Venture Capital Collaboration with Israel
Silicon Valley's venture capitalists are material collaborators with Israel, and in the genocide of Palestinians. The collaboration includes weapons development, production and use, the exchange of venture capital funding, mutual investment in military and surveillance startups, and a deep relationship with Israeli military and intelligence. Stemming from their participation in the genocide, venture capitalists are in line for land and and real estate development, technological innovation, and strengthened geopolitical alliances. It is a catalyst for the Network State.
Israel is a technological powerhouse. Its tech sector is developing and expanding, because of the genocide: it has accelerated the development and testing of military and intelligence startups, brought more foreign capital into the tech industry, and secured relationships with global venture capital firms. Looking at the intervening years between Oct 7th 2023 and present, the financial picture is of ongoing growth, research and development, and collaboration between U.S. and Israeli venture capitalists.
In 2023, Israeli startups raised $7 billion, with 75 deals made across October, November and December, while foreign venture funding actually rose in the 4th quarter from the preceding months.
In January 2024, The Times of Israel published an article stating
“Local and international VC funds remain bullish on Israeli technology despite two crises that have compounded a funding squeeze in a sector that is the nation’s growth engine. 'The world knows that the impact that Israel has had over the last decades on global tech is very profound,' said Adam Valkin, a managing director at General Catalyst, a US-based venture capital firm that has invested 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in Israeli founded companies over the past eight years, including fintech firms Melio, Rapyd and Lemonade and artificial intelligence healthcare company Aidoc... 'Israel is a very important part of our global strategy, and will continue to be,' he said in a phone interview. 'On a long-term basis, it’s hard not to be very optimistic about Israel tech.'"
In the same article, a venture capitalist from American firm PSG Equity said “out of all this mess, and… bad times that we are going through… this will be probably the biggest tailwind that we have for the new wave of innovation in Israel.” The founder of boldstart Ventures, which had invested over $150 million into Israeli startups at publication, was quoted saying “I wish all my founders were as resilient as the Israeli founders.”
From October 7th 2023 to the first week of March 2024, over $1 billion was raised by venture capital firms with a focus on investment in Israeli tech startups.
Israel is often called "startup nation". According to Startup Nation Central, an Israeli startup tracker:
"In 2024, Israel solidified its position as a global scale-up powerhouse. Despite ongoing war and geopolitical tensions, the tech ecosystem achieved remarkable milestones—unexpected funding levels, high-value M&A deals, and stellar performance by public companies...
Israel’s High-Tech Sector is Thriving Against the Odds. The Israeli tech ecosystem, with a GDP share double that of the U.S. tech sector, led Israel’s economic growth with a 2.2% increase in high-tech GDP (Q1–Q3 2024), while the overall economy contracted by 1.5%... Israeli tech companies raised over $12 billion in 2024, marking a 27% year-over-year increase... Multinational corporations increased M&A activity in Israel, including several high-value deals, while their private investments showed steady performance throughout 2024...
2024 marked Israel’s strongest year for acquisition-driven exits, with total event values approaching record highs... Acquisitions by multinationals with R&D and innovation operations in Israel reached new heights, further emphasizing the country’s significance as a hub for global technology and innovation."
In an article titled "How war, and Silicon Valley, are driving an Israeli tech rebound," Politico reported in mid 2025 that:
"It wasn’t long ago that Israel’s tech sector saw a drop in both confidence and global investments. After the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and the ensuing Israeli retaliation in Gaza, foreign direct investment plummeted, and the government injected millions of dollars into the tech industry to try to lure investors.
But now, a rebound is firmly underway — led in many cases by American investment.
The California semiconductor giant Nvidia is planning a new campus of up to 30 acres in the country’s north, it told DFD [Politico newsletter]. Google acquired Israeli-founded cybersecurity company Wiz for $32 billion in March. Since the war began, venture capital firms Sequoia and Greylock announced they were hiring new local partners; Andreessen Horowitz also reportedly made significant new investments in Israel (the company didn’t respond to DFD questions). Startup Nation Central, a nonprofit promoting Israeli innovation, found in January that Israeli tech companies raised more than $9.3 billion in the first half of 2025, which it said was the strongest six-month performance in the last three years."
Across the whole of 2025, Israel's tech industry expanded even further. Israeli high-tech companies raised a total of $15.6 billion in private funding; Reuters reporting "The tech sector, regarded as one of the largest in the world, accounts for about 20% of GDP, 15% of jobs and more than half of Israeli exports." Comments from Startup Nation Central expose the concentration in venture capital seen in the United States is also occurring in Israel:
"investors are doing fewer deals, but committing significantly more capital to each one... Mega-rounds accounted for ~50% of total private funding, underscoring the growing concentration of capital... Investor participation narrowed, with 592 active investors, yet global investors continued to represent 60% of the total, signaling ongoing international confidence."
Concentration has been a root cause of increased militancy and extremism across venture capital globally, leading to fewer and fewer players controlling more and more of the capital. M&A and public company funding in Israel also grew markedly in 2025.
In 2026, Israel's venture funding continues its growth trajectory, raising $8.6 billion during the first half of the year, marking a 45% increase year over year.
Israel, its tech sector, and Silicon Valley venture capitalists are genocide profiteers. The rise of Israel as a technocratic state provides an explicit model for venture capitalists to develop their own sovereign nation: the Network State.
Zionism and Pro-Genocide Propaganda Across Venture Capital
Silicon Valley venture capital has stood militarily, financially, ideologically and publicly with Israel. In the immediate wake of October 7th 2023, venture capitalists mobilized in support.
First launched in October of 2023, over 800 venture capitalists signed the “Venture Capital Community Statement of Support for Israel", stating:
“Israel has been an enduring partner to the global innovation ecosystem, fostering groundbreaking technological advancements and startup innovation. The nation's contribution to the world in terms of technology, research, and entrepreneurship is invaluable, and we hold deep respect for its unwavering commitment to progress…
In the spirit of peace and unity, we encourage the global venture community to support and engage with Israeli startups, entrepreneurs, and investors as they navigate through these challenging times. We believe in a brighter and more prosperous future for the region. We will continue to enable the talented entrepreneurs and startups in Israel and abroad to continue their vital work in shaping a better future for all.”
