Investing in Israel's immigrants: New VC firm offers olim up to $500k. in funding for startups

A new venture capital fund focused on helping olim (new immigrants to Israel) was announced on Monday, backed by two projects and a partner network that includes Google, AWS, and WeWork, along with several Fortune 500 executives.

The VC, called Aliyah Ventures, will be centered on transforming the Israeli innovation sector into a better site for immigrant entrepreneurs.

The fund was created to give these startups the pre-seed funding, with initial checks valued between $250,000 and $500,000, while it also offers integration courses, Hebrew classes for business-related workers, and the use of its co-working offices.

The VC was founded by Ron Alpar, who previously worked on three "unicorns" [a start-up valued at over $1b.] in Germany and Israel before going into fundraising and startup coaching, where he completed more than 40 projects in 10 different countries.

“Israel is a country built by immigrants, yet today immigrants found fewer than 5% of its 'unicorns,' compared with nearly 60% in the US. We see that gap as one of the most overlooked opportunities in Israeli tech, and we built Aliyah Ventures to help close it,” Alpar said.

The VC said it was looking for "world-class olim building technology companies in Israel" and was "industry agnostic," with no specific sector focus.

Aliyah Ventures also explained that it aimed to create a portfolio of 30 to 40 companies for the time being, while it was currently examining more than 100 applicants recruited from Jewish communities around the world.

The first investments made were in two companies: Conspectus, an AI-powered platform that offers data profiles of influential people in different industries, and Bayes, a hedge fund that offers AI and global prediction models to help companies secure their funding from risks that traditional insurance doesn't cover (like tariffs or geopolitical events).

Alpar was also an angel investor in Klearly, a payments company that turns restaurants’ existing point-of-sale systems into payment systems, before opening the fund.

"There is incredible talent in the Diaspora, and by appropriately enabling it, Israel can boost immigration, innovation and economic growth at a critical time," Alpar pointed out. "From a financial standpoint, investing in olim founders in Israel is a talent arbitrage opportunity where you can do well financially too."