VC Survey 2026
“AI doesn’t eliminate headcount growth; it reshapes its timing, purpose, and economics”
Titan Capital Partners Founder and Managing Partner Ben Topor joins CTech to share his market outlook and predictions, from the advantage of owning meaningful control points to the undervalued opportunities in infrastructure software, as part of the VC Survey 2026: The Next Leap.
“The highest-quality companies will be those that have identified a durable white space, anchored themselves at a meaningful control point in the value chain, and begun to show early signs of competitive insulation,” says Ben Topor, Founder and Managing Partner of Titan Capital Partners. Topor believes that as markets mature and scale, owning these control points will become indispensable. In the present climate, he explains, “valuation rewards companies that are not just growing, but shaping the competitive dynamics of their market."
Following the turbulence of recent years and the stabilization of 2025, the Israeli tech ecosystem is entering a new era: The Next Leap. Topor joined CTech to share insights for its VC Survey 2026, which invites prominent investors to discuss the topics, trends, and “leaps” expected in the year ahead.
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Omer Shloss, senior partner and Ben Topor, founder & MP of Titan Capital Partners
(Photo: Maya Louzon)
Topor argues that “one of the most undervalued opportunities today is software that operates in configuration, orchestration, and control layers of existing systems.” Meanwhile, regarding the advent of AI agents, he believes “trust in agentic AI will emerge first where autonomy improves resilience and efficiency, not where decisions are subjective or reputationally sensitive.”
You can read the entire interview below:
Fund ID
Name of Fund: Titan Capital Partners
Total Assets Under Management (AUM): $100M
Partners/Managers: Ben Topor, Omer Schloss
Notable Portfolio Companies (Active): Guesty, WSC Sports, CTERA, Datarails, BuiltOn, Soundtrack, Rapid Medical, Hypernative, Komodor, IMGN
Notable Exits: eToro, Datarails, Statement
The Valuation Leap: Moving past the market correction, what is the single most critical metric (e.g. EBITDA, NRR) that will drive premium valuations in 2026?
In 2026, premium valuations will be driven less by growth in isolation and more by a company’s position within its market structure. The highest-quality companies will be those that have identified a durable white space, anchored themselves at a meaningful control point in the value chain, and begun to show early signs of competitive insulation. Traditional metrics like revenue growth and efficiency still matter, but they are increasingly table stakes. What differentiates premium outcomes is evidence that a company is becoming structurally difficult to displace through switching costs, data gravity, workflow ownership, or deep integration into mission-critical processes.
In vertical software, for example, two companies may grow at similar rates, but the one embedded in decision-making or execution layers rather than remaining a reporting or insight tool will consistently command a higher valuation. We see this dynamic in companies such as Guesty or WSC Sports, where ownership of workflow becomes a source of long-term leverage. Ultimately, valuation rewards companies that are not just growing, but shaping the competitive dynamics of their market.
The Agentic Leap: As we transition from 'Copilots' to autonomous 'Agents,' which specific vertical will be the first to fully trust AI with independent decision-making?
The first verticals to fully trust agentic AI will likely be infrastructure and operational systems where decisions are high-frequency, tightly constrained, and economically measurable. Domains such as cloud infrastructure management, supply chain orchestration, network operations, and security response already rely on automated policies and playbooks. In these environments, the shift from copilots to agents is less a cultural leap than a logical extension of existing control frameworks.
Here, the cost of inaction is often higher than the cost of a reversible error, outcomes can be audited, and authority already resides in systems rather than individuals. Trust in agentic AI will emerge first where autonomy improves resilience and efficiency, not where decisions are subjective or reputationally sensitive.
The Sovereign Leap: Have the geopolitical lessons of recent years pushed Israeli startups to build independent, 'sovereign' tech stacks to reduce reliance on global platforms?
This is not a broad or ideological shift across the Israeli ecosystem. Most startups continue to optimize for speed and leverage global platforms where it makes sense. That said, in specific domains, particularly security, infrastructure, and regulated environments, geopolitical and operational risks have increased customer demand for independence, portability, and control. In response, some startups are adapting their architectures pragmatically, driven more by customer requirements than founder conviction.
The Efficiency Leap: In the era of AI-driven hyper-productivity, is the traditional correlation between 'Headcount Growth' and 'Company Success' permanently broken?
The linear correlation between headcount growth and output is weakening, but the relationship between headcount and company success is not disappearing. It is becoming more intentional. AI allows companies to delay hiring and scale output earlier, reducing the need for headcount as a proxy for momentum. As companies mature, people remain critical for managing complexity, owning customer relationships, and defending strategic positions.
The winners will not be those with the smallest teams, but those that deploy headcount deliberately, hiring where human judgment, trust, and accountability still matter. AI doesn’t eliminate headcount growth; it reshapes its timing, purpose, and economics.
The Contrarian Leap: What is one sector or trend currently ignored by the herd that you believe represents the most undervalued opportunity for the coming year?
One of the most undervalued opportunities today is software that operates in configuration, orchestration, and control layers of existing systems. These markets are often overlooked because they lack end-user visibility and don’t align cleanly with prevailing AI narratives. Yet historically, this is where many of the most durable software companies are built. One such company in our portfolio is Komodor.
Products that define how systems are configured, governed, or integrated tend to become deeply embedded, difficult to replace, and increasingly strategic over time. As markets mature, these control points capture disproportionate value, even if they begin as narrow or unglamorous solutions. The herd chases visibility. The opportunity lies in control.
Finally, what are 2-3 startups that, in your opinion, are likely to make a leap forward in 2026?
Two companies that appear well positioned to make a meaningful leap in 2026 from Titan Capital Partners’ portfolio are CTERA and Hypernative.
CTERA operates in a layer that was easy to overlook for years: enterprise data services and control of unstructured data. As organizations increasingly prioritize data sovereignty, security, and hybrid deployments, CTERA’s role as an orchestration and governance layer becomes strategically critical rather than merely infrastructural. Its value compounds as complexity increases.
Hypernative operates in a similarly invisible but essential layer. As on-chain activity, institutional participation, and real-time financial exposure grow, monitoring alone becomes insufficient. Hypernative’s ability to detect and respond to threats in real time positions it as a decision layer for decentralized finance, not a peripheral security tool. In both cases, the leap comes not from chasing new narratives, but from owning control points that become indispensable as markets scale.
