Erel is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners™ (JVP™) and Margalit StartUp City. He founded JVP over 30 years ago and is one of the chief architects of the Start-Up Nation, bringing innovation and entrepreneurial leadership to Israel’s most pressing economic and social challenges. Today, JVP operates from Israel and New York, where it has a major hub that houses 35 scale-up companies in the fields of AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, InsurTech, and SaaS.

Forbes Midas List
Chosen for the Forbes Midas List and by Israel’s prestigious business paper The Marker as the first venture capitalist with the golden touch, Erel has supported numerous managers in leading their companies to international leadership positions. He curated the JVP WAY, which helps create companies, invest, and reinvest as they grow from inventors into international market leaders in Israel, New York, Europe, and other global locations. A notable example is CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), which was recently sold to Palo Alto Networks for $25B. Under his leadership, JVP invested in CyberArk in its early stages. Erel became Chairman of the Board of CyberArk, and JVP later increased its investment, becoming a 47% holder as the company went public on NASDAQ and grew into a global cybersecurity leader in privileged access and secrets management.

Orchestrating 42 IPOs and M&As
Beyond CyberArk, Erel has led numerous international exits. These include QlikTech (NASDAQ:QLIK), which grew from a Swedish company into a global BI leader with an exit valuation of $2.5 billion; Cogent Communications (NASDAQ: CCOI), today valued at $3.8 billion; Netro, acquired at a $5.5 billion valuation; and the $4.8 billion sale of Chromatis to Lucent Technologies.

Today, Erel is Chairman of the Board of Earnix, which is scaling into the global leader in AI for the insurance industry, serving more than 100 customers across 35 countries. He also chairs ControlUp, which is revolutionizing enterprise network management with advanced AI in digital employee experience, and ThetaRay, which uses AI to block money laundering, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and terror financing, working with leading international banks and fintechs across North America, Europe, Africa, and beyond. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Centrical and is a member of the Boards of Nanit (the leading application for baby wellness and sleep monitoring in North America), Inshur, and others.

Creating Economic Development and Social Change
Erel’s initiatives are driven by his visionary economic leadership. He started Margalit StartUp City, which has built four centers of excellence across Israel and one major hub for AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, InsurTech, and SaaS in New York. These include the AI center at Jerusalem’s historic train station, the AI and InsurTech center on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, the Cybersecurity hub in Be’er Sheba, and the ClimateTech Center in the Galilee in Northern Israel. These hubs not only create leading companies in multiple sectors but are also connected to Margalit StartUp City Community, which integrates economic development with social change.

Margalit StartUp City Community has developed a plan to build seven regions of excellence across Israel that combine technology and education, creating tens of thousands of high-quality jobs in leading companies while fostering diverse communities of entrepreneurs, women, and youth.

Margalit StartUp City Community – “BaKehila”
Along with his wife Debbie, Erel founded Margalit StartUp City BaKehila, a nationally renowned educational non-profit that empowers the next generation of entrepreneurs and young people seeking opportunity. This program raises academic achievement and promotes personal and social growth among elementary and high school students across Israel. More than 60,000 students have graduated from its programs. Each StartUp City location combines technology and education for underprivileged youth in both the Jewish and Arab communities, helping them participate in Israel’s economic growth while transforming their regions, uprooting poverty, bringing communities together, and opening opportunities through innovation. In the city of Jerusalem, we bring together Jewish and Arab students in community and education work, which serves as an important platform for coexistence.

Member of the Israeli Knesset
Between 2013 and 2017, Erel served as a Member of the Israeli Knesset. He was part of the Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, a ranking member of the National Finance Committee, and led the Cybersecurity Taskforce. He also led the Knesset’s economic development taskforce for Israel’s North and South, creating seven new regions of economic excellence, each dedicated to a thematic field of innovation. He initiated the Mediterranean Innovation Forum, encouraging collaborations among leading EU countries, Arab states, and Mediterranean basin nations, forging new connections in innovation and economic cooperation.

