CTalk
“Israeli startups raised 40% more than last year”
Poalim Tech’s Dr. Adi Hoorvitch-Lavi explains how investors have grown increasingly selective despite the surge in local startup funding.
Dr. Adi Hoorvitch-Lavi - Summer Cocktail by Fusion VC 2026.
(Video: Orel Cohen)
In the first half of the year, “Israeli startups raised 40% more than last year,” said Dr. Adi Hoorvitch-Lavi, SVP Growth & Investments at Poalim Tech. Despite the growing prominence in Israel of sectors like defense and deep tech, Hoorvitch-Lavi explained that this latest influx of capital is largely being driven by cybersecurity, a sector she says is "just getting stronger."
However, despite the surge in funding, she explained that backers are holding founders to “high standards” and increasingly favoring “the second timers”. As a result, a division is emerging in the funding landscape where, as Hoorvitch-Lavi observed, certain first-time founders "will not enjoy the same valuation," while experienced teams, particularly in cyber, command “high, high valuations.”
Hoorvitch-Lavi spoke with CTech’s Amy Shapiro during the Summer Cocktail event in Tel Aviv hosted by Fusion VC, which brought together some of the most prominent members of Israel’s venture investor scene.
Addressing whether the AI sector is experiencing inflated market valuations, Hoorvitch-Lavi remarked, “AI is not a bubble in the end, it's a real change in how we work and it has a huge impact on the world.” Further, she noted that for today’s startups, AI must be deeply integrated into “the whole structure of the company.”
You can watch the full conversation in the video above.
