Seed Stage Venture Capital (VC) Investment Team

Yaron Elad

Managing Partner and CEO

Yaron serves as Elron Ventures' Managing Partner and CEO , and in his previous position was CFO and VP Software. Yaron established Elron Ventures' enterprise software activities, and has vast experience in technology investing and strategic deals, with a strong background in financial management, fundraising, business and board advisory. Yaron holds a BA in Economics and Accounting and an MSc in Finance, both from Tel Aviv University.

"I am honored to continue the vision of our founder, who is also the founding father of the Israeli high tech industry, Mr. Uzia Galil. We work earnestly in order to live up to our legacy."

Elik Etzion

Managing Partner

Elik is Elron Ventures' Managing Partner and responsible for expanding and overseeing Elron ventures' portfolio companies. Beginning his career in the IDF’s elite 8200 unit, his recent positions included Deputy Commander of the Cyber Division, Head of the Cyber R&D Department, and Head of the Cyber Operations Department. Before joining Elron Ventures, Elik was the Global CISO at Bank Hapoalim Group. Elik holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science (summa cum laude) and an MBA, both from Tel-Aviv University.

“I am passionate about solving world class challenges and inspired by working with unique individuals. Working at Elron ventures enables me to realize both, by assisting our exceptional entrepreneurs to turn dreams into industry-leading companies.”

Lisya Bahar Manoah

Chairperson of the Board

Lisya Bahar-Manoah is the Chairperson of the Board at Elron Ventures and a Managing Partner at Arieli EL, the controlling shareholder of Elron. She brings over 15 years of experience in investment and management within private equity and venture capital, specializing in fund management, M&A transactions, and post-merger integrations. Lisya also serves on the board of RDC – Rafael Development Corporation and lectures at the Sofaer Global MBA Program at Tel Aviv University.
Prior to joining Arieli, Lisya held executive roles at Catalyst Investments, Keter Group (BC Partners), ADAMA, and BMW/Magna Steyr. She holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University, an M.Sc in Mechanical-Industrial Engineering from Vienna University of Technology, and has completed Executive Education in Risk Management at Harvard Business School.

"I share Elron's vision of building transformative technologies and empowering companies to become market leaders. We aim to grow our portfolio while creating value through strategic investments and thoughtfully planned exit opportunities that drive long-term success."

Lauren Duke

VP Business Development

Lauren is responsible for strategy planning, new investment initiatives, value-added guidance to portfolio companies, investment due diligence and heading the analysis department. She brings a diverse background in investment management, research & analysis, and investor relations. Lauren holds an MA in the Cognitive Science of Language, summa cum laude, from Tel Aviv University.

"I have found that Elron Ventures is a place where my personal growth goes hand in hand with the growth of our ventures. In short, a place that believes in people."

Uria Lin

Principal

Uria is responsible for expanding the company’s networks and creating investment opportunities, leveraging on his broad experience working with startups and sourcing deal flow. Uria previously co-founded the '8200 Impact' acceleration program and the social innovation accelerator and hub, 'Hackaveret'. Uria holds a BA in Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, summa cum laude, from the Interdisciplinary Center.

" Elron Ventures has the perfect blend of incredible people, an amazing track-record and great opportunities, and I'm here to surround myself with founders who are smarter than I am."

Kobi (Jacob) Katz

Venture Partner

Kobi is Chief Information Officer at Rafael and serves as an investor at Elron Ventures. Kobi has 25 years' experience in system engineering, software development and large-scale technological management. Kobi is the go-to person for all IT projects, and integrating between the worlds of corporations and startups. He holds a BSc in Information Systems and an MBA, both from the Technion.

"Working with Elron Ventures exposes me and connects me to Israeli startups with cutting edge technology in areas such as cyber security, enterprise software and AI, and allows us to leverage on this advantage to make the right investments and provide the right assistance to our portfolio companies."

Lior Levinsky

CFO at RDC

Lior joined RDC (Elron and Rafael JV) in 2009 and has served as CFO since 2011. Lior is responsible for the corporate finance function and operational management, and serves as active CFO in several of Elron Ventures startups. Prior to joining Elron Ventures, Lior served as a Senior Associate at KPMG USA and as a Manager at KPMG Israel. Lior has a BA in Accounting and Economics, both from Tel Aviv University.

"When I joined RDC, I didn’t expect to be here a decade later. Having the opportunity to constantly lead and face new challenges keeps me evolving, and curious about what will come next. "

Rony Sharon

VP Finance

Alongside her duties as Controller at Elron Ventures, Rony serves as active CFO at Coromaze, a portfolio company. Prior to joining Elron Ventures, Rony was a controller at Anyclip Media Group, where she was promoted to the position after less than a year. Rony has a BA in Accounting and Economics and an MBA, both from the Recanati Business School, Tel Aviv University.

"Working at Elron Ventures creates the perfect combination between the business and accounting worlds."

Nir Kahlon

Assistant controller

Nir joined Elron’s accounting team in 2023 as an Assistant Controller after working as a Senior at EY, where he completed his apprenticeship. Nir has a BA in economics and accounting from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a vast experience as a bookkeeper and legal assistant.

“For me, joining Elron is a journey. The best way to get things done is just to simply begin, And I begin here."