Erel holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University for his thesis “Entrepreneurs of History: The Outstanding Leader in the Historical Enterprise.” He also holds a BA in Philosophy & Logic and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Erel is married to Debbie, and they live in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. Together they are the parents of three daughters, Tair, Eden, and Maya, and are the grandparents of Malachi and Ayala.

Yoav Tzruya, General Partner brings to JVP over thirty years of experience in enterprise software, cyber security, AI and FinTech. As a partner for the last 15 years, with his hands-on approach, Yoav works with and sits on the board of several of JVP’s companies including ControlUp, Coro, Pyramid Analytics, ThetaRay, Centrical, ChainReaction, Akeyless, Morphisec, Appdome, Quali, Secret Double Octopus, 1Touch.io, and SourceDefense. Yoav has led a number of companies to global exits as lead partner, including CyActive, acquired by PayPal (31x MOIC); Loom, acquired by ServiceNow (2.9x MOIC); CNVRG.io, acquired by Intel (4.3x MOIC); ScadaFence, acquired by Honeywell and Logpoint, acquired by PE firm Summa Equity. Many of these companies were created by Yoav in JVP’s thematic investment hubs, where he was instrumental in identifying core IP, building teams, defining positioning and go-to-market strategies, scaling operations, raising funding and orchestrating exits. Yoav has also led several of JVP’s strategic initiatives, including the development of our Cybersecurity Hub in Be’er Sheva and JVP’s International Cybersecurity Hub in New York.

Yoav has further led complex later stage transactions, with leading industry co-investors, from the US, EU and APAC, including securing more than $200m in capital for Coro (which he originally helped establish in Be’er Sheva), partnering with OnePeak, Balderton and EIP; Pyramid Analytics (securing more than $100m in equity and debt funding), alongside H.I.G.; ThetaRay – alongside Portage; Akeyless (alongside Team8, NGP and Deutsche Bank); Chain Reaction (securing growth round with Blackrock and Exor participation), and partnering with strategic investors such as Deutsche Telecom, Orange, GE, Intel, Siemens, Dell/EMC and National Grid. Yoav has taken some of the early-stage companies to become category leaders.

Before joining JVP, Yoav spent 10 years taking startups from early-stage to IPO readiness, while holding General Management, Product, Strategy, Marketing and Business Development executive positions, working alongside industry leaders, including Verizon, Comcast, Intel, CBS and Time Warner, as well as financial investors such as NEA and 3i.

Yoav served for six years in the Israeli Air Force, managing mission critical development projects, and is a decorated officer. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics (cum laude) and a MS in Computer Science (cum laude) from Tel-Aviv University, as well as an Executive MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management’s international program.

Gadi Porat has 30 years of operational experience in the hi-tech industry, where he has held several senior management positions. He is an expert in enterprise management software, having worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies globally. Additionally, he has extensive knowledge in developing go-to-market strategies and managing delivery life cycles.
Gadi has been an esteemed member of JVP for seven years. During his tenure, he has spearheaded JVP’s Cyber Lab in Beer Sheva, in addition to facilitating the establishment of start-up deployment from fundraising to later growth stages. Gadi also holds a position on the board of thirteen companies and closely collaborates with the CEOs of Earnix, AnyClip, Teridion, Vicarius, Upsolver, Datricks, Compira Labs, CoPilot.cx, Hyperspace, Medmo, Sencrop, and GreenEye.
Gadi worked as a senior leader at Interwise starting in 1998. Interwise was a communication company that was acquired by AT&T in late 2007. After the acquisition, Gadi had a senior management position at AT&T Israel and led Israel’s AT&T Foundry, an accelerator and innovation center program that identifies emerging companies in the communications and media industries. Gadi holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics with a Major in Business Administration from Ruppin College, Israel.