It was signed by key venture firms primarily from the US and Israel, and at the heart of technological power. Signers include Almeda Ventures, Altitude Ventures, Apollo Projects (Sam Altman’s fund), Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer, Blumberg, General Catalyst, Gotham Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NFX, Not Boring Capital, Vintage Investment Partners and 8VC (Joe Lonsdale's firm).
Palantir, the Peter Thiel and CIA-backed intelligence company with offices in Tel Aviv, took out a full page ad in the New York Times on October 15th, 2023, stating “Palantir Stands With Israel.” In 2024, the first Reindustrialize conference converged in Detroit - orchestrated by Mike Slagh, who also organized the 2023 D.C.-based Defense Ventures Summit. These conferences, part of a bloom of venture capital/defense conferences, bring VCs, military and intelligence personnel, and war hawks under the same roof. Companies who are active in Israel or finance action in Israel, and attended Reindustrialize, include Palantir, Y Combinator, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures, among hundreds of others from the VC and tech community.
Palantir CTO Shayam Sankar, who writes for The American Conservative, spoke at Reindustrialize 2025 with rousing enthusiasm for the future of American innovation in artificial intelligence, launching Palantir's new American Tech Fellowship, stating that he "Couldn't be prouder to stand with Israel".
Palantir has had offices in Tel Aviv since 2015. Expanding a long-lasting relationship, Palantir signed a renewed agreement with Israel in January 2024; Bloomberg reported that
“Palantir Technologies Inc., the data analysis firm that provides militaries with artificial intelligence models, has agreed to a strategic partnership with the Israeli Defense Ministry to supply technology to help the country’s war effort.
The agreement followed a Thursday meeting between Israeli defense officials and Palantir co-founders Peter Thiel and Alex Karp in Tel Aviv, according to Executive Vice President Josh Harris, who was also in attendance.
‘Both parties have mutually agreed to harness Palantir’s advanced technology in support of war-related missions,’ Harris told Bloomberg on Friday. ‘This strategic partnership aims to significantly aid the Israeli Ministry of Defense in addressing the current situation in Israel.’”
Since October 7th, Palantir stock has skyrocketed, growing 150% in 2025, with revenue doubling year over year in the first quarter of 2026.
The support for Israel by venture capital extended to a major campaign on social media, led by the venture capital firms most involved in the production of weapons startups. The head of Lux Capital has called the Palestinians under genocidal aggression “savage animals”: “Shame disgrace condemnation on these savage animals and any who support them celebrating this inhumanity. The Palestinian people are held hostage by Hamas and Iranian backed terrorists.” A venture capitalist from Sequoia, in firm support of the genocide, called the Palestinians “barbarians at the gate”: “Just so you understand why Israelis have been so vigilant in the past… … it was living with knowledge that there were barbarians at the gates”. A venture capitalist from Founders Fund, Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, stoked the genocide, agitating for the US to declare war on Palestine and asking, “Why is a foreign ‘government’ killing at least 22 Americans not an Act of War against the US too?”.
In December 2023, 70 U.S. venture capitalists and tech executives from their portfolios went on delegation to Israel to “pledge support for the high-tech sector”.
Ibex Investors, in Denver, announced a fund of over $100 million for Israeli startups in February 2024, stating it will “back as many as 15 local early-stage startups across tech industry areas, including software, infrastructure, cybersecurity, development tools, and insuretech.” In March 2024, Team8, an Israeli venture capital firm focused on “cybersecurity” and artificial intelligence, raised $500 million from American tech companies including Cisco and Microsoft. The month of March also saw Israeli drone company Titan Innovations announce a $50 million venture capital fund to invest in facial recognition for the Israeli military.
Oracle CEO Safra Catz met with Benjamin Netanyahu months prior to the October 7th escalation of the genocide to discuss the expansion of Oracle's services and investment in Israel. Catz, commenting to the Times of Israel, said in January 2024 that Oracle would double its investment in Israel and open a second underground data center. Oracle's relationship with Israel had intensified in 2021 when the giant database company launched a $319 million underground datacenter in Jerusalem. Ellison reportedly offered Netanyahu a position on the board of Oracle during the same timeframe.
Oracle is part of an investor consortium that purchased TikTok’s U.S. operations from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, after multiple attempts by the U.S. government to ban it, initially leading to successful negotiation that gave Oracle the power to store U.S. user's data. Since the escalation of the genocide, TikTok had served as one of the only platforms allowing pro-Palestinian content to flourish, making it a target for censorship by its new Zionist owners.
Employees of Oracle have been intimidated to silently comply with the company's hard line support of Israel, revealing to The Intercept:
"'The environment is horrible, people are terrified to even mention Palestine,' one employee, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, told The Intercept. 'I cannot stand it anymore.'"
Out of 160,000 global Oracle employees, only 68 signed an open letter in 2024, criticizing Oracle for their partnerships with Israel:
"We did not sign up to be Oracle employees based on the personal or political views of the leadership team. In fact many of us were not even aware of those views until recently. We were certainly unaware of an unwavering 'mission' and requirement for unquestioning support of the state of Israel when we signed our employment contracts. To insinuate that we should not work here because we don’t support Israel is discriminatory and goes against Oracle’s own ethical standards...
In response to legitimate concerns, many of us have been referred to internal mental health resources rather than having those concerns addressed appropriately. We know of many talented employees who have resigned due to the company’s one-sided stance."
Zionism and unqualified support for Israel from venture capitalists has continued even as the death count of Palestinian children grows; a new report from the UN states that:
“Israel has killed 20,000 children and injured 44,000 more since 7 October 2023
Severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation and the collapse of education and healthcare have erased childhood and will continue to affect children in Gaza throughout their lives
Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, with no information on their whereabouts
Israeli security forces have used sexual violence against children as part of the collective shaming and oppression, entrenched within a prolonged, ethnic, gendered and intergenerational pattern of occupation and hostilities”
The Tech for Palestine project has published a tool tracking VCs complicit in the genocide to help tech employees, founders and others in the tech world avoid working with these firms. Complicity in the genocide by venture capital has also been tracked by Genocide.VC.
