Striker Venture Partners commits up to half of its $165 million fund to Israel
The Silicon Valley firm appoints Matan Lamdan as partner to lead Israeli cyber and AI investments.
Striker Venture Partners, a newly established Silicon Valley venture capital firm, is making a deliberate push into Israel, appointing Matan Lamdan as a partner and committing to invest up to half of its $165 million fund in Israeli startups, primarily in cyber and artificial intelligence.
While Striker disclosed several months ago that it had raised the fund, the decision to anchor a significant portion of its strategy in Israel, and to do so through a locally focused partner, marks a clearer signal of intent. Lamdan, formerly of CRV, will lead the fund’s cyber investments and oversee its activity in Israel, effectively positioning the country as a central pillar of Striker’s investment thesis rather than a peripheral market.
Striker’s model is unusually concentrated: the firm plans to make only around 10 investments over the life of the fund, all at the pre-revenue or inception stage, with individual checks ranging from $5 million to $30 million. About half of those investments are expected to be in Israeli companies.
Lamdan brings a profile that bridges Israel’s security ecosystem, global technology networks, and early-stage venture capital. He served for a decade in Unit 8200 and the Intelligence Directorate, studied at Stanford University, and later worked as an investigative journalist at “Uvda.” He subsequently joined CRV, where the firm expanded its Israeli footprint through investments in companies including Vega Security, Kela, Astrix, SevenAI, and Trail Security, which was acquired by Cyera.
Striker has already led a Seed investment in an Israeli cyber company developing technology designed to help organizations adopt AI safely.
The fund is co-led by Max Gazor, a longtime partner at CRV, who led early investments in companies such as Airtable, Cribl, and DYNA Robotics. Gazor will continue to serve on the boards of companies he backed during his time at CRV, while focusing Striker on inception-stage investing in cyber and AI.
According to Lamdan, the emphasis on Israel reflects both conviction and pragmatism. “The AI and cyber market have become more crowded than ever, making the 0 to 1 stage even more important for companies trying to compete,” he said. He added that Striker’s willingness to make large pre-revenue investments while backing only a small number of teams is designed to give founders time, capital, and focus at a stage where many startups struggle to stand out. “We deeply believe in the Israeli ecosystem and will invest up to half of our fund in Israel as a testament to this.”
