Rony Rozen

Google just made history with a $32 BILLION acquisition of Wiz: the largest Israeli tech deal ever. When people think of Israeli tech, Waze often comes to mind. But that was 2013. Fast forward to today, and Israel isn’t just a Startup Nation, it’s a global innovation leader shaping entire industries. A few standout deals in recent years: $15.3B – Intel acquires Mobileye (2017) → Autonomous driving $6.9B – Nvidia acquires Mellanox (2020) → High-performance computing $4.4B – Unity acquires ironSource (2022) → App monetization And now, $32B for Wiz—a new record. The takeaway? Israeli startups don’t just scale, they define markets. From cybersecurity and AI to semiconductors and mobility, the country’s impact is undeniable. At Sienna Venture Capital, we’ve backed this ecosystem for over a decade because we know that no matter the cycle, Israeli tech delivers. Israeli tech continues to raise the bar, and the best is yet to come. #IsraeliTech #Innovation #VentureCapital #Google #Wiz #M&A

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Our posts about ivrit.ai are usually (surprise surprise) written in Hebrew. Today, we're making an exception to accomodate our global viewers as we share our experience with the ElevenLabs' scribe-v1 Speech-to-Text model. As most of you know, we maintain a Hebrew Transcription leaderboard on Huggingface (link in first comment). This was needed as fleurs and common-voice are low-quality datasets with regards to Hebrew. When ElevenLabs launched scribe_v1, we were eager to try it out. The initial results were a mixed bag: some benchmarks where scribe_v1 provides best-in-class results, others where it fumbles significantly. Our analysis mostly hints at issues with long-form transcriptions, where it simply "drops" large parts of the text after 1-2 minutes. We had a quick discussion about this with ElevenLabs support, but the end result is still subpar performance on Hebrew transcription, and we suspect this may be true for other low-resource languages. We think scribe_v1's technology is best-in-class, and are hoping to work together with the ElevenLabs team to fix this. So, if anyone at EL wants to chime in and make this happen (Mati Staniszewski Piotr Dabkowski :)), please reach out to us. We believe this might make scribe_v1 much better at not just Hebrew, so it might be worth your time. Our benchmarks are open, we're a non-profit, and in the last few weeks we open-sourced >5000 hours of speech with high-quality transcriptions. If anyone here has friends at EL and wants to help, please tag them! Kinneret Misgav, PhD Yoad Snapir Yanir Marmor

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Operations vs Strategy - which is more important? My answer has always been operations. Strategy is simply a smart operational process to figure out the right strategy. When we started the Israel Tech Mission nearly 1.5 years ago our focus was on action, operations and impact. And see impact to date: https://lnkd.in/e95Z92wZ

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𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 '𝐏𝐫𝐞' 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲...⁣ ⁣ Over the past few years, I’ve mentored and advised dozens of early-stage startups in Israel - many during one of the toughest periods to raise money and build new ventures.⁣ ⁣ One pattern I see far too often is 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 - especially in the very first pre-seed/seed round — without fully understanding the impact of pre-money vs post-money caps.⁣ ⁣ At this early stage, founders hold their only real leverage: they control if and how the company starts. But they’re also at a serious disadvantage, facing investors with much more experience. That’s why you must bring in a sharp, founder-aligned lawyer — one who’s commercial, strategic, and transparent.⁣ ⁣ Unfortunately, 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭. And many lawyers simply pull out a 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 because that’s what became standard after YC’s 2018 update.⁣ ⁣ 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 — 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬.⁣ ⁣ Let’s break it down:⁣ You raise $1M at a $5M 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐩 → Investor gets 𝟏𝟕%.⁣ Same round, but with a $6M 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐩 → 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝟏𝟕%.⁣ But now...⁣ If you later raise another $1.5M by extending this SAFE round:⁣ 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 SAFE total dilution = 𝟑𝟑%⁣ 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 SAFE total dilution = 𝟒𝟐% (!)⁣ ⁣ 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝟑𝟎% 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 — all because of the SAFE structure.⁣ ⁣ 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞:⁣ It’s not just the label "pre-money" or "post-money" that matters - 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, and this is buried in the details of the agreement itself.⁣ ⁣ The two real differences are:⁣ In true post-money SAFEs, investors lock in a fixed ownership percentage and are 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 by additional SAFEs or grants until conversion.⁣ ⁣ In pre-money SAFEs, investors 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 by any new financing that happens before conversion — making it much more founder-friendly.⁣ ⁣ 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐞.⁣ ⁣ Founders:⁣  Don’t just take the SAFE your lawyer drops on you.⁣  Make sure both cap types are on the table.⁣  Push for pre-money when you can.⁣  Post-money can snowball into painful dilution if you're not careful.⁣  And if investors are pushing to lock in a fixed % — consider a priced round instead.⁣ ⁣ 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲.⁣  𝐁𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.⁣ ⁣ #Startups #Founders #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #SAFEagreements #startupnation #Entrepreneurship #Fundraising #EarlyStageStartups #ycombinator #execumentoring

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🚀 Women Funding Women: A Call to Action As AI reshapes the future, women must be at the forefront of this revolution. Yet, the data is concerning: while investments in AI startups soar, the share going to women-led companies is shrinking. This is a wake-up call for us all. Today, on this emotional day when more women hostages were released, we are reminded of the resilience and strength of women. To uplift women in the transformative world of AI, we’ve launched the Women Funding Women initiative — a collaboration between ICI Fund, RUNI Ventures, VCAcademy, and Calcalist כלכליסט. One Israeli female entrepreneur will receive a $1M investment to scale her AI-driven startup. With over 70 projects already registered, we encourage more women to apply. The deadline is February 4, 2025. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/dnJaep8U By supporting women entrepreneurs, we hope to see more women shaping the industry in the years to come. Read here in English: https://lnkd.in/dEvg2zKP https://lnkd.in/dQJ6kPa3 #WomenInTech #AI #WomenEntrepreneurs #WomenFundingWomen #VC #Innovation #WomenInLeadership #BRINGTHEMHOMENOW!

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My friend shared this hot take about Israeli startups and I can't stop thinking about it. That first US hire almost never works out. They all blame different things, but ultimately? It's culture. Sure, they come with a very impressive GTM background and you count on them bringing that skill to your team. But there's this whole other job no one talks about in the interviews: Being the bridge. Do they actually get Israeli culture? Can they help Israelis adapt to American business? Can they convince great American talent to work with Israeli founders? It's such a tough balance to strike. My friend's take (which I totally agree with): Stop obsessing over finding the "top marketers" in New York. Look for people who can build bridges. Yeah, maybe their marketing skills aren't quite as polished. But they'll stick around. They'll grow. And most importantly? They'll help you build the right team. Sometimes the perfect resume isn't what you need. You need someone who can speak both languages (and I don't mean Hebrew).

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I added the new Israeli Proptech startup landscape by TLV Partners to my 2025 collection on VC Cafe. There are over 200+ Israeli startups operating in the proptech sector (including a number of unicorns). The new crop of AI-first startups are penetrating every layer of the tech stack - from elevating the tenant experience and enabling predictive maintenance, to construction site monitoring and delivering AI-driven infrastructure insights. Link to the CTech by Calcalist article with the commentary below.

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