cyclops Emerges from Stealth with $6.4M in Funding to Offer a Contextual Cybersecurity Search Platform,” 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cyclops-emerges-from-stealth-with-6-4m-in-funding-to-offer-a-contextual-cybersecurity-search-platform-301885856.html↩

  21. Calcalist Tech, “Oasis Security raises $35 million Series A to resolve non-human identity security challenge,” January 2024. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sy11imiv9↩

  22. BusinessWire, “Open Systems Strengthens its Advisory Board With Appointment of Veteran Business Leader and Cybersecurity Expert Michael Fey,” November 2019. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191105005137/en/Open-Systems-Strengthens-its-Advisory-Board-With-Appointment-of-Veteran-Business-Leader-and-Cybersecurity-Expert-Michael-Fey↩

  23. WFAA, “Island CEO talks $3B cybersecurity unicorn’s growth in Dallas,” accessed March 2026. https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/business/ceo-prefers-north-texas-over-silicon-valley-for-these-reasons/287-0f0c1afe-7f39-4db4-9a8a-32737fea7a87↩↩

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