Aliyah Ventures Backs Immigrant Founders in Israel With $250,000 Pre-Seed Checks
Updated
Updated · Ynetnews · Oct 12
Aliyah Ventures Backs Immigrant Founders in Israel With $250,000 Pre-Seed Checks
2 articles · Updated · Ynetnews · Oct 12
Summary
Aliyah Ventures has completed the first close of its debut fund, made two initial investments and is reviewing about 50 more startups led by immigrants in Israel.
The Tel Aviv pre-seed fund typically writes $250,000 to $500,000 checks, arguing immigrant founders are underfunded despite building 59% of U.S. unicorns while accounting for fewer than 5% in Israel.
Its first bets are Conspectus, an AI intelligence platform founded by former CNN and Meta analyst Jennifer Korn, and Bayes, founded by Benny Attar, which uses prediction markets to hedge business risks.
More than 100 scouts in cities including New York, London and Paris feed the pipeline, while the fund also offers Hebrew lessons, bureaucracy help and access to government benefits.
The strategy comes as 2025 aliyah from the U.S. rose 12% to about 4,150, France jumped 45% to roughly 3,300 and Britain increased 19%, expanding the pool of potential founders.