Meron Capital announced today the closing of Meron II, its second $50 million fund to invest in early-stage deep-technology software startups led by Israeli entrepreneurs. The new fund will target 18-20 pre-seed and seed investments in startups that are building software-based solutions for enterprise, cybersecurity, digital health, fintech, DevOps and more.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Meron Capital launched its inaugural fund in 2017 and has invested in 16 startups to date. Four 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.
In addition, 10 more have so far raised further financing with startups Immunai, Solugen and Armory alone disclosing combined investments in excess of $300 million to date.
"We see ourselves as a startup investing in startups – we are creative, scrappy and move fast," said Liron Azrielant, Managing Partner at Meron. "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."
Azrielant, who served in the IDF's elite technological Unit 8200 and then earned a BA in math and physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, then went on to MIT, where she was the youngest-ever applicant accepted to the school's LGO dual-degree program, where she completed an MBA as well as an MA in computer science and electrical engineering.
She started her career as a software engineer but then moved over to the business side as a consultant, advisor and then investor at Bain, PwC and finally, Blumberg Capital. After leaving Blumberg In 2017, she and Daniel Roditi launched Meron Capital. Azrielant also manages the Young Venture Capital Forum, an education non-profit connecting over 250 young VC professionals from all firms in Israel.
Roditi was born and raised in Switzerland and started his career in finance and banking before joining a commodity trading software startup as one of the first employees. He came to Israel in 2015 to pursue an MBA at Tel Aviv University, and joined Blumberg Capital as part of their Tel Aviv-based investment team. He and Azrielant left together to build Meron Capital. At 29, he is the youngest venture capitalist in Israel to found his own fund.
In the current Israeli climate of record-breaking fundraising and exits, the Meron Capital team works with talented founders, helping them ideate their early conceptions and build out their teams.
"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," explained Roditi.
What are Azrielant and Roditi looking for in startup founders? "Our typical founders are either tech superstars or an established expert in their space," says Azrielant, while Roditi adds, "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."
Meron II has already invested in four companies: LendAI, operating in the market of mortgage lending, where Meron was joined by Israel's third-largest bank; Sorbet, the first PTO clearinghouse, in a deal they closed together with Viola; Firmbase, a fintech startup in which top angels have invested; and Laminar, the first data protection platform for cloud-native applications, where they invested alongside TLV Partners and Insight Partners.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