Eyal brings over 15 years of extensive experience in senior roles within the technology sector to JVP, highlighted by an impressive 8-year tenure as Chief Financial Officer in several startups. During this period, he successfully led multiple M&A processes, showcasing his strategic acumen and financial expertise. Eyal’s extensive CFO experience includes roles at Dataloop AI, DuskRise, IntSights (acquired by Rapid7, Nasdaq: RPD), Logz.io, and Infinidat. Throughout his career, Eyal has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership in managing finances and legal matters, improving operations, driving business growth, and maximizing profits. Eyal holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Accounting and Finance from Tel Aviv University. He also obtained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Accounting, Business/Management, and Economics from the same institution.

Lauren Kiel comes to JVP after nearly 20 years of building businesses in New York’s real estate, cultural, and education industries. Most recently, Lauren launched and led an arts incubator serving 50,000 New Yorkers through 150+ nonprofit and corporate partnerships. Previously, Lauren developed a global research institute at New York University and held multiple leadership roles at Lincoln Center, including building its international division and working alongside the CEO to successfully deliver a $1.2B fundraising campaign.

Lauren is a graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard Business School. She and her husband live in Manhattan with their two daughters and dog. Outside of work, Lauren can be found on adventures with her family or in the audience of live performances throughout NYC.

Alexandre Dahan is the Director of Investments at JVP. Alexandre is an integral member of the investment team, working closely on the flow of deals and investment opportunities of the funds. Alexandre works on early-stage, mid-stage and late-stage investments, sharing boards with the General Partners in Enterprise Software, Insurtech, Health and Agtech. Previously, he has worked in international VC funds in Paris, London and Sao Paolo. Alexandre holds a master’s degree from Sciences-Po Paris, one of the leading universities in France.

Devora is VP and manager of the Investor Relations Department at the JVP offices in Jerusalem. Before joining JVP, Devora was head of Compliance and Operations at Frontegg, a startup in Tel Aviv revolutionizing the SaaS development industry. Devora comes with over a decade of experience working with multinationals and startups in strategic roles across a wide range of industries in Israel, the US and Europe. Devora served as the founding director of the TOD AR/VR Innovation Lab in partnership with the Jerusalem Development Authority creating global strategic partnerships and investments within the Israeli ecosystem through international collaboration. She later went on to develop her work in as a tech consultant and scout for multiple enterprise and growth stage companies with raising capital and expansion into the global markets.

Lihi is an entrepreneurial and driven executive, holding Independent Board, CEO, COO and CFO positions over the last 20 years in the tech, healthcare and the Food & Agtech industries. In these positions, Lihi demonstrated expertise in management of large operations with a growth mindset that drives growth and returns for customers and investors. Prior to joining JVP, Lihi was the founder and CEO of DayTwo, a precision nutrition company based on the gut-microbiome, focused on metabolic disease and based on the groundbreaking science of the Weizmann Institute. Lihi set the strategic direction of the business and oversaw the day-to-day operations, leading the company to a proven, outcomes-based, at-risk model retaining Israel’s largest HMOs, as well as large US Self Insured Employers and two of the top three Health Insurance players in the US. Lihi is an active public speaker across hundreds of tech events, podcasts and TV appearances on a wide variety of subjects related to health, food as medicine and microbiome, as well as empowering women, advocating for gender equality, and fostering women’s leadership. Lihi is a certified lawyer and has an MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management.

With over 25 years of experience in the financial sector, Angela set up and currently manages a single-family office (based in Milan, Italy), where she is also responsible for allocation across private assets.

Prior to becoming family officer, Angela gained in-depth experience in equity investments and financial management for strategic growth. She worked in the private equity industry for the internal divisions of leading international investment banks (Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank) and as a manager for certain PE-backed companies.

Angela currently serves as board member for both private and publicly listed companies, contributing governance expertise and strategic guidance across different sectors.

Angela has a degree in Economics from Bocconi University and is a somatic movement and meditation enthusiast.

Professor Shoseyov is a Professor of Protein Engineering and Nanobiotechnology at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem is one of the leading academic institutes in Israel and top-ranked worldwide. His research is focused on plant molecular biology protein engineering and
nanobiotechnology. A prolific entrepreneur in his own right, Prof. Shoseyov has founded or cofounded twenty companies based on technology originating from his Hebrew University lab.

