2025 VC Survey“The incoming US administration will have a positive impact on the high-tech industry”
2025 VC Survey
“The incoming US administration will have a positive impact on the high-tech industry”
SYN Ventures Venture Partner Marcio Lempert joined CTech to share predictions in the cyber arena of Israel’s high-tech ecosystem.
“We do not view any specific change in the cyber investment domain that will affect our focus and strategy for the Israeli market. We continue to look for opportunities in the Israeli market and believe the rate of investment in the local market will remain the same,” said SYN Ventures Venture Partner Marcio Lempert. “However, regardless of political views, we think the incoming US administration will have a positive impact on the high-tech industry, and we think that cybersecurity is one of the high-tech sectors that will benefit most.”
Lempert joined CTech for its 2025 VC Survey to share predictions and insights pertaining specifically to the cyber ecosystem. The firm invests solely in cybersecurity solutions and in 2024 made three investments in Israeli companies despite the war and ongoing conflicts.
“We believe the Israeli cyber ecosystem will continue to offer interesting investment opportunities and drive new innovation,” he added.
You can read the entire interview below.
Fund ID
Name of fund/funds: SYN Ventures
Total sum of the fund: $620M across three funds - SYN Ventures Flagship Fund I, SYN Ventures Flagship Fund II, SYN Ventures Seed Fund I. All funds are focused on early stages while one is specifically focused on seed rounds.
Partners: Jay Leek, Art Coviello, Marcio Lempert, Ryan Permeh, Dan Burns, Adam Cecil, John Watters, Robert Rodriguez, Pradeep Aswani, Rob Potter, Tim McKnight, Alex Tosheff
Notable/select portfolio companies (active): Halcyon, BforeAI, Cranium, Metabase Q, Oomnitza, P0 Security, Phosphorous, Refine Intelligence, Reveal Security, Tuskira, Conifers
Notable exits: Talon, Adlumin, Revelstoke
2024 is over. How can you summarize it in terms of the Israeli high-tech industry?
In 2024, we saw over 450 new investment opportunities, including over 100 companies seeking seed financing in Israel. We continue to see high volume across both fund strategies. This year, we invested in three Israeli companies.
Looking ahead to 2025 - What challenges and opportunities await the Israeli high-tech sector in the coming year, and how are you, as investors, preparing for them?
As a fund that is completely focused on cybersecurity, we believe that the Israeli cyber industry will continue to thrive with new attractive startups to invest in and present exit opportunities for the ones we already invested in.
How will new American leadership affect the global high-tech industry or economy? And where does this place Israel and its entrepreneurs?
We do not view any specific change in the cyber investment domain that will affect our focus and strategy for the Israeli market. We continue to look for opportunities in the Israeli market and believe the rate of investment in the local market will remain the same.
However, regardless of political views, we think the incoming US administration will have a positive impact on the high-tech industry (at least in the short-term), and we think that cybersecurity is one of the high-tech sectors that will benefit most.
What are the three most important things the Israeli government should do today to accelerate the high-tech engine in the coming year?
We believe that further, the Israeli government should provide additional incentive programs to encourage academic institutions to become more and more involved in technological research (such as AI and more).
We believe the Israeli government should consider increasing significantly the incentive programs (maybe as part of the Israeli Innovation Authority) to help fund high-tech research to accelerate Israeli tech innovation.
The Israeli government should consider some financial incentives (in the form of taxes or other) to compensate for the high employment costs in Israel (salaries and additional benefits) so that the Israeli ecosystem will be more competitive in the world.
The Israeli government should address the education gaps surging from the OECD tests that pose a threat to the Israeli tech innovation advantages and leadership.
Are there new sectors you see as relevant? Are there any fields you anticipate will weaken significantly in the coming year?
We are a firm solely focused on cybersecurity. We believe the Israeli cyber ecosystem will continue to offer interesting investment opportunities and drive new innovation.
