Silicon Valley · Pre-Seed–Seed · 8 people tracked
Also known as UpWest Labs · UPWEST LABS MANAGEMENT, LLC
Investment thesis
UpWest focuses on backing Israeli founders as they break into the US market, investing at the earliest stages. The firm leads pre-seed and seed rounds, investing very early in a company's life. It works closely with founders across its portfolio, providing guidance and support to help teams navigate building and scaling in the competitive US environment, with a notable interest in AI-driven companies and technologies connecting intelligence to the physical world.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 8 people
from the firm's website & public directories
What they invest in
from 40 of 51 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×21SaaS ×20Enterprise Software ×14Cybersecurity ×8Developer Tools ×5Data & Infrastructure ×4Fintech ×4Marketing Tech ×4
HQs:United States×13Australia×1Israel×1India×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 19 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×82 founders×11
Where their founders studiedfrom 14 founders with education data
Tel Aviv University ×5Bar-Ilan University ×2Harvard Business School ×2Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management ×2
Where their founders worked beforefrom 16 founders with career history
IDF - Israel Defense Forces ×2Jibe Ventures ×2Office of the Prime Minister of Israel ×2PayPal ×2Unit 8200 - Israeli Intelligence Corps ×2
Accelerator rootsportfolio companies that came through a program
Investments · 51 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 12025 · 22024 · 12023 · 22016 · 17 dated
SentinelOne provides an AI-powered cybersecurity platform for enterprises that integrates endpoint protection, threat detection, and incident response capabilities.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareMountain View, US
Tomer Weingarten(Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer)in
Co-investorsDCVC (Data Collective)Everest GroupFoothill VenturesGranite HillInsight PartnersKhosla Ventures+13 more
Zenity provides a security and governance platform for AI agents, giving enterprises visibility into agents across SaaS, cloud, custom stacks, and endpoints and enforcing policies on agent actions before, during, and after decisions.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareSaaSNew York City, US
Michael Bargury(CTO)inBen Kliger(Founder)in
Co-investorsIntel CapitalThird Point VenturesDTCPVertex VenturesFelicis VenturesGefen Capital+7 more
TrialKit is an AI platform for legal discovery that ingests documents, video, body cam footage, phone extractions, audio, and handwritten notes and turns them into an organized, searchable case record with answers cited back to the source file, page, or timestamp.
AI & Machine LearningLegalTechSaaSClifton, US
Ariel Deshe(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Eliaz Shapira(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
Board seatGil Ben-Artzy· per SEC Form D
Co-investors97212 VenturesKaedan Capital
Co-investorsAlpha Intelligence CapitalM12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)
Anyword provides an AI content platform that predicts how well marketing copy will perform and generates on-brand content for ads, emails, social posts, blogs, and landing pages.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaS
Co-investorsGandyr InvestmentsSherpalo VenturesInnovation Endeavors
Balance provides real-time credit intelligence, embedded financing, and autonomous accounts receivable solutions for B2B transactions.
Enterprise SoftwareFintechSaaSSan Francisco, US
Bar Geron(Founder)inYoni Shuster(Founder)in
Co-investorsAvid VenturesForerunner VenturesHubSpot VenturesJibe VenturesLightspeed Venture PartnersMu Ventures+3 more
BeeHero provides managed, data-driven pollination services for commercial crop growers, using in-hive and in-field sensors to monitor bee activity and colony strength and measure actual pollination outcomes.
AgTechData & InfrastructureIoT
Co-investorsEntrée CapitalMS&AD VenturesVaranaGaingelsiAngelsJ-Ventures+1 more
BoltX is a Physical AI company focused on industrial maintenance, aiming to address the shortage of skilled labor in that field.
Advanced ManufacturingAI & Machine LearningRobotics
Canopy operates an Intelligent Care Platform for oncology practices, using data-driven software to support continuous care for cancer patients and caregivers.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesPalo Alto, US
Lavi Kwiatkowsky(Founder & CEO)Avi Revivo(Chief Technology Officer & GM Israel)Geoff Calkins(Chief Product & Strategy Officer)Josh Neiman(President & Chief Commercial Officer)
Co-investorsInformed Ventures Advisors, LlcSamsung Next
Octopus Deploy makes software for automating deployment and operations, aiming to give software teams repeatable, frequent, and reliable deployments.
Cloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareBrisbane, AU
Raziel Tabib(Founder)inPaul Stovell(Founder and CEO)inSonia Stovell(Co-founder)
Co-investorsInsight PartnersRed Dot Capital PartnersHillsvenM12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)Shasta VenturesVertex Ventures+1 more
Comeet (Spark Hire Recruit) is an applicant tracking and recruiting platform that offers auto-scheduling, task automation, Slack integrations, and an AI assistant for composing scorecards and interview questions.
