Backing Israeli founders
Olivent is a $25M US seed fund. I write $250K-$1M first checks into Israeli founders in AI infrastructure, defense and cybersecurity. You get US capital, US incorporation and US market access, and the one person who decides also reads your code.
Buy in Tel Aviv. Exit in New York.
Israeli founders build for the US market from day one, but their seed rounds price like a local market. The companies exit to US acquirers at US multiples. Two lines, one widening gap.
It's the most obvious arbitrage in venture today, and it sticks around for one reason. Getting into the right Israeli seed rounds takes relationships, Hebrew, and reading a founder's unit pedigree the way another alum would. Money alone won't get you in.
Israeli seed pricing sits well below US comps.
Technical founders as good as the ones on the coasts, often better, raising at valuations US coastal funds stopped seeing years ago. You buy in Tel Aviv.
The exits happen in US markets, at US multiples.
Israeli companies sell globally from day one and exit to US acquirers and US public markets. Check Point, Wiz, Palo Alto's shopping list. You sell in New York.
The spread lasts because access is the scarce part.
US family offices want the exposure but have no direct line into the ecosystem. Closing that gap takes relationships, the language, and knowing what a founder's unit actually means. That's the fund.
Built by an operator, after 25 years of shipping.
I'm Adam Yohanan. I've been building software for twenty-five years, most recently as CTO of Broadcast Your Media. I've also run digger.co.il, an Israeli job and CV platform, since 2009. That's fifteen years inside the Israeli tech labor market, even while living in Dallas. I've shipped products, hired engineers, raised rounds, and sat on the founder side of the table long enough to know what good and bad capital look like.
I started Olivent because the gap between Israeli engineering talent and US capital is the most obvious arbitrage I've seen in venture in two decades. Israeli founders ship fast and sell globally from day one, yet their seed rounds price well below US comps. US family offices want the exposure. They rarely have the relationships to get in cleanly. Olivent is the bridge.
I back founders I'd have wanted on my own team: technical, blunt, paranoid about the right things. I read code in diligence. I take calls in Hebrew or English. I answer in hours, and when the answer is no, it comes just as fast.
Olivent is a US-domiciled fund run from Dallas. One GP, one mandate, and a network of operators and advisors who've been on the building side. If that fits how you invest or how you build, the calendar link is below.
The bridge from Tel Aviv to US markets.
Anyone can see the spread. Capturing it is the hard part, and it takes four things most US funds can't copy: real technical diligence, founder access inside the ecosystem, US market machinery, and decision speed.
Technical diligence as moat
A CTO-GP can read the codebase, pressure-test the architecture, and tell a real technical risk from a pitch deck story. Most seed-stage diligence is a reference call and a vibes check. We do more than that.
Israeli founder access
Direct relationships across Tel Aviv, fluent Hebrew, and a working knowledge of 8200, Unit 81, Talpiot and Mamram, plus an active line into the Technion alumni network. Those are the places most of the country's deep-tech founders come from. We see the deal before the cap table does, and we read a founder's resume the way another alum would.
US market entry
Olivent does the unglamorous work that turns an Israeli seed company into a fundable US Series A: Delaware C-corp setup, US banking, GTM introductions, and follow-on syndication into US family offices and growth funds.
Solo, lean, fast
One GP means one decision-maker. Founders get a yes or no in days. LPs get judgment straight from the person doing the work, with no three associates in between.
Where the founders actually come from.
Most Israeli deep-tech and cyber founders come out of a handful of elite IDF technology units and the Technion. We read those signals on a resume and keep warm lines into the alumni networks. That's how we get to deals before they hit a cap table.
Unit 8200
Signals intelligence. The cyber and AI talent factory of the IDF; alumni founded Check Point, Palo Alto Networks, Wiz, and most of Israeli cyber.
Unit 81
Tech development for special operations. Hardware, autonomy, RF, and edge systems. Smaller and more selective than 8200.
Talpiot
The elite multi-disciplinary tech officer program. Physics, math, and CS founders who go on to build deep-tech and defense companies.
Mamram
The IDF's computing and software academy. Infrastructure, systems, and platform engineering DNA.
Technion
Israel's MIT. The country's deepest bench of engineering, CS, EE, materials, and applied science founders. Direct lines into the alumni and faculty network.
AI infrastructure
Compute orchestration, model serving, agent runtimes, evaluation and observability, and the data layer underneath. We back the boring infrastructure every AI product ends up paying for.
- Real workloads in production
- Defensible distribution into AI teams
- Founders with systems background
Defense and dual-use
Autonomy, sensors, comms, electronic warfare, robotics, ISR, and the software stacks that tie them together. Israel runs the world's most active defense innovation cycle, and we have direct lines into the founders coming out of it.
- Clear path to DoD or allied procurement
- Dual-use commercial wedge
- Operator or 81 / Talpiot DNA
Cybersecurity
Detection and response, identity, data-layer security, cloud and runtime security, and agentic SOC tooling. Israeli cyber is the global benchmark, and we can read a founder's pedigree the way a buyer of the product would.
- Wedge into the modern SOC or platform stack
- 8200 or Mamram founding team
- Design-partner traction with serious CISOs
Fintech infrastructure
Compliance and risk infrastructure, capital-markets plumbing, payments and ledger systems, and vertical software for regulated finance. We pass on consumer neo-banks and crypto exchanges.
- B2B or infrastructure positioning
- Rides a regulatory tailwind
- Founders who have shipped into a bank
Consumer internet
Mostly we pass. When we do invest, it's a category-defining founder with a distribution or product insight nobody else has. Generic consumer apps don't get through. Lower weight in the portfolio by design.
- Founder-market fit that's hard to copy
- Organic distribution or community
- A product loop that grows without paid acquisition
From first call to wire, in days.
The process is the product. Founders get speed and a straight answer. LPs get a paper trail that holds up. Here's how it runs, step by step.
A real read, fast
Every inbound founder hears back within 48 hours with a real take on the company. No form letter. If we pass, we tell you why.
Diligence that holds up
A technical, market and financial workup, done the same way every time. A CTO-GP reads the codebase and pressure-tests the architecture. The memo gets written down, and LPs can ask for it.
One decision-maker
No partner meeting, no committee, no three associates in the loop. Yes, no, or a clear reason why, from the person who did the work.
The unglamorous work
Delaware C-corp, US banking, GTM introductions, follow-on syndication into US family offices. Quarterly LP reporting with mark-to-market and pipeline color.
Fund I, by the numbers.
Olivent is raising Fund I, its first fund. One SPV has closed so far. It's a focused vehicle with simple economics, set up to move fast and back founders at the earliest stage.
Deployed into seed-stage Israeli founders building deep tech, defense and dual-use, AI infrastructure, and cybersecurity.
Note: Final terms are governed by the Limited Partnership Agreement. All investors must complete accreditation verification before subscription. Detailed documentation is provided during onboarding.
Building something we should look at?
Israeli founders at seed or pre-seed in AI, defense, cybersecurity, fintech, or consumer internet. Tell us what you're building. If it fits, you'll hear back within 48 hours.
Free calculators for LPs and founders.
SPV economics, fund fees, runway, valuation, QSBS. The models we use in diligence, open to anyone.
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Solo GP, no gatekeepers. Email me directly or grab time on the calendar.
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