Israel and Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firms
Israel funds many U.S. based venture capital firms. Israeli investor firm Vintage Investment Partners funds venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery, Bessemer Venture Parters, Craft Ventures (David Sacks' firm), DCVC, General Catalyst, Ribbit Capital, Lightspeed, Spark Capital, and Kleiner Perkins. These firms are at the heart of tech fascism and the Network State, as well as technological development in AI, weapons startups, surveillance and intelligence platforms. More information about these firms can be found on this site.
Israel's funding of large numbers of U.S. venture capital firms has given them influence over the trajectory of startup development, and the firms and leaders of tech fascism.
Andreessen Horowitz in particular has played a central role in the build-out of weapons startups. Andreessen Horowitz is an investor in Toka, an Israeli “cyber defense startup”, that features a rash of Israeli war criminals, with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a key leadership position, as well as former Brigadier General and Chief of Israel Defense Forces in cyber.
Andreessen Horowitz invested in seven new Israeli startups in 2024. Andreessen Horowitz invested in Wiz, an Israeli cybersecurity company, in May 2024; in March 2025, Wiz was acquired by Google for $32 billion.
A statement made to Pitchbook by an Israeli venture capitalist highlights how October 7th provided the opportunity for U.S. venture capital firms to gain a stronger footing in Israel's tech industry:
“'Founders know that the American VCs will give much more capital and a higher valuation,' said 97212 Ventures founding partner Eyal Bino. “A GP friend of mine at a high-quality Israeli VC told me ‘I don’t even see the top layer of deals anymore; they just go directly to Sequoia or Andreessen. They skipped us.’”
An Andreessen Horowitz partner has funded Sarona Ventures, an Israeli startup fund "to invest in and accelerate young Israeli entrepreneurs at the beginning of their journey." In June 2025, Andreessen Horowitz announced it was seeking "elite IDF alumni" to participate in its startup accelerator. Andreessen Horowitz has since funded a number of Israeli startups through the program, with a general partner announcing in 2025 "we've backed over 10 Israeli teams through a16z speedrun - helping them establish a presence in the US and scale GTM [go-to-market]. we can't wait to meet more! very impressed by the Israeli tech ecosystem and its resemblance to silicon valley - it's time to build!"
In late 2025, Andreessen Horowitz funded Argu, an Israeli startup "to monitor any scenario in real-time video from CCTV in minutes instead of months. Zero training. Zero time. Just words. Existing CCTV video systems are limited to pretrained models and use cases. Argu solves that with agentic video intelligence technology, which is operated entirely with words... With Argu, everything is visible now." It is co-founded by "a veteran of an elite IDF technology unit".
A similar Israeli startup is Conntour, funded by General Catalyst and Y Combinator, which raised a seed round in early 2026; the startup promises "transforming surveillance from passive watching to active intelligence and limitless clarity." Conntour has participated in Palantir's Startup Fellowship program and "originated from working with IDF field observers during their reserve service after October 7, when both founders were in active combat reserve units."
In 2026, Andreessen Horowitz backed Limy, started by IDF special operations forces who worked "behind-enemy-lines missions, long-range reconnaissance, and deep-strike operations." Limy advertises itself as "the infrastructure to own the market in AI search", by creating "a new revenue model: businesses to [AI] agents". It's "About" page introduces its founders and team as "the chosen ones".
In June 2026, Andreessen Horowitz brought 12 Israeli founders on a delegation to New York Tech Week. Andreessen Horowitz, using data from Pitchbook, has published a list of the top universities ranked by number of startup founders who have raised venture funding in the last decade, with Tel Aviv University weighing in at 865, and Technion - Israel Institute of Technology at 783, both beating out Yale University by the same metric.
General Catalyst is another venture firm funded by Israel's Vintage Investment Partners, and has a large number of weapons companies in its portfolio; they include Helsing, Anduril, Castelion, Saronic, Applied Intuition, Vannevar and others. In 2023, General Catalyst partnered with Israel's largest medical center, Sheba Medical Center; the press release stating: "The partnership agreement encompasses four key modules designed to accelerate transformative advancements in healthcare: strategic collaboration to expedite Sheba’s digital transformation, co-creation of innovative solutions aligned with shared priorities, shared investment opportunities in General Catalyst’s and in ARC’s portfolio companies, and an innovation sandbox for testing and refining cutting-edge solutions. These modules will bring significant benefits to patients and the healthcare industry by helping to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered."
In his first official interview with Israeli media in 2025, General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja stated:
"Israel is a really amazing country in that regard, where adversity only makes the entrepreneurs more resilient and more wanting to win. So, in some ways, when I talk to the founders here, I feel like they're as determined as ever, if not more... we have invested here for a long time. From a venture capital industry perspective, we are one of the larger investors in terms of how much capital we've invested here. We are meeting some new companies as well. We've always enjoyed meeting the founders here. They think global in their ambitions. We have some amazing companies here, you know, Melio and Lemonade and Rapyd and Deal. We have many really, really interesting businesses here. And we want to do more, so that's why we're here.”
Another of General Catalyst's Israeli startups is cybersecurity firm Armis Security; it was acquired by ServiceNow for $7.75 billion in cash in 2025.
In 2025, a South African venture capitalist from General Catalyst -- who had been at the firm for 12 years -- joined a relatively new venture firm, Vine Ventures, which invests in Israeli and U.S. startups. Founded in 2020, Vine Ventures has offices in Tel Aviv, San Francisco and New York, and is invested in 56 companies across defense, AI, fintech, healthcare and others. It is aggressively targeting Latin America, raising a $140 million fund for that market in 2022.
Striker Venture Partners is a new venture capital firm based in San Francisco but is putting up to half of its investment into emerging Israeli tech companies after raising $165 million; one of its founders is from Unit 8200 and Israel's Intelligence Directorate. The reporting article notes "Foreign investors maintained their dominant role in the Israeli tech ecosystem [in 2025], accounting for 60% of total investors, led by prominent US funds including Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Blackstone, according to data compiled by Startup Nation Central."
