CNBC Disruptor 50

28. Island

Founders: Mike Fey (CEO), Dan Amiga
Launched: 2020
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Funding:
$730 million
Valuation: $4.8 billion
Key Technologies:
Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, generative AI, software-defined security, quantum computing
Industry:
Enterprise Technology
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 list:
0

Igor Gnedo, Antonina Lepore & Adrianne Paerels

Staking its claim in the enterprise productivity and cybersecurity space, Island's Enterprise Browser has ushered in a new era of workplace workspaces. By embedding a company's core IT and layering in security, the technology helps organizations control browser activity and allows their employees to collaborate and produce content, especially as many companies remain remote or hybrid.

Island CEO Mike Fey told CNBC in a 2025 interview that inside the boardrooms of companies, you do not find simple table and chairs: "We're going to find a boardroom table. There's power in it, and you can set different heights for chairs."

Island thinks about the browser in the same way. "The browser is an amazing consumer application. It's brought knowledge to the world, but it is consumer. What we did is we took that browser that you know and love, that you're used to using, and we reimagined it for the enterprise," he said.

Island's fully managed workspace includes built-in security, networking controls, and productivity features, so companies don't have to use fragmented tools like VPNs, VDI, and data loss prevention systems. The Enterprise Browser consolidates these capabilities, allowing organizations to simplify their IT programs while improving the user experience.

In March 2025, Island raised a $250 million Series E round led by Coatue Management and added J.P. Morgan Private Capital's Growth Equity Partners as an investor. This valued the company at $4.8 billion, quadrupling its valuation over the last two years. It is used by over 700 enterprise clients, including Citi, Pfizer and T-Mobile, as well as six of the ten largest U.S. banks.

The company grew to over 500 employees globally over the past year, including adding a second office in Glilot, Israel, housing software engineers, AI specialists, cybersecurity experts, and DevOps professionals. Island has also doubled down on product development, particularly around embedding security features like data redaction, watermarking, and granular control over user actions such as copy, paste, and downloads. 

Adoption resistance, competition from Google and Microsoft, integration complexity and evolving enterprise security standards challenge the company's growth. Still, there's plenty of room for many companies in the enterprise cybersecurity space, and a growing need for these products as companies and people increasingly need to secure work that takes place digitally. And the sector within which Island plays may be more secure than the wider war being waged over consumer internet search as AI reshapes that activity.

"I think the bigger issue is going to be who can really win at the consumer level," Fey told CNBC last October. "And that's where the battle is playing out. You see all of these attempts to unseat Google for control of those eyeballs."

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Fey: The war is on for power, compute, eyeballs, and value
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Fey: The war is on for power, compute, eyeballs, and value
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