Professor Shoseyov  is the author/co-author of more than 350 scientific publications and inventor/co-inventor of more than 100 patents. An accomplished speaker, Prof. Shoseyov’s TED talk has been translated to 22 languages with more than 1.8 million views. His many accolades include the Outstanding Scientist Polak Award for 2002, the 1999 and 2010 Kay Award for Innovative and Applied Research, the 2012 Israel Prime Minister Citation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the 2018 Presidential Award for contribution to the Economy and Society of Israel and the 2024 Landau prize for Biotechnogy. Professor Shoseyov holds a Postdoc. in Molecular Biology of Cellulases from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of California Davis, a Ph.D. (magna cum laude) in biochemistry of wine flavor from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a M.Sc. in Viticulture from the Faculty of Agriculture the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.Sc. (magna cum laude) from the Faculty of Agriculture the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

With over two decades at JVP, Yehoshua Ennis is a key figure in managing the financial operations and structuring of the firm’s funds. As Senior Director of Finance & Partnerships, he specializes in the strategic oversight of JVP’s fund structures, ensuring alignment with investor needs and regulatory frameworks. Yehoshua’s role encompasses financial reporting, capital management, investor relations, and working with tax authorities to optimize fund performance. His deep expertise and comprehensive approach contribute significantly to the growth and success of JVP’s financial framework. Yehoshua holds a CPA qualification and a BS in Accounting from Yeshiva University.

Dr. Noam Josef is the CEO of the Galilee Climate Innovation Center, with over 15 years of experience in research and entrepreneurship. He has been instrumental in fostering innovation, guiding startups, securing investments, and facilitating collaborations between investors and research institutions. Noam played a key role in the growth of 14 companies through a northern incubator in partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority.

Noam holds a PhD in Marine Biotechnology from Ben-Gurion University and completed his post-doctoral research at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Florida. He has a strong academic background, including degrees in Physics and Marine Biology, and has published 15 research papers. Additionally, he co-founded two successful startups—one acquired by Israel’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development (MAFAT) and the other focusing on oceanic oil spill detection and management.

Noam’s expertise includes business development, startup mentorship, and technology commercialization. As Vice President at the GO Innovation Incubator, he led innovation in areas such as foodtech, life sciences, and medical devices. He also played a key role in raising capital, forming strategic partnerships with international companies, and launching innovation initiatives in the northern periphery, including Afula Hospital.
Today, Noam continues to drive innovation across northern Israel, leveraging his deep understanding of the local ecosystem to create impactful partnerships among startups, investors, and key stakeholders.

Michal brings 25 years of comprehensive expertise in the finance industry and project management.
In the past decade, she served as a Finance manager and owner’s representative for five of the leading hotels in Tel Aviv. Simultaneously, she oversaw a family office, primarily focusing on managing real estate assets.
As a financial manager, she brings substantial experience in project management, budgeting, legal aspects, and the management of real estate assets.
Michal holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Business Administration, as well as an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Or Nadav is Margalit Startup City Galil’s Head of Strategic Partnerships & Impact, managing and supporting the growth and community building of startups, small businesses and the women entrepreneur network, GALILADIES. GALILADIES is the first women’s entrepreneur community out of the Greater Galilee and Golan region, comprised of more than 2000 Jewish, Druze, and Arab women to date.

Or is also responsible for leading the cultural and arts initiatives in the center, working together with the artistic committee consisting of artists, technology entrepreneurs, and academics, bridging the unique connection between innovation and arts. One such initiative is StartArt, a social impact program for children and youth aimed at developing and enriching the next generation of entrepreneurs in Israel through exposure to tools from the worlds of art, technology, and science.

In her current role, Or focuses on creating strategic partnerships within the Galilee ecosystem, connecting startups, academia and local industry, while also developing collaborations with multinational corporations, venture capital funds, and impact partners. Through these partnerships, Or works to foster innovation, investment, and social impact across the region, positioning the Galilee as a hub for local talent and global opportunities.