There are an increasing number of venture capital firms that represent a hybrid of Israel and Silicon Valley; a new breed of firm that is emerging directly from the dynamics of the genocide.
Dynamics of Israel's VC Industry
A summer 2025 report from S&P Global elucidates Israel's venture capital industry:
"The nation has one of the strongest venture capital markets across the 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development group due to significant backing from the Israeli government, according to the OECD...
The most active venture capital firm in Israel in 2025 so far was the domestic firm Entrée Capital Ltd. with seven funding rounds totaling $22.7 million, Market Intelligence data showed. US-headquartered Lightspeed Ventures LLC and Insight Venture Management LLC were tied at second place with six deals amounting to $65.0 million and $46.2 million, respectively. Among the firms tied at third place with five deals, US-based Intel Capital Corp. and the Israeli firm Pintago Venture Capital had the highest deal values with $117.4 million and $104.4 million, respectively."
When private equity and venture capital data is combined, S&P notes that "Israel has 696 domestic private equity and venture capital firms, the largest number among all countries in the Middle East, according to Market Intelligence data."
Time Magazine featured two Israeli venture capital firms in its 2025 inaugural list of top venture capital firms; according to a reporting Israeli news article,
"Two Israeli venture capital firms were named Tuesday to TIME magazine’s first-ever ranking of the top 350 firms shaping the U.S. venture capital industry in 2025. Group 11, led by Israeli-American investor Dovi Frances, and NFX, headed by Gigi Levy-Weiss, were chosen from more than 10,000 firms reviewed for the list, which was compiled by TIME in partnership with international data firm Statista...
Group 11, founded in 2012, has invested more than $700 million and manages assets with a fair market value above $1.4 billion. The firm has backed seven unicorns and holds a predominantly Israeli portfolio that includes Navan (formerly TripActions), which plans an IPO later this year, Next Insurance, sold to Munich Re for $2.6 billion in 2024, as well as Dream Security, HomeLight, Sunbit, Masterschool, Tipalti, Venn City, AeroPay, Healthee and BridgeWise."
An Israel Innovation Authority report in March 2026 shows growth in the Israeli venture capital space, as "47 new VC funds began operating in 2025 – more than double the 2024 figure and above the 10-year annual average – signaling a rebound in investor activity. By the end of 2025, an estimated $8.7 billion in 'dry powder' remained available for investment, providing a substantial pool of capital for Israeli startups despite ongoing global and regional uncertainty... The rebound follows a dip in activity during 2023 and 2024, with 2025 seeing increased momentum in both first and final funding rounds. A further 29 Israeli VC funds are currently raising capital, with combined targets exceeding $1.1 billion... The broader ecosystem also continued to expand, with 14 new VC management companies established in 2025, bringing the total number of active firms to 240."
The Israel Innovation Authority administers the Yozma Fund, which directs money into Israeli venture capital firms and startups. According to its website, Yozma has funded more than 24 technology incubators, and has been involved in 50 mergers and acquisitions, 39 IPOs globally and 29 in the United States. In January 2026, Yozma announced investments in 11 Israeli venture capital funds, and targeting a $2 billion investment of public and private money.
Israel's tech industry has its own media, propaganda and events arms, with Startup Nation Central and Calcalist CTech News serving as anchors, and larger publications like the Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel serving as the mouthpiece of the tech industry.
Israel's venture capital function is also moving to integrate Israeli startups into American infrastructure. According to reporting from the Indiana Capital Chronicle:
"The Indiana Economic Development Corporation announced Monday a $60 million investment and commercialization initiative known as Iron Nation-Indiana.
The initiative aims to connect Hoosier companies, health care systems, universities and communities with Israeli technology startups...
'Indiana is committed to competing and winning in the industries shaping the future,' Gov. Mike Braun said in a news release. 'Iron Nation-Indiana reflects the kind of partnership we want to pursue — one that combines public leadership, private capital and real commercial opportunity to bring more investment, more innovation and more long-term value to our state.'
The IEDC says the partnership will give Israeli technology companies new opportunities to establish U.S. headquarters and operations in Indiana, in addition to the chance to forge commercial relationships with Hoosier companies.
The Iron Nation platform launched to support Israeli startups in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Iron Nation-Indiana aims to bring those investment and commercial partnerships to the Hoosier State."
This expansion is part of a large strategic initiative by Israel's tech industry, as Israeli publication Calcalist CTech reports:
"For the first time, the industry is openly discussing the possibility of shifting parts of development activity abroad, sometimes as early as the founding stages of startups. The long-held belief that core development must remain in Israel is giving way to a more pragmatic approach: spreading risk and ensuring stability for global customers. At the same time, local development costs have risen by an estimated 10-15%, driven in part by the strengthening of the shekel against the dollar. The result is a growing, if still uneven, shift of development roles beyond Israel’s borders...
While only 31% of companies surveyed are considering moving operations abroad, there is a growing shift in mindset among entrepreneurs. Increasingly, founders are considering establishing part of their development teams overseas from the outset, with New York City emerging as a preferred destination. More than 500 Israeli startups, or startups founded by Israelis, are already operating there. At the same time, around 38,000 Israelis have left the country over the past three years.... According to official data, the number of high-tech workers in Israel has remained around 400,000 since October 7, masking deeper changes in where development work is actually taking place."
Forbes has further documented the phenomenon, featuring an interview with Israeli venture capitalist Erel Margalit of Jerusalem Venture Partners:
"Margalit highlighted his view on how Israeli-origin technology became even more relevant during wartime, particularly as global concerns over terror financing grew. 'The war suddenly brought forward major issues like money laundering and the urgent need to block terror financing, challenges that Israeli companies were uniquely equipped to solve through their advanced AI systems. From the crisis came opportunity. Governments and banks across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and North America sought their technology.'
