Israeli VC firm Meron Capital has launched a new USD 50 million fund, Meron II, that will invest in early-stage deep tech startups led by Israeli entrepreneurs. The fund will target 18–20 pre-seed and seed investments in startups building software-based solutions for enterprise services, cybersecurity, digital health, fintech, DevOps and more, according to a company announcement on Monday.
Meron II has already invested in four companies; LendAI, a mortgage lending startup, where Meron was joined by Israel’s third-largest bank, Discount Capital; Sorbet, a PTO (paid time off) clearinghouse, in a deal together with Viola Ventures; Firmbase, a fintech startup also backed by top angel investors; and Laminar, a data protection platform for cloud-native applications, where Meron invested alongside TLV Partners and Insight Partners.
Meron Capital launched its inaugural fund in 2017 and invested in over a dozen startups, four of which have already made successful exits; AIOps startup Loom Systems was acquired by ServiceNow, API integration platform Reshuffle was acquired by Twitter, digital health company Clear Genetics was purchased by Invitae, and IoT startup Axonize was acquired by Planon. Another ten startups backed by Meron Capital have gone on to raise further financing with startups Immunai, Solugen, and Armory alone, disclosing combined investments in excess of USD 300 million to date.
“We see ourselves as a startup investing in startups—we are creative, scrappy, and move fast,” said Liron Azrielant, co-founder and managing partner at Meron, which described itself as a founder-first VC firm.
“We share the same spirit as our founders and that’s why we founded our own firm and chose to face the challenges of being an emergent in a market of incumbents,” added Azrielant, formerly of Bain, PwC, and Blumberg Capital.
Daniel Roditi, also a Meron Capital co-founder and managing partner, said: “We don’t necessarily expect our founders to be in a position yet to sell us on their idea. We will take a bet on their team, and work with them to crystallize their idea and help them approach customers, prospective employees, and later-stage VC firms.”
“The most important quality is tremendous resilience and fortitude. You have to be able to push back against negative or distracting feedback but at the same time, be perceptive and pick up on subtle criticism by experts who might be sugarcoating their true thoughts,” added Roditi.
The article was originally published by NoCamels, a leading news website covering breakthrough innovation from Israel for a global audience.