We have seen waves of technologies in different areas such as AppSec/ASPM, SecOps, Next Gen SIEM/SOAR, Next Gen DLP, AI, non-human identity, TPRM, etc.
All these elements remain relevant and with lots of room for innovation and paradigm shifts.
Is Israel missing out on the AI revolution in the global arms race? If not, what should the local industry focus on to join the global race?
We are seeing innovative uses of AI in Israeli cyber startups today, and we only expect that to continue to increase in 2025 and beyond.
As mentioned above, we believe that the Israeli government should be more focused, develop incentive programs and allocate special funds to generate further academic research (as some other countries are doing…) to try to catch up with the AI revolution and other technologies coming ahead.
Could the global IPO drought end in the coming year?
We do believe that several cybersecurity startups will attempt to IPO next year, but it is TBD by the investor appetite for this. In 2024, a few SaaS businesses IPO’d, and all were well received by investors. We hope that the IPO markets will open.
From an investor's perspective: will the coming year be better for early-stage startups or more mature companies?
We do not view any specific change in the cyber investment domain that will affect our focus and strategy for the Israeli market. We will continue to look for early-stage cyber opportunities in the Israeli market and believe the rate of investment in the local market will remain the same as it has over the last 7+ years.
Did you raise fund money in 2024 for an existing fund or a new one? What are your expectations regarding this matter for 2025?
We raised a new fund focusing on cyber seed opportunities totaling $100M. The fund’s goal is to invest in 12-15 companies overall, and we will probably invest in 2-4 Israeli cybersecurity startups in 2025 between our Seed Fund and our Series A focused $300m Flagship Fund.
How many investments did you make in 2024, and how does it compare to previous years?
In 2024, we made 17 investments, including nine net new and eight follow-on investments. This is on pace with SYN Ventures’ track record.
Out of the nine new investments, four investments were seed rounds and the remaining A-B rounds.
Traditionally at least 20% of our investments are focused on Israeli companies.
Provide an example of an intriguing investment you made in 2024. What sets this company apart, or what is distinctive about its sector
In 2024, we invested in BforeAI. The company’s proprietary AI algorithms autonomously predict, block, and preemptively take down malicious online campaigns before they impact businesses. BforeAI’s PreCrime product leverages analytics to preemptively detect unusual behavior patterns and spoofed domains and then acts to disrupt and stop impersonations, phishing scams, and other fraudulent schemes that harm brands. BforeAI is servicing several Fortune 500 companies and continues to capture significant go-to-market wins since closing its SYN-led financing round.
Two notable companies that you think will thrive in 2025.
Company Name: Halcyon
Sector + description of the product/service: Ransomware Prevention & Recovery
Investment amount + total: Halcyon has raised $190m in total. This November, the company announced a $100m Series C.
Founding Year: 2022
Reasoning why this is their year: Ransomware operators raked in more than $1b in payments in 2023. The average cost of business recovery from ransomware is $4.5m. Halcyon developed the first anti-ransomware and recovery platform that leverages AI and ML to provide customers with unmatched protection efficacy. To date, zero Halcyon customers had ransomware bypass its coverage; zero customers have experienced significant disruptions to their operations nor had their data exfiltrated. Ransomware has been an increasingly prolific threat actor and Halcyon presents best-in-breed innovation to safeguard customers.
Company Name: Cranium
Sector + description of the product/service: AI Security and Governance
Investment Amount + total: Cranium has raised $32m in total, including a $25m Series A.
Founding Year: 2023
Reasoning why this is their year: Cranium enables enterprises to secure and govern AI across first and third-party resources. Cranium provides enterprises the ability to discover, test, monitor, and manage AI usage in their environments. The company helps customers to strengthen risk management, to improve trust in third-party AI, and to comply with emerging regulations. AI adoption continues to skyrocket and Cranium is positioned to ensure enterprises maintain security and governance controls with ever-evolving and expanding AI use cases.
