Scaling Up YLV – Welcome New Team Members!

Four months ago, we announced the closing of our $75M Fund YLV III, a significant increase in size from YLV II, which had topped out at $27.5M. Once the high-fives were over and the champagne bottles were emptied, we began to contemplate the challenges of our new reality – how could we accommodate more capital while maintaining our disciplined investment strategy, which had generated such a strong track record? YL Ventures is known for its unique approach – a highly concentrated portfolio with a small number of investments, handpicking only the most brilliant teams, and truly rolling up our sleeves to work with them. We call it the “high conviction – high involvement” model.

With more resources in our war chest, we wanted to achieve more: engage in a meaningful way with more founding teams in their earliest stages, provide more value to the Israeli technological ecosystem, acquire a broader set of skills to provide additional services to our founders, and enhance our global brand, with a particular focus on our US-based network of customers, partners, investors and strategic players.

Most Venture Capital firms tend to grow their organization slowly, a stark contrast to the fast-paced companies that they invest in. At YL Ventures, we have always thought of ourselves as a startup in the VC world. We believe in being innovative, agile, aggressive and transparent. So, just like a freshly funded startup with deep pockets, we are now focused on execution and scaling up.

Raising our third fund forced us to rethink our internal and external processes, as we continue on our never-ending quest to improve and enhance our relationships with the Israeli entrepreneurial community and the US market. We are constantly looking for innovative ways to further support brilliant entrepreneurs in their journey.

This is why Yoav & I are very proud and excited to officially welcome four new members to the YLV team!

In the Israeli office, which is mostly in charge of our relationship with up-and-coming entrepreneurs, we are announcing three new team members:

Idan Ninyo, our new Engineer in Residence, joined our investment team. Idan is a super smart technologist who served in the IDF Intelligence Corps as a cybersecurity researcher, and most recently was a software engineer in the high-profile AR startup Magic Leap. Idan joins our rock-star Associate, Iren Reznikov, with whom he will play a key role in our deal sourcing, due-diligence, research and portfolio value-add activities.

Yuval Mond, our new Head of Intelligence, leads our analyst group. Yuval is a savvy analyst and web intelligence specialist, with years of experience from Verint, Terrogence and the IDF. Yuval will join our relentless Data Analyst, Lior Anati, in leading our online research and intelligence activities. Their responsibilities include: operating our proprietary deal-flow software, providing deep market research and enhancing our internal information systems.

Nitzan Yosef, our new Marketing Specialist, is responsible for multiple marketing and operational activities, including social media, online and digital marketing, and events. Nitzan brought her creative talent to us after many years at the Jewish Agency for Israel & World Zionist Organization, where she headed the recruitment and marketing team. Nitzan is working directly under our fierce Marketing Director Sharon Seemann, together they will oversee the firm’s marketing activities, while providing value-add marketing support to our early-stage portfolio companies.

Our Silicon-Valley Office is in charge of providing strategic value-add to Israeli startups in the form of active business development, operational execution and managing our vast network. Today we announce the addition to this office – John Brennan, our new Vice President. Joining our investment team, John will focus on due diligence, working closely with our portfolio companies and enhancing our presence in the US. John has diversified VC experience and perspective, having previously worked at Data Collective, OCA Ventures and Horsley Bridge Partners. John will work directly under Managing Partner Yoav Leitersdorf, and will join Katy Campana, our resourceful Operations Manager.

Hiring new employees and scaling up an operation is always a challenge, and must be done carefully. Yoav & I are fortunate to have such an amazing crew, sharing and executing our vision for the future success of YL Ventures.

We have already seen our operations improve on multiple levels, and we even have more great news that we will share very soon – so stay tuned for more exciting stuff coming from this A-team!

Congrats to our new team members – onwards and upwards!