Participated · Series B · Jun 2025

Guardz offers an AI-native, unified cybersecurity platform and 24/7 Managed Detection and Response (MDR) purpose-built for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to protect SMBs across identities, email, endpoints, cloud, and data. The platform combines AI-automated detection and response with expert threat hunting and an integrated SentinelOne EDR, plus Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace integrations to monitor user behavior and prevent account takeover. Since launching from stealth in early 2023, Guardz has onboarded hundreds of MSP partners and is securing thousands of businesses across the globe. With this funding, the company plans to scale go-to-market efforts, expand in the U.S., grow R&D, and develop a next-generation platform with natively built controls to increase automation, risk prevention, and cyber compliance and insurance capabilities. The company emphasizes reducing manual effort for MSPs while enabling them to detect threats faster and respond more accurately. Guardz builds an AI-driven, all-in-one cybersecurity and cyber insurance platform tailored for SMBs and delivered as a managed service. The platform automates detection, remediation and reporting, and enables MSPs to run customized breach simulations and employee training. Guardz pivoted from selling directly to SMBs to working through managed service providers (MSPs), letting MSPs brand offerings “powered by Guardz.” It is selling primarily into the U.S., U.K. and Australia and currently works with about 200 MSPs that serve some 3,000 SMBs and roughly 36,000 seats. Security is the main revenue driver, with cyber insurance offered as an add-on. The company plans to use the new funding to hire additional engineering talent and continue expanding its toolset to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated attacker techniques. Guardz positions itself against competitors including CyberSmart, CrowdStrike and Check Point in a large SMB market served by an estimated 150,000 MSPs globally. Guardz offers a two-part product: a SaaS-based set of low-code security tools for cloud services and white-label cyber insurance sold alongside those tools. The security tools are designed to be implemented without specialized security or advanced technical expertise and to address perimeter and cloud-data attacks driven by Attack‑as‑a‑Service. The company says it launched initially in the U.S. and in a closed beta has acquired 300 customers, with target customers of 10–250 employees and average current cohort size of 30–40 employees. Pricing plans start at $9 per user per month. Guardz’s founders, Dor Eisner (CEO) and Alon Lavi (CTO), bring decades of security experience including intelligence work in Israel’s defense forces and prior enterprise security work (Eisner previously researched the Dark Web at Rapid7). Financially, Guardz emerged from stealth with a $10 million seed financing; the company is not disclosing valuation and is partnering with third-party insurers rather than building its own insurance products.

Led · Series A · Oct 2024

Oloid provides identity and access management solutions focused on deskless and frontline workers, using multi-modal biometric authentication and integrations with HR, IT, and cyber and physical systems. The platform aims to establish a unified security framework and modernize physical security without costly infrastructure overhauls. Oloid integrates with existing systems to enable features such as the OLOID Time Clock linking to workforce systems. Customers include Flex, Tyson Foods, and Honeywell. The company has achieved Workday Innovation Partner status and a Workday Certified Integration connecting Workday HCM and Time Tracking with its Time Clock. Led by CEO Mohit Garg, Oloid intends to use new funding to expand operations and accelerate product development. Oloid builds a software-first physical identity platform that integrates with existing on-prem access control systems to enable mobile access and contactless biometrics via a mobile app. Its product offers cloud-enabled features such as remote management, pre-built API integrations, advanced analytics and simplified user management while coexisting with existing locks, badge readers and access control systems. The company is offering a self-install retrofit product and is running a Beta program in which retrofit upgrades are being offered at no cost. Oloid positions its solution as a SaaS-style replacement for hardware-centric access control to reduce capital expenditure and installation friction. The company plans to use new funding to expand its retrofit access control product portfolio and to build nationwide sales and marketing operations. Mohit Garg, Co-founder and CEO, said the round will help extend compatibility with a wider range of badge readers and access control systems. Oloid offers a COVID-era contactless biometrics platform, FaceVault, that enables frictionless facial authentication for time clocks, doors and turnstiles without replacing existing infrastructure. The platform detects PPE face masks and can prompt for voice recognition or QR codes when confidence is low; it also supports temperature scanning to identify elevated body temperature at access points. Oloid integrates with standard tablets, leading time-and-attendance systems and most physical access control systems (PACS). The company emerged from stealth and launched nationwide after a private beta begun in 2018 that included thousands of workers and deployments with customers such as Flex. Oloid emphasizes a privacy-forward architecture: facial images are converted to encrypted numerical codes, source images are discarded, and end-users can manage consent and view identity-use logs. The company recently closed a $5M seed round and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2023