Many firms decentralized operations, moving business teams abroad while keeping R&D centers in Israel, effectively accelerating globalization under pressure. Margalit calls it 'Israeli heritage, international strategy,' a dual model that ensured business continuity despite the conflict. 'Are developments still on time? Can people still come and go? Are we meeting clients?' He described the mindset of Israeli entrepreneurs during the war. 'The answer is yes. In Israel, New York, and Europe. Overcoming hardship and achieving the impossible goes with us throughout our journey.'"
This coincides with more and more foreign VC investment flowing into Israeli startups; this is particularly noted in the field of cybersecurity, as "2025 marks the first time global VCs both outpaced Israeli funds at every stage and became the leading source of seed capital for Israeli cybersecurity companies."
Israel's Semiconductor Bedrock
One of the biggest and earliest links between Israel and Silicon Valley came through the semiconductor industry. According to Israel's Startup Nation Central, Israel has over 250 active semiconductor companies, and employs 45,000 people. Its 2025 report on "the global semiconductor race" shows the core role the industry has played, as well as its roots in Israel's defense industry:
"The story begins in 1971, when Intel engineer Dov Frohman returned from California to establish a small design center in Haifa, the company’s first site outside the United States. In the 1980s, he persuaded both Intel and the Israeli government to take a bolder step, leading to the opening of Fab 8 in Jerusalem, Intel’s first manufacturing facility abroad. This milestone paved the way for the development of the vast Kiryat Gat campus, now home to Fab 28, Intel’s largest manufacturing site in Israel.
Over the decades Intel became the largest private employer in Israel’s tech sector, with roughly 14,000 people working across engineering, operations, and manufacturing. It also played a central role in Israel’s M&A history, acquiring DSPC in 1999, the nation’s first over billion-dollar tech exit ($1.6 billion), and Mobileye in 2017 for $15.3 billion which was, until recently, Israel’s largest deal. In 2023, Intel announced another transformative $25 billion expansion at the Kiryat Gat campus(Fab 38), supported by a $3.2 billion state grant. Analysts estimate that Intel alone contributes a measurable percentage of Israel’s GDP, with Fab 38 expected to employ more than 10,000 people directly and indirectly..."
More than 70 of Israel's semiconductor startups have been acquired, to the tune of $44 billion. On the occasion of the Mobileye acquisition in 2017, Intel's CEO stated "We think of ourselves as an Israeli company as much as a US company", and the company claims "Since establishing operations in 1974 and up through 2021, Intel Israel has invested $27 billion in land, equipment, and facility investments."
Continuing from the Startup Nation Central report:
"In the 1970s, amid international embargoes and restricted access to critical technologies, Israel’s defense sector turned to semiconductors to ensure self-reliance. Dedicated subsidiaries were established to develop and produce the components vital for national security.
Gal-El, based in Ashdod, specialized in radio-frequency (RF) and mixed-signal chips for defense communication and radar systems. In December 1976, SCD (SemiConductor Devices) was founded in Migdal HaEmek as a joint venture of Rafael and Elbit Systems, focusing on infrared and electro-optical sensors for missile guidance, thermal imaging, and surveillance. Together, these firms supplied the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while also exporting abroad, generating revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars."
Nvidia opened in Israel in 2020 after acquiring Mellanox Technologies, an Israeli computer networking company. In November 2023, Nvidia's "Israel-1" AI supercomputer launched internally and to partners. Nvidia continues to expand its presence in Israel, reportedly developing a large server farm there, building a new research and development campus, and CEO Jensen Huang stating in late 2025:
"Israel is home to some of the world’s most brilliant technologists and has become NVIDIA’s second home. Our new campus will be a place where our teams can collaborate, invent, and build the future of AI. This investment reflects our deep and enduring commitment to our families in Israel and their unique contributions to the AI era.”
Weapons and AI
Despite Israel's devastating genocide of Palestinians, the VC firms and tech companies that are fueling its operations are profiting; the Washington Post, in an article called "Israeli military tech start-ups cash in on two years of war":
"While Israel has faced sharp criticism over its war in Gaza, start-up executives say foreigners are eager to buy systems developed and tested on the battlefield... Israeli start-up executives say that foreign requests to purchase their weapons and related systems are up sharply. Israel’s success in carrying out devastating pager attacks in 2024 against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, intelligence operations in Iran during the 12-day war last year and commando raids to rescue hostages in Gaza have stoked foreign demand for the weapons and other technology used by Israeli troops.
Israeli start-ups brought in a record $15.6 billion in investments in 2025, up from $12 billion in 2024, according to Startup Nation Central, an organization that tracks the country’s start-up industry. Industry experts predict that the trend will continue to rise as the United States and other NATO countries surge defense budgets and Israel’s state-owned arms manufacturers and private sector start-ups announce more partnerships with militaries around the world...
Michal Mor is the chief executive of SmartShooter, an Israeli start-up that developed an AI-powered attachment for rifles that she said helps soldiers detect and fire at targets, whether they be a sniper running across a rooftop or a tiny drone zipping through the sky... The company signed a $13 million contract with the U.S. Army last year and operates sister offices in Virginia, Germany and Australia, she said."
Kela Technologies -- "battle-tested tech for modern warfare" (not to be confused with the similarly named Kela Group- an Israeli cybersecurity firm), was founded in 2024 in Tel Aviv and has received multiple series of investments from Silicon Valley. Lux Capital, an openly pro-Israel venture capital firm backing Anduril and staffing a former CIA director, began investments into Israel in late 2023 and partnered with Sequoia in 2025 for their second series. In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital firm, is also an investor in Kela. Sequoia announced the investment and partnership through their website, including the details of Kela's fourth founder, Omer Bar-Ilan, "a technical genius known for his work on Israel’s Iron Dome." Kela is currently seeking a $200 million round of investment valued at $1 billion, "led by Stripe and D1 Capital Partners, with participation from Bill Ackman and Eric Schmidt. Existing investors, including Sequoia Capital and Lux Capital, are also participating."
Kela's founder, Hamutal Meridor, is from Israeli Defense Forces' Unit 8200 and is a former manager of Palantir's Israeli operations. Meridor has stated, "Our mission is not just about business, our mission is about Zionism." Kela aims to become a defense prime and "convert Israel into a defense tech hub for Western militaries—a source of strategic advantage for NATO and the U.S. as they seek to deter their adversaries."
