2025 VC SurveySeedIL Ventures outlines challenges and opportunities for VCs in 2025
2025 VC Survey
SeedIL Ventures outlines challenges and opportunities for VCs in 2025
The company is the latest VC firm to take part in CTech’s 2025 VC Survey - here are some predictions for the year ahead.
“It will take time to bring back the capital flow and foreign presence in the Israeli ecosystem however the war and Israel’s success is a strong endorsement of the Startup Nation’s resilience and innovation that will continue to attract the international community to invest and partner with Israeli technology,” writes Cynthia Phitoussi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at SeedIL Ventures.
The VC firm joined CTech for its 2025 VC Survey to share some of its predictions for the year ahead. Notably, some of the challenges and opportunities that may arise in the year ahead.
“Like we often see a baby boom after the war, we could well see a “startup boom” with many people looking for more sense of purpose in their lives,” she added. “They may come or come back to the entrepreneurship scene with fresh ideas and more will to impact the world positively.”
You can read the whole interview below.
Fund ID
Name of fund/funds: SeedIL Ventures
Total sum of the fund: Not disclosed
Partners: Audrey Chocron and Cynthia Phitoussi
Notable/select portfolio companies (active): 23
Notable exits: Breezometer, Donde Search, Presenso, Smore
2024 is almost over. How can you summarize it in terms of the Israeli high-tech industry?
We find an amazing and unprecedented resilience in the ecosystem, mainly from the founders and employees who need to juggle between reserve duties and the normal challenges of their startups. We see more local peer support and kindness between entrepreneurs, funds, and several private initiatives that emerged.
The most disruptive and brilliant startups find a path to growing, fundraising, and succeeding like a natural filter.
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?
Honestly, it’s hard to predict what 2025 will bring (there have been so many unimaginable events over the past 14 months).
Challenges:
It will take time to bring back the capital flow and foreign presence in the Israeli ecosystem however the war and Israel’s success is a strong endorsement of the Startup Nation’s resilience and innovation that will continue to attract the international community to invest and partner with Israeli technology. It will take corporates a bit longer to return but many foreign investors will move quickly to re-establish their presence. Sectors like Cyber and DefenseTech will experience renewed growth globally as the need and threats have been staged during 2024.
Opportunities:
Like we often see a baby boom after the war, we could well see a “startup boom” with many people looking for more sense of purpose in their lives. They may come or come back to the entrepreneurship scene with fresh ideas and more will to impact the world positively.
DefenseTech is a new hype and for a good reason (based on tons of ground experience this year and the highest density of experienced talents on earth).
GenAI is a huge opportunity for Israeli startups to position themselves as leaders.
How will new American leadership affect the global high-tech industry or economy? And where does this place Israel and its entrepreneurs?
More positively, for sure. We believe Israel will continue to be at the top of the world innovation ranking, following closely the US.
What are some the most important things the Israeli government should do today to accelerate the high-tech engine in the coming year?
- Support local funds that couldn’t reach their size with a matching amount (like BPI does in France for example)
- Invest in Hasbara about Israel and the high-tech ecosystem in particular, encourage corporates and foreign funds to come back to Israel and rediscover by themselves the country’s innovation and its resilience
- Invest in education with professors and students because the students of today are the innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow and we need them to continue to excel and innovate for the years to come.
- Work actively to push against academic institutions that are excluding Israel and Israeli scientists from their forums and associations. Israel's academia needs government support to return to its international standing.
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?
Academic degrees with top professors.
Could the global IPO drought end in the coming year?
We don't have any visibility on this.
From an investor's perspective: will the coming year be better for early-stage startups or more mature companies?
Both will hopefully benefit from the end of the war, the return of foreign investments, and a fully committed workforce released from reserve duties. We believe as the war ends there will be a resurgence in the formation of new companies as many entrepreneurs will now return their focus to driving forward their aspirations and dreams.
Did you raise fund money in 2024 for an existing fund or a new one? What are your expectations regarding this matter for 2025?
Yes we did, and having raised significantly more money than our previous fund, we decided to stop our fundraising (although we had another year to extend our fund’s size) because we felt the ecosystem needed us more to support them rather than spending time fundraising for additional funds in the current challenging context.
How many investments did you make in 2024, and how does it compare to previous years?
We made four investments in 2024 (two new startups + two follow-ons)
Provide an example of an intriguing investment you made in 2024. What sets this company apart, or what is distinctive about its sector?
We have just now doubled down our investment in Vinesight, their solution protects brands, organizations, and campaigns by identifying and mitigating toxic attacks before they go viral, all powered with unique AI.
This company has grown significantly over the past year and will continue to address the huge market (Gartner estimates that enterprises spend on misinformation by 2028 will be $500 billion, surpassing the cyber space).
Two notable companies that you think will thrive in 2025
Company Name: WISOR
Sector + Description: Wisor is dedicated to redefining the freight forwarding industry by providing an intelligent and connected AI platform that drives profitability, efficiency, and visibility for logistics professionals.
Investment amount + total: Not disclosed
Founding Year: 2021
Reasoning why this is their year: Despite the fact Raz Ronen has been extremely busy in reserve duties this year, he has succeeded in growing Wisor significantly and a new business model allowing for exponential traction will start in 2025, turning this company into the crossroads between an exciting fintech and the freight forwarders’ world.
Company Name: Tolstoy
Sector + Description: We set the standard for shoppable videos. Tolstoy is the only video commerce platform that boosts sales and enables you to reach new customers.
Founding year: 2020
Reasoning why this is their year: Tolstoy is a very capital-efficient company; their traction has been phenomenal since they started monetizing in July 2022. The new product they have recently launched is already showing tremendous growth, surfing on the AI trend in e-commerce and videos.
