CTalk
"VCs are no longer funding potential, they’re funding execution"
To secure venture capital, early-stage startups must prioritize vertical agents, proprietary data ownership, and proven execution over simple integration, says Valley Bank’s Ori Kaufman Gafter.
Ori Kaufman Gafter - Mind The Tech New York 2026
(Tomeriko)
According to Ori Kaufman Gafter, Head of International & Tech Banking at Valley Bank, early-stage companies that want to attract VC attention “have to be AI native. They have to build those vertical agents. They have to own the underlying data and of course the outflow and the results. VCs are no longer funding potential, they’re funding execution.”
Kaufman Gafter spoke with CTech’s Allon Sinai during the Calcalist and Bank Leumi Mind the Tech New York 2026 conference. She elaborated on how AI integration is affecting how companies are being built, how they're growing, and how they’re attracting the attention of VCs.
“AI kind of helps you put up something there in front of the VCs very early on. Sounds easy, right? Well, it's not, because at the end of the day you need to integrate it. You need to show that it actually works and that you live up to the promise, and this is where we're seeing a lot of companies that are struggling with the execution risk because it's just hard to really bring reliable results and, of course, to replace an existing workflow.”
You can watch the full conversation in the video above.