Emerging from the genocide and the close ties between venture capital, Israel, and venture capital's growing influence in the U.S. Military, is a new proposal to unite the Israeli and American militaries through the "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.” Reporting from Responsible Statecraft:
"At a time when the American public is expressing unprecedented levels of distrust in the Israeli government, Congress just proposed tying the U.S. to the Israeli military more than ever before.
Buried in the House's version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released on Tuesday, is section 224, entitled 'United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.' The provision would arguably do more to intertwine the U.S. military with the Israeli military than the more than $200 billion (inflation adjusted) in military assistance Israel has received from the U.S. since its founding in 1948.
Section 224 lays the groundwork for bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and seemingly every manner of U.S.-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation. The U.S. and Israel already work together heavily on missile defense, but this provision would greatly expand coordination to seemingly every area of defense tech, including AI, quantum, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, biotech, and many more. It also proposes 'network integration' and 'data fusion.' In other words, the U.S. military’s data could soon be the Israeli military’s data. If fully enacted, this proposal would provide a higher level of military-industrial integration than the U.S. has with any other country in the world...
It would fuse the U.S. and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to the battlefields of the future, like autonomous systems and cyber. It would also bring extraordinary Israeli influence to the U.S. beyond what it already has through the Israel lobby and its robust network of social media influencers. It would give the Israeli government the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in U.S. politics: jobs in the U.S. By expanding or starting new co-production facilities like it already has in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could boast of providing jobs on U.S. soil, thereby securing allies among members of Congress who represent the districts where those jobs lie."
The ties between Israel and U.S. venture capitalists -- who have taken major progress to compromise the U.S. military themselves -- is a key force here. Silicon Valley has been developing its own military for over a decade, much of it backed by a16z, Founders Fund (Peter Thiel’s VC firm), and the CIA’s venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel.
All three are investors in weapons and defense tech startup Anduril. At a WSJ business conference event on October 16th 2023, the CEO of Anduril stated: “Israel has my unqualified support. They have the support of Anduril in a moral sense. I obviously can’t talk about what we’re doing over there specifically. That’d be a question for a different day." Anduril's founder, Palmer Luckey, publicly affirmed he is a "radical Zionist," while also claiming on February 25th 2025, via X, that “None of our products have been used by Israel or in Gaza". Anduril, along with Palantir and SpaceX, plan to build a "Golden Dome" modeled after Israel's Iron Dome.
As reported by Calcalist CTech, Palmer Luckey visited Israel in February 2026: "during the visit and with the mediation of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), Luckey held a series of short meetings that included presentations by 10 Israeli defense-technology startups. The meetings were organized jointly by the DDR&D and Asio, an Israeli company that has already signed an agreement with Anduril to supply components for the advanced drones developed by the U.S. firm." Firms present included Smart Shooter, Kela and other defense companies. Luckey also met with Netanyahu; the trip was organized by Lux Capital. A follow-up article states that:
"the company is currently in talks to recruit a local manager who would be tasked with building relationships with Israeli startups and identifying partnership opportunities. To that end, meetings have been held in recent weeks with potential candidates from Elbit Systems and the Directorate of Defense Research and Development at Israel's Ministry of Defense (DDR&D).
At the same time, Anduril is also examining the possibility of establishing a development operation in Israel and recruiting local employees...
Anduril has already signed agreements with several Israeli companies, including ASIO, which is expected to supply components for the company's unmanned aerial systems.
In addition, Anduril has expressed interest in security startup LiteVision, a portfolio company of venture capital firm Kinetica. The startup develops camera systems for drones and has already received investment from venture capital firm 8VC, an early investor in Palantir that also backs Anduril.
'Israel is the most logical place for Anduril to be,' said Yitz Applbaum, chairman of Kinetica. 'The meetings they held in Israel generated significant interest on their side. They are interested in investing in startups here, acquiring companies, and potentially, down the road, selling to Israel's defense industry and the IDF.''
The weapons startup Skydio produces drones that are actively in use by Israel following direct requests from the Israeli military. Skydio is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, Axon and Accel. Another tech weapons startup, Shield AI, which produces AI for drone and aircraft swarms, is also being used by Israel. Shield AI is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Blackstone, US Innovative Technology Fund and Chaos Ventures.
In 2026, Truthout published "Venture Capitalists Are Using Profits From Genocide to Fund AI-Powered Weapons", reporting on Shield AI's development of X-BAT, a drone jet fighter:
"Shield AI says that the X-BAT will be vertically launched to enable it to operate without runways and from a variety of ships, not just aircraft carriers. The drone will have the AI power to select its own targets and launch weapons without human control, although there may be provision for some degree of human involvement...
The X-BAT, if built, and other mini-fighter jet drones, like the Kratos Valkyrie, could enable the U.S. and Israel to sustain and expand their massively destructive campaign at reduced cost, launching weapons similar to those launched by larger, more expensive, manned aircraft, like the F-35...
Shield AI announced that X-BAT would carry long range attack missiles, such as the Red Wolf missile produced by L3Harris Technologies. This missile would be a longer range, more destructive version of the Hellfire missile that has been responsible for countless civilian deaths and widespread trauma over the last 20-plus years of U.S. drone warfare.
The X-Bat will also carry the JSOW-C-1, a class of weapons that includes guided 500-pound bombs such as those that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and turned Gaza to rubble."
One report from mid-2025 indicates there are over 1,000 Israeli founders in "stealth-mode", with no public visibility into their activities.
Israel and Crypto
In 2024, Israel approved six Bitcoin mutual funds. In July 2025, Israel made significant progress towards widespread crypto adoption; via Forbes:
"In a landmark event at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, titled 'A Crypto Strategy for Israel - A Growth Engine for the Israeli Economy,' members of parliament, regulators, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders gathered to unveil the final report of Israel’s National Committee for Crypto Strategy. After months of intensive work, the committee presented a roadmap aiming to transform Israel into a global crypto powerhouse — but only if the government acts swiftly...