Briya is a NYC-based end-to-end healthcare data exchange platform that provides a blockchain-secured, scalable data exchange enabling hospitals to capitalize on patient data. Led by CEO David Lazerson, its platform standardizes all forms of electronic health records and enables streamlined access to and exchange of live, anonymized healthcare data. The system connects clinics and hospitals with academic and pharmaceutical research teams and has been implemented in healthcare systems and academic institutions primarily in Europe and Israel. Briya's secured exchange helps hospitals safely share data in compliance with regulatory guidelines while giving life-sciences organizations access to de-identified real-world data to speed development and time-to-market. The technology is designed to facilitate AI and machine learning, real-world data and health economics studies to optimize clinical trials and accelerate drug discovery. The company intends to use the new funding to expand operations and continue development efforts. Briya offers a decentralized, blockchain-powered data exchange designed for healthcare interoperability, including FHIR standardization and compliance with HIPAA, GDPR and data use agreement protocols. Its platform emphasizes de-identification, active re-ID prevention, fraud-detection algorithms, and claims to keep data at source so information "never leaves its intended position." The company says the architecture is quick and simple to use and aims to foster collaboration among pharmaceutical companies, life sciences organizations and researchers. Product features cited include fresh data access, fast interoperability resources, and a claimed 10x speed improvement and affordability. Briya was cofounded by David Lazerson and Guy Tish in 2021 and is positioned as a rising data exchange solution provider for healthcare. The company recently emerged from stealth and completed new funding to advance its product and market rollout.

Participated · Series C · Sep 2023

SQream develops a GPU-accelerated SQL analytics platform designed to process and query very large datasets for enterprise use. Its product targets verticals such as semiconductors, manufacturing, telecoms, financial services and healthcare, and its disclosed customers include Orange, Samsung, LG, Alibaba and PubMatic. The company claims significant performance and cost advantages, stating it can analyze up to 20x more data and up to 100x faster (and more recently claims up to 90% reductions in ingestion and preparation times, footprint, and up to 80% cost reductions). SQream acquired Panoply in 2021 to expand connectivity to hundreds more data sources. The team originated in 2010 and leaned on Nvidia GPUs early to enable parallel processing for BI, ML and AI workloads. Future plans noted by management include doubling down on North American growth and R&D to explore next-generation processors (optical, quantum and others). SQream develops and markets SQream DB, a data analytics acceleration platform designed to enable enterprises to analyze massive data stores. SQream DB is available both on premise and in the cloud and is used by global enterprises to scale the amount of data they analyze to hundreds of terabytes and more. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Ami Gal and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel. SQream raised $39.4M in a Series B+ funding round. The round was led by Mangrove Capital Partners and Schusterman Family Investments, with participation from existing investors including Hanaco Venture Capital, Sistema VC, World Trade Center Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Silvertech Ventures and Alibaba Group. The company intends to use the funds to recruit talent and to accelerate advancements in technology, cloud innovation, and customer delivery platforms; in conjunction with the financing Charlie Federman (Silvertech) and Roy Saar (Mangrove) joined SQream’s board. SQream develops SQream DB, an SQL analytical database that leverages thousands of parallel processing cores in NVIDIA GPUs to speed large-scale data analytics. The company says customers can analyze up to 20x more data, up to 100x faster, at as little as 10% of the cost. Unlike other GPU databases such as Kinetica and MapD that rely on in-memory storage and are limited to roughly 5 TB, SQream was built to scale to hundreds of terabytes. The Series B capital will be used to add new features to SQream DB and to grow sales, marketing and delivery teams while deepening focus on China and other regions. SQream has a collaboration with Alibaba Cloud that will give Alibaba Cloud users access to the GPU database starting in October, and new Asian customers include Thai operator AIS and India’s ACL Mobile. The company has raised a little over $40 million to date and was founded in 2010 in Tel Aviv.

Led · Series B · Dec 2022

SafeAI builds retrofit hardware and proprietary autonomous software to enable off-road heavy equipment in mining and construction to operate autonomously. The company sells an interoperable, scalable aftermarket solution that transforms existing machines into self-operating robotic assets. SafeAI was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, with offices in Perth, Tokyo, and Delhi. The company more than doubled headcount in 2022 to over 90 employees as it expanded operations across the U.S., Australia, Japan, and India. With the new capital, SafeAI plans to accelerate its autonomous vehicle technology roadmap, invest in engineering and developer teams, and scale its global operations team. Management says funds will be used to meet contractual milestones and expand the company’s global footprint to service growing customer demand. SafeAI develops interoperable autonomous technology and retrofits heavy equipment for autonomous applications in mining and construction. It builds a software platform with advanced, industry-specific AI to convert existing machines into self-operating robotic assets. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate research and development of its interoperable autonomous technology and to support global expansion. Led by founder and CEO Bibhrajit Halder, SafeAI serves a broad ecosystem of industry players with complex needs. The company currently operates with Obayashi Corporation in Cupertino, California. It raised $21M in a Series A to advance these plans. SafeAI develops autonomy software tailored for heavy equipment in the mining and construction industries, aiming for Level 4 (no human driver) capability. Its platform is designed to be open, modular and upgradeable so clients can adopt new advances in AI and autonomy. The company is testing its software on a Bobcat skid loader at its San Jose proving ground and is working with Doosan Bobcat. SafeAI is also working with an unnamed large global mining company to pilot deployments in mining trucks. The startup is emerging from stealth and does not yet have a commercial product in market, though it runs software on actual construction hardware. The founding team includes talent with experience across Apple, Ford and Caterpillar, and the company announced a $5 million funding round to support development and deployment.