Participated · Seed · Sep 2023

Senser is an AIOps observability platform that combines machine learning with eBPF-based telemetry to monitor infrastructure and surface root causes of outages and service degradations. It leverages eBPF running inside the Linux kernel to capture networking and application traffic with low overhead and then applies ML to contextualize that data. The product presents a navigable map of an organization’s infrastructure—VMs, Kubernetes clusters, microservices and edge locations—with drill-down capabilities focused on production environments. Senser aims to move beyond dashboards by providing explainable alerts that tell teams why they should care and how the system reached its conclusions, reducing alert fatigue. The company emerged from stealth, is Tel Aviv-based, has 17 employees, and is actively hiring marketing roles in the United States to scale go-to-market efforts. Founders Amir Krayden, Yuval Lev, and Or Sadeh previously worked together at DriveNets and built the product to address the complex debugging challenges they encountered there.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2021

Neural Magic builds a software platform for deep learning inference that delivers GPU‑class performance on commodity CPU hardware. The company develops algorithms and tools that place software, rather than specialized hardware, at the center of ML infrastructure. Spun out of MIT by founders Nir Shavit and Alexander Matveev and led by CEO Brian Stevens, Neural Magic open‑sourced its machine learning tools earlier this year and has seen growing adoption. The company intends to use new funds to expand operations and business reach and to advance its leadership in pure‑software machine learning acceleration. Neural Magic is based in Somerville, Massachusetts. After the Series A, the company has raised $50M to date. Neural Magic builds an inference engine that lets data scientists run deep learning models on commodity CPUs rather than specialized accelerators like GPUs or TPUs. The company announced early access to this first product, designed to run in containerized, microservices environments. Founders Nir Shavit and Alex Mateev developed the approach from lab work on neurobiology data at MIT. Neural Magic says its software can deliver GPU-like speeds on CPUs, reduce costs, and eliminate memory limitations imposed by accelerators. The startup raised a $15 million seed round led by Comcast Ventures, bringing total funding to $20 million after a prior $5 million pre-seed. Seed investors included NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Pillar VC and Amdocs.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2021

Identiq offers a privacy-first fraud prevention service built on a peer-to-peer network that lets companies validate whether a new customer is known or trusted by other businesses without exposing sensitive user data. The platform uses cryptography to enable anonymous vetting among participating online stores, helping to identify fraudsters and scammers. Identiq says it already counts Fortune 500 companies among its customers and aims to capitalize on increased online spending driven by the pandemic. The company plans to use its recent funding to hire, grow its workforce, and scale support for international customers. The article frames Identiq’s approach within a large market opportunity, noting fraud prevention is projected to be a $145 billion industry by 2026. Identiq offers a distributed Anonymous Verification Network that lets member companies positively validate new users and vouch for known users without sharing any personal user data. Its FAIR (Fully Anonymous Identity Resolution) technology uses proprietary cryptographic protocols to obtain validation from other network members while preserving complete consumer privacy. The network verifies identity at critical moments in the customer journey, such as onboarding or first payment, by connecting data points like email, phone, address, IP, device and funding source. Identiq does not collect, share or store any user data, and its approach is presented as compliant with GDPR, CCPA and other privacy regulations. The company was founded in 2018 and is led by CEO Itay Levy alongside Uri Arad and Ido Shilon. Recently it completed a seed financing to advance its product and network growth.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2020

Juganu provides a lighting and communications platform that combines advanced lighting technology, sensitive and precise sensors, and AI-based learning of its environment. The system delivers computerized adaptive lighting and a network of wireless communications capable of hosting smart city technologies, including 5G and the operation of driverless cars. Its solutions target smart and safe cities, commercial spaces, and public institutions. Founded in 2011 by Ben Shmuel and Alex Bilchansky, the company is headquartered in Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel. In April 2020 Juganu raised $18M and has $46M in total funding to date. The company intends to use the new capital to continue to expand operations and its business reach. Juganu develops and manufactures innovative LED lighting systems built around a patented "Digital World" technology that can change light composition and provides an advanced infrastructure for AI and IoT applications. The company says the technology was developed in cooperation with software and hardware market leaders and embeds communications capabilities into lighting fixtures. Its solution can be embedded in cities and public spaces to provide broadband wireless networking on top of street lights without requiring fiber, enabling applications such as AI, smart-car support, traffic control, security, municipal services and real-time infrastructure monitoring. Juganu says its infrastructure can save municipal authorities up to 90% of the costs of current communications solutions and reduce public electricity consumption by up to 80%. The company has maintained a strategic collaboration with Qualcomm using Juganu hardware to enable the "Digital World" solution. Juganu announced completion of a financing round of about $23 million to accelerate R&D and expand marketing and sales in Israel and overseas.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2019

Neura provides an SDK that enables developers to analyze how users engage with their apps and how they use their mobile devices. The company serves more than 30 clients across travel and hospitality, transportation and ridesharing, health, e-commerce, food delivery and insurance. Customers use Neura to optimize push notifications and retention—one customer, MyDays, increased retention by 32% after using Neura’s insights. Neura emphasizes user privacy, saying it does not collect personally identifiable information or user IDs and is GDPR‑compliant. The startup is headquartered in San Francisco and plans product launches and expansion in the United States and the European Union. The new financing will be used for hiring and growing its business in those markets. Neura provides a privacy-first platform and SDK that analyzes user behavior across connected devices to create personalized functions and experiences. The company connects devices and services via an API and offers a standalone app through which users review and grant permission for each function. Neura says it can be integrated with more than 55 devices and software channels and recently ran a beta program with tens of thousands of users. The platform emphasizes user control of sensitive behavioral signals (for example, sleep or movement patterns) to protect privacy and reduce liability for device makers. Neura plans to use new funding to promote its SDK, strike partnerships with tech companies, and hire additional employees. Co-founder and CEO Gilad Meiri and CTO Triinu Magi lead the company and frame its mission around making connected devices useful without sacrificing privacy. Neura is an early-stage San Francisco technology company building an IoT platform that enables connected devices to understand individual patterns and behaviors. Its technology acts as connective tissue between devices, locations, people and the web, allowing devices to communicate and correlate data. Neura's platform delivers context awareness and adaptive learning capabilities intended to make environments more responsive and personal. The company, a graduate of UpWest Labs, recently secured $2 million in funding led by Greenhouse Capital Partners with participation from SingTel Innov8 Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, TriplePoint Ventures and angel investors. Neura plans to use the proceeds to further develop its technology and expand solutions that help devices cooperate to understand the human element behind behavioral patterns. Management highlights applications across the home environment, wellness and healthcare as part of its strategy to graduate IoT from purely connected to truly smart.