The committee’s report warns that while other countries such as the United States, Singapore and Dubai are moving ahead with proactive crypto policies, Israel is suffering from brain drain and a flight of entrepreneurs due to regulatory uncertainty. According to the report, if adopted, the crypto sector could contribute up to $120 billion to Israel’s GDP over the next decade....
Israel currently hosts around 160 crypto and blockchain companies, employing over 3,300 skilled workers and raising more than $4.25 billion to date."
Crypto proponents continue to push for less regulation of crypto in Israel.
In 2022, Leumi became the first Israeli bank to offer crypto trading in partnership with Paxos, a U.S. startup backed by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Mithril Capital, in addition to PayPal Ventures, FTX, Alameda and Coinbase Ventures. Leumi is Israel's oldest and among its largest banks. Another major Israeli financial institution, Bank Hapolim, established in 1921, has a division offering banking to startups and venture capitalists.
One of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Coinbase, acquired the Israeli company, Unbound Security, in 2021, stating:
"we’re announcing the next phase of our security journey with the acquisition of Unbound Security. Based in Israel, it is a pioneer in a number of cryptographic security technologies, including the emerging field of secure multi-party computation (MPC)...
In addition to the technological expertise that we will gain through this acquisition, we also plan to establish a tech center of excellence in Israel that will ensure that Coinbase is always at the bleeding edge of security and blockchain technology. We’ve long recognized Israel as a hot bed of strong technology and cryptography talent, and are excited to continue to grow our team with some of the best and brightest minds in these fields. The Unbound Security team will form the nucleus of this new research facility, which we plan to grow over time."
In August 2025, the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced its acquisition of Capitalise.ai, an Israeli trading automation platform. Also in 2025, crypto giant Tether invested in Israeli crypto wallet startup Zengo; it has subsequently been acquired by eToro, an investment platform funded by Spark Capital.
Another Israeli crypto project is Kaspa, "A project born from Israeli academic research - Kaspa is leveraging a novel protocol called GHOSTDAG to overcome Bitcoin’s biggest limitation: speed. Invented by Hebrew University researchers Yonatan Sompolinsky, Shai Wyborski, and Aviv Zohar, GHOSTDAG transforms the traditional blockchain into a blockDAG (directed acyclic graph of blocks), allowing parallel blocks and sub-second confirmation times without sacrificing security."
In 2026, Israel's Capital Market Authority approved a shekel stablecoin, BILS. The BILS token runs on the Solana blockchain with custodian Fireblocks, an Israeli digital asset and stablecoin company. It provides treasury management, crypto wallets, infrastructure for stablecoins and digital assets, and a payment network. Fireblocks is funded by U.S. crypto VC firms Paradigm, Sequoia, Ribbit Capital and Spark Capital. Israel's Ministry of Finance and Tel Aviv stock exchange used Fireblocks to launch its first digital government bond in 2022. In 2025, Fireblocks acquired a crypto company, Dynamic, funded by Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund.
These complex relationships and funding trajectories show the enmeshment of Israeli and Silicon Valley venture capital firms, working together to push crypto adoption and infrastructure forward, while sharing funding, infrastructure and acquisitions. These financial transactions merge the Israeli and venture capital tech industries closer and closer.
One of the strategies for crypto adoption across the board is getting corporations to set up "Bitcoin treasuries", where a corporation purchases Bitcoin as an asset to keep on its balance sheet. In 2025, ZOOZ Power -- an EV charging network -- partnered with Crypto.com and became the first Israeli company to have a Bitcoin treasury. It now holds over 1000 bitcoin. ZOOZ's CEO stated of the treasury: "ZOOZ is accelerating Bitcoin adoption in Israel".
Israel is home to the Israeli Center for Blockchain and Crypto, which promotes crypto across Israel, conducts education programs, and partners with crypto companies around the world. They offer a "Blockchain and Digital Currency College" with over 3,500 "graduates", stating "The Blockchain Expert professional training course is the only course in Israel that issues an official certification certificate from the Israel Information Technology Bureau. The certificate, recognized by over 1,000 members of the bureau, including universities, government agencies, law enforcement and security agencies, banks and financial institutions, and even the courts, was received after an in-depth review of the study materials in the professional course."
Collider is an Israeli crypto fund founded in 2018: "Capital is replaceable, the Israeli spirit isn’t." They have funded over 30 crypto startups, including a number of Ethereum and Bitcoin platforms, on-chain insurance, autonomous trading, cybersecurity, crypto wallets, trading bots, DAO applications, gaming platforms and distributed exchanges. According to Collider, there are over 145 Israeli crypto startups with $3 billion in funding. Their site features a short poem:
"Here's to the Israeli ones
Those who shipped code between rockets.
The ones with chutzpah, who are brutally honest.
The hustlers who fundraised during the war.
Those who kept on building when they were called to Miluim.
Those with the Israeli spirit."
In the wake of October 7th, the cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance, collaborated with Israeli authorities to freeze over 100 accounts, in a "bid to curtail terror financing". Since then, Binance has faced lawsuits claiming that Binance assisted Hamas by providing cryptocurrency services; these events demonstrate how cryptocurrency access can be manipulated by geopolitical motivations, and crypto access can be cut off in the service of powerful states like Israel.
Israel has been engaged in a financial war with Iran, with crypto a key battlefield. From Wired in June 2025:
"The Israel-linked hacker group known as Predatory Sparrow has carried out some of the most disruptive and destructive cyberattacks in history, twice disabling thousands of gas station payment systems across Iran and once even setting a steel mill in the country on fire. Now, in the midst of a new war unfolding between the two countries, they appear to be bent on burning Iran's financial system.
Predatory Sparrow, which often goes by its Farsi name, Gonjeshke Darande, in an effort to appear as a homegrown hacktivist organization, announced in a post on its X account Wednesday that it had targeted the Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex, accusing the exchange of enabling sanctions violations and terrorist financing on behalf of the Iranian regime. According to cryptocurrency tracing firm Elliptic, the hackers destroyed more than $90 million in Nobitex holdings, a rare instance of hackers burning crypto assets rather than stealing them."
Crypto is taking an increasing role in geopolitical aggression by Israel, used as a tool of financial sabotage and warfare against targeted countries.
