Schestowitz and Benartzi join Total Capital in major expansion move
Hedge fund in advanced talks for an $85 million investment by the Schestowitz family; Benartzi departs Firstime Ventures as the fund halts new fundraising and shifts to managing its existing portfolio.
Guy Schestowitz and Yonatan Benartzi are set to join Ronen Matmon’s Total Capital as partners, Calcalist has learned. At the same time, the Schestowitz family is in advanced negotiations to invest approximately NIS 250 million ($85M) in the fund.
Total Capital, founded in 2017 by Matmon, formerly chief investment officer at Excellence Investment House, currently manages around NIS 1 billion ($330M) across three primary strategies: equities (long), bonds, and an opportunistic fund.
According to information obtained by Calcalist, Total Capital delivered strong returns in 2025, with gains of 45.4% in its long equity fund, 26.8% in its opportunistic fund, and 14.2% in its bond fund.
Following the investment, Guy Schestowitz, who manages his family office, will join Total Capital as a partner. Yonatan Benartzi will also join as a managing partner.
Schestowitz recently led his family’s investment in Profit Group alongside Leumi Partners.
Benartzi, a venture capitalist and the grandson of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was previously involved in the acquisition of Psagot Investment House by the York Capital Management and later served as a director at Psagot Securities until its sale to Apax Partners.
Until recently, Benartzi was a partner at Firstime Ventures. Calcalist has learned that Firstime will not raise additional funds, and its partners will focus on managing the existing portfolio.
Benartzi co-founded Firstime alongside Nir Tarlovsky and Ilan Shiloah. The fund was an early investor in Talkspace, which went public on the Nasdaq at a valuation of $1.5 billion and was sold in March for $835 million to Universal Health Services.
Firstime will continue to operate its credit arm, launched about a year ago. The unit is led by Yoni Ophir, Galit Tshuva, and Sharon Adiv, who previously founded and managed the non-marketable debt division at Altshuler Shaham.
Firstime’s credit activity focuses on financing growth projects in energy, infrastructure, and sustainability, primarily in the United States. The firm previously announced the closing of a $60 million financing deal with U.S. company Stacks, alongside Deutsche Bank and actor Edward Norton.
