VC Survey 2026
"It’s no longer a question of if AI can deliver great efficiency gains but only a question of how much"
PSG Equity director Rotem Shacham joined CTech for its 2026 VC Survey.
“The traditional correlation between ‘Headcount Growth’ and ‘Company Success’ is broken. I think it was never the case where only throwing more bodies on a problem was the best solution,” said Rotem Shacham, director of PSG Equity.
“What I’m witnessing today, is that the ability to do more with less has been established. AI cuts across all functions of the organization. It’s no longer a question of IF AI can deliver great efficiency gains but only a question of HOW much. The answer definitely varies between organizations and verticals but I believe deploying AI within companies has become a complete MUST.”
Following the turbulence of recent years and the stabilization of 2025, the Israeli tech ecosystem is entering a new era: The Next Leap. Shacham joined CTech to share insights for its VC Survey 2026.
You can read the entire interview below.
Fund ID
Fund Name: PSG Equity
Total Assets Under Management: Over $30B since inception
Partners/Managers: Founded in the U.S. by Mark Hastings, co-founder and CEO, and Peter Wilde, co-founder and Chairman. Israeli office established in 2021 by Ronen Nir, Managing Director and Head of the Israeli office, joined by Rotem Shacham, Director.
Notable Portfolio Companies: Quantum Machines, Ctera, Nym Health
Notable Exits: Vehlo, Button, Protecht, Traliant and Hornetsecurity
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?
For me, it’s hard to select one single critical metric as seldom does one metric tell the whole story. That being said, Gross Logo Retention is one metric that I believe has been overlooked in the past and whose importance is rising. High Gross Logo Retention is a strong indicator of customer loyalty and product value. In the past NDR has been taking the lead but recently many have come to the realization that expansion or upsell can only go so far, and a strong, non-churning customer base is key to scalable growth. Low logo retention can be indicative of product issues, CS issues and even negative market dynamics. The threshold value depends on the GTM motion, but in any case, I believe maintaining high logo retention compared to benchmarks will be key in 2026.
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?
I believe what we’re seeing today is that AI has the potential to disrupt almost all verticals, similar to the Cloud and Mobile transformations of the past 10 years. With that, I don’t believe its impact will be binary, where in one vertical autonomous agents will be fully deployed across all tasks and in another there will be zero deployment. I think we’ll experience gradual deployment of autonomous agents across verticals. The level of adoption will obviously be contingent on the importance of the task and the accuracy of the agents. Take healthcare for example. Not all tasks were born equally. When patient health is concerned, I believe it will take time to see fully autonomous agents making decisions. However, on more process-oriented tasks or non-care related activities, such as in Revenue Cycle Management, we can expect to see adoption of autonomous agents growing rapidly.
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?
It’s hard to imagine fully ‘sovereign’ tech stacks. Limited number of countries, if any, can develop everything, A to Z, from the chips, through the LLMs, to the high level apps. What I’m seeing more and more is the bifurcation into two stacks. One western, or US dominated, and one eastern, or Chinese dominated. Goes without saying that Israeli startups are deep within the US ecosystem and tech stack.
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?
Although gaining more traction in the last few months, I think the field of Quantum Computing stores additional significant potential and value. Throughout 2025 companies delivered both scientific and commercial achievements in the field. As we enter 2026 leading companies are closer to reaching tangible real world use cases for quantum computers. We’re getting closer to quantum advantage and to unlocking end user value, across pharma, finance and the material industries, which I believe will propel this sector forward.