Maya Reitman

Head of Marketing

Maya is responsible for managing all aspects of Elron Ventures marketing strategy and portfolio companies marketing support, including social media, public relations, events, media and content creation. Before joining Elron Ventures, Maya was VP Marketing at Taldor, one of Israel's leading IT companies. She has an LLB from The College of Management Academic Studies and an LLM from Tel Aviv University.

"I love to market big dreams, be surrounded by inspiring and great people who dream big, and be where innovation takes place."

Hagit Lugasi

Office Manager

As Elron Ventures' Office Manager, Hagit ensures the smooth running of the company's operations and efficient handling of entrepreneur and shareholder inquiries. Hagit joined Elron Ventures after her previous position as Office Manager at DIC, bringing a strong track record of performance in high-pressure environments.

"Elron Ventures provides me with great moments when my work behind the scenes results in positive business outcomes."

Ortal Shpigelshtein

Controller

Ortal is an Assistant Controller. She joined Elron Ventures in 2020 after working as a Senior Associate at PWC, where she completed her apprenticeship. Ortal has a BA in Accounting from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

“I joined ElronVentures with the hope and expectation that the dynamic nature of Elron ventures' investments would be reflected in the accounting aspects as well, and provide me with the opportunity to delve into the business developments of Elron Ventures' portfolio companies. My expectations have been more than met.”

Paul Weinberg

Legal Counsel

Paul has served as Elron Ventures' legal counsel since 2001, both in-house and as founder & managing partner of Weinberg & Co. Law Office, representing Elron Ventures in complex commercial and strategic transactions, including substantial M&A and equity financings. Paul holds a BA LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand and an MBA from Tel Aviv University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

"After almost 20 years working with Elron Ventures, all I can say is that there is never a dull moment, the team is amazing and it’s an exciting and constantly professionally challenging environment."

Natali Cohen

Office Manager AT RDC

Natali oversees the day-to-day administrative functions of Elron Ventures and Rafael partnership , managing office procedures as well as bookkeeping functions, and interacting with employees at every level within Elron Ventures companies in order to streamline complex activities. Before joining Elron Ventures, Natali owned a pastry business, prior to which she studied the culinary arts.

“Working at Elron Ventures has provided me the opportunity to step inside the venture capital world; working with its dedicated professional team is a rewarding experience.”

Yair Pecht

Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Yair serves as advisor to Elron Ventures and its portfolio companies. In addition, Yair is CEO at a stealth mode startup and the former CEO of NSO Group, a cybersecurity start-up sold for $130 million in early 2014. He also served as CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Israel, as well as CEO of EDS Israel.

"The Elron Ventures-Rafael partnership keeps me continuously intrigued professionally. The personal and professional caliber of the team is what makes working at Elron Ventures such a pleasure and so interesting."

Jeff Trudeau

CISO of Chime and a seasoned security leader

Jeff Trudeau is the Chief Information Security Officer at fintech Chime, which partners which regional banks to provide easy-to-use financial products for consumers. Jeff has over 25 years of working as a security leader and brings crucial cross market product and investment insight with his extensive security experience in financial services, FinTech, healthcare and his experience with Silicon Valley CISO Investments (SVCI).
Previously, Jeff served as Chief Security Officer at Credit Karma and helped lead the company to acquisition.
Jeff has been awarded 2013 CISO of the Year and Top 100 CISO's of 2021.

RINKI SETHI

Chief Information Security Officer at Bill.com

Rinki is VP and CISO of Bill.com. Previously, she served as VP & CISO at Twitter and Rubrik Inc. Rinki has developed cutting edge security infrastructure at IBM, Palo Alto Networks, Intuit, eBay, Walmart.com, and PG&E. Additionally, Rinki serves on the board of ForgeRock.

Rinki holds a B.S. in Computer Science Engineering from UC Davis and a M.S. in Information Security from Capella University.
She was part of the ISACA book development team that created "Creating a Culture of Security" by Stephen Ross and received the "One to Watch" award from CSO Magazine & Executive Women's Forum in 2014 and the Senior Information Security Practitioner Award from ISC2 in 2018. She also developed the first national cybersecurity badges and curriculum for Girl Scouts of USA.

Gil Gur Arie

Chief Global Data, Insights and Analytics Officer at Ford Motor

Gil Gur Arie is Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Ford Motor Company. Gil is a retired colonel in the Israeli Military Intelligence Corps, unit 8200. He is a technological leader with more than two decades of experience in data science, research and development, cyber and intelligent technologies management.
In addition, Gil served as a strategic consultant to a variety of large companies where he assisted in Big Data strategy, artificial intelligence and cyber security design.

Al Ghous

CISO, Snapdocs

Al Ghous is the Chief Information Security Officer at Snapdocs, the leading digital mortgage closing platform.
Al has been in the cybersecurity industry for over 20 years and has extensive experience in the areas of cyber, information and product security, risk management, strategy and privacy/compliance.
Aside from being active with several cybersecurity organizations and consortiums, Al also serves on several advisory boards where he helps founders with product and market fit, strategy, and fundraising. Al co-founded SVCI - Silicon Valley CISO Investments, and held leadership roles in organizations such as Envision Digital, ServiceMax, GE Digital, Ernst and Young, Oracle, Kaiser Permanente and Informatica.

Team

Investment Team