Israel and The Network State
Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike have used Israel's occupation as inspiration for their colonial projects across the globe. Former Andreessen Horowitz partner, Balaji Srinivasan, author of The Network State book, has galvanized a movement within tech and venture capital, seeking land acquisition and sovereignty to replace and takeover existing nation states. Balaji explains, “What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism — when a community forms online and then gathers in physical space to form a ‘reverse diaspora.’”
The Network State finds a kindred spirit to the violent establishment of their own state, praising Israel’s achievements: “Their status as a nation state changed with time. The Jewish people were once a stateless nation, a diaspora group united by common ancestry and tradition without a land or government to call their own. Then, within living memory, they founded the state of Israel.”
CEO, Erick Briman of the Network State of Próspera in Honduras, posted a lengthy blog post in 2018, titled "Lessons Learned from Israel, The Start-Up Nation", stating
"Israel has earned the moniker 'Start-Up Nation' for a good reason: it is home to the most start-ups per capita in the world by a large margin and has more companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange than the entire European continent. For a relatively small country of roughly 8,000mi2 that was conjured out of thin air in 1948, this is a mind-blowing achievement...
Although Israel’s position amongst a gang of hostile nations may seem on its face to be a detriment for Israel, it is, in fact, a blessing in disguise. First, it has caused Israel to develop robust global trade networks, and second, it has had an indelible impact on Israel’s culture that has uniquely contributed to its productivity...
Israel’s hostile neighbors are also partially responsible for the creation of the very culture which has enabled the small Jewish nation to be so economically successful. The hostility of their neighbors forced Israelis to become largely self-sufficient and develop a sense of self-reliance that is still powerfully felt in the culture today...
... a few lessons can be gleaned from Israel’s economic miracle: the importance of fiscal austerity, the lightest regulatory burden possible, the importance of state-backed venture funds for new jurisdictions, the importance of high-skilled, highly-educated immigrants, and the importance of developing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. It may be impossible to exactly replicate the unique amalgam of circumstances which catalyzed Israeli growth, but application of these lessons will almost certainly put any aspiring Start-Up Nation on the path to prosperity and human flourishing. "
Próspera demonstrates how the Network State model is materially built on the precedent of Israel, and that this model is already scaling out around the globe.
There is strong evidence that Gaza itself will be used as a platform for the Network State. This includes documents from the Israeli Prime Minister's office stating that the site will be used for a free trade zone and basis of new cities, as well as an energy and manufacturing hub. Trump has spoken extensively on this theme; in 2025, Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting Gaza as a Trump-themed luxury resort region, describing his idea at the White House during a visit with Netanyahu:
"The U.S will take over the Gaza Strip. We’ll do a job with it. We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous bombs and other weapons. We will level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
In 2025, the Financial Times reported "The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) participated in a project to develop a postwar Gaza plan that envisaged kick-starting the enclave’s economy with a 'Trump Riviera' and an 'Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone'... Titled the 'Great Trust' and shared with the Trump administration, it proposed paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and attracting private investors to develop Gaza..."
More information on these plans can be found on this site. These ideas are already in flight, with dozens of Network State sites, Freedom City proposals and "special economic zones" spreading across the world map with varying degrees of advancement. Gaza is clearly a prime target for this global project.
Trump's "Board of Peace" is exploring a stablecoin to fund the "reconstruction" of Gaza, with the Financial Times reporting:
"Officials working with Donald Trump’s 'Board of Peace' are exploring setting up a stablecoin for Gaza as part of efforts to reshape the devastated Palestinian enclave’s economy, according to five people familiar with the discussions.
The talks around introducing a stablecoin — a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a mainstream currency, such as the US dollar — are at a preliminary stage, and many details of how one could be introduced in Gaza remain to be determined.
But officials have discussed the idea as part of their plan for the future of the enclave, where economic activity collapsed during Israel’s two-year war with Hamas and the traditional banking and payments system has been severely impaired.
A person familiar with the project said the stablecoin was expected to be tied to the US dollar, with the hope that Gulf Arab and Palestinian companies with expertise in the field of digital currencies will help spearhead the effort."
Conclusion
Venture capital firms and startups are how Israel is building the machinery of war, and then distributing and monetizing it. Venture capital is a financial mechanism to get returns from the genocide, and expand the Israeli project. Israel's tech industry is the core engine of its economy and economic growth, and the path to its financial future. While causing temporary turmoil for Israel’s tech industry, the genocide has not ultimately hurt it but rather, been a catalyst for its growth.
Israeli venture capital firms and startups are largely made up of IDF and Israeli intelligence; there is no tech industry in the world that holds this concentration of war criminals. Increasingly, these war criminals are brought freely into U.S. venture capital and its startups, as Andreessen Horowitz and other firms work to recruit IDF and Israeli intelligence into Silicon Valley, and the increasing collaboration of firms and companies makes merger inevitable. The level of violence in Silicon Valley venture capital is increasing as a result of these events, as IDF's influence and personnel spreads throughout the apparatus, and Silicon Valley is a material force in the killing of Palestinians and especially, Palestinian children.
The research in this report shows an increased merging of Israel and Silicon Valley's tech industries. Their venture firms work together, fund each other's startups, acquire or merge them, and share R&D and personnel. Gaza is an R&D lab for both parties. There are more and more hybrid VC firms that dually invest in Israeli and United States startups, and combine executives and technical talent from both countries.
With the support of venture capital, Israel is achieving its goal of destroying Palestine, committing genocide against its people, and forcibly removing Palestinians from their land to make way for the development of finance capital and the Network State. As we witness another wave of acceleration from venture capital zionists and Network State nationalists, it is necessary to closely monitor efforts to create special economic zones and new Network State cities and projects on Gaza.
It can be successfully argued that Israel is the first tech fascist state, and certain that it is a pivotal part of the new axis of tech fascism. Israel is not only aspirational for tech fascists, but part of the new, tech fascist global state. The merger of the Israeli and Silicon Valley venture capital industries is forming the foundation of tech fascism, and expanding its power all over the world.