Appointment
Fresh Start appoints Dganit Vered as CEO amid return to Kiryat Shmona
The agri-foodtech incubator resumes operations in the north after wartime displacement.
Dganit Vered has been appointed CEO of the Fresh Start agri-foodtech incubator in Kiryat Shmona, replacing Noga Sela Shalev, who held the position for the past three years. Sela Shalev recently left the role to become CEO of the Good Food Institute (GFI).
Fresh Start, which was temporarily relocated from Kiryat Shmona due to the war, established a satellite center in Tel Aviv during the conflict. In recent months, it has returned to its home base in the northern city and has since added two new companies to its investment portfolio.
The incubator was founded around five years ago as part of a national initiative to strengthen the economy of the Eastern Galilee and encourage entrepreneurship in the region. It was launched by a consortium including Tnuva, Tempo, the investment platform OurCrowd, and the U.S.-based agri-food fund Finistere Ventures. The group won a government tender from the Israel Innovation Authority and the Chief Scientist's Office to operate the incubator in Kiryat Shmona.
Since its founding, the consortium has invested more than NIS 60 million in the incubator and its portfolio companies.
