CTalk
UpWest: “This is an excellent time to back strong founders”
Gil Ben-Artzy, Founding Partner at UpWest, joined CTech at Mind The Tech NY to discuss the state of the investor landscape following the events of the last two years.
Gil Ben-Artzy, Founding Partner at UpWest
(Photo: Tomariko - Live Focus)
“We've invested in cyber, but we have also invested a great amount in fintech and healthcare. But I think today, in the last couple of years, it's really been all about vertical AI,” said Gil Ben-Artzy, Founding Partner at UpWest. “So it's taking the AI platform and emerging technologies and applying it to new verticals that may have benefited from technology but not to this extent as it has been in the last two years.”
UpWest is a Seed and pre-Seed stage fund. It is headquartered in Silicon Valley, and it backs Israeli founders wherever they are in Israel or the U.S. The VC firm also has an office in Tel Aviv, and has invested in about 100 companies started by Israeli founders since its founding in 2011.
“Founders can find the right investor depending on the stage. It's not easy. It's very difficult,” he continued. “However, if you're focused, if you're building something meaningful, then you find them at the early stage where we are… This has been the most active period in our history in the last 18 months. We absolutely see this as an excellent time to back strong founders, especially around vertical AI opportunities.”
You can watch the entire exchange in the video above.