AI & Machine LearningHR TechSaaS
Co-investorsGround Up Ventures
Co-investorsGlilot Capital PartnersInven CapitalQualcomm Ventures
CyCognito provides an external attack surface management (ASM) platform that continuously discovers, tests, and prioritizes exposures across an organization's internet-facing assets, subsidiaries, and third-party connections.
CybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Rob Gurzeev(Cofounder)Rob N. Gurzeev(Founder)in
Co-investorsAccelAmiti VenturesBright Pixel CapitalCyber Mentor FundGeodesic CapitalHarpoon Ventures+5 more
Darwin provides AI employee software that automates repetitive business tasks such as customer service, sales, and support for non-technical users.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkSaaS
Lautaro Schiaffino(Founder & CEO)Ezequiel Sculli(Founder)in
Co-investorsDalus CapitalIntrepid Growth PartnersLatitud VenturesNazcaResolute VenturesHTwenty+1 more
Deeto is a customer voice and reference management platform that captures customer feedback, conversations, and engagement, then structures them into insights and proof for marketing, sales, product, and customer success teams.
AI & Machine LearningSaaSSales TechNew York City, US
Golan Raz(Founder)inYossi Gelman(Founder)
Co-investorsTAU Venturesat.inc/Jump CapitalTal Ventures
Deeto is a platform that captures customer voice across conversations, feedback, and engagement, then organizes it into structured insights and proof (such as references, testimonials, and case studies) usable by marketing, sales, product, and customer success teams.
Marketing TechSaaSSales Tech
Co-investorsTal VenturesJump CapitalTAU Ventures
Ecton offers an AI-powered financial counselor (Toni) and healthcare payments platform that helps patients navigate and pay medical bills, plan for healthcare and family expenses, and access a health savings and spending wallet.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthFintech
Itamar Perlov(Founder)in
Co-investorsClocktower VenturesLionBirdGeneral Catalyst
Elio develops adaptive sensors that enable AI systems to dynamically select information at variable resolutions and dimensions, giving machine intelligence direct perception capabilities for physical world applications.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechHardware
Co-investorsResolute VenturesScribble VenturesAnanda Impact VenturesCerulean VenturesOverview Capital
FirstImpression.io provides a platform that helps content publishers create, manage, and monetize customizable ad products through a single integration tag, using big data analytics and yield optimization to increase ad revenue.
AdTechMarketing TechSaaSTel Aviv, IL
Roy Peleg(Chief Executive Officer)
Co-investorsGlilot Capital PartnersIN VentureTriventures
Gifted is a free employee gifting and recognition platform for celebrating birthdays, work anniversaries, spot bonuses, sales SPIFs, and client gifting, with a curated catalog of gift cards, physical gifts, and custom swag.
Future of WorkHR TechSaaS
HoneyBook is a team collaboration platform that helps service-based businesses manage clients, projects, and team workflows with built-in invoicing and payment processing.
Enterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkSaaS
Oz Alon(Founder & CEO)
Co-investors01 AdvisorsAkkadian VenturesAlephArkin CapitalBattery VenturesBling Capital+10 more
Imubit builds an Industrial AI platform for Coordinated Operating Strategies (COS) that makes plant operational decisions visible, testable, and supervised through automation.
Advanced ManufacturingAI & Machine LearningEnergyEnterprise SoftwarePalo Alto, US
Nadav Cohen(Executive Officer, Director)Gilad Cohen(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardMichael Neril(Director)Meir Tseitlin(Director)in
Co-investorsAlpha Wave GlobalGranite HillLumir VenturesSummit Peak InvestmentsSummit Peak Ventures
InnerPlant develops living sensor technology that enables farmers to detect plant stress in real-time, allowing targeted application of treatments to reduce chemical use and increase crop yields.
AgTechBiotechIoTCalifornia, US
RodinShely Aronov(Executive Officer, Director)Gary Schaefer(Chief Commercial Officer)in
Co-investorsBison VenturesCultiv8 Funds ManagementKokopelli CapitalMS&AD VenturesPlum Alley InvestmentsSystemiq Capital+3 more
Co-investorsBalderton Capitalat.inc/
Latica provides a secure platform for accessing structured and unstructured real-world patient data, along with analytics and medical intelligence, focused on specialty medicine.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureHealthtech
Co-investorsLayout VenturesNew York Life VenturesTriventuresMizMaa Ventures
Co-investorsUbiquity Ventures
Loadmill offers computer-using agents for mobile and web application testing that convert high-level scenarios or requirements (e.g.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsSaaS
Co-investorsGefen CapitalMizMaa Ventures
Peer5 provides a peer-to-peer content delivery network that augments traditional servers to distribute video streams to viewers, reducing server load and improving playback reliability for publishers of live and on-demand content.
Data & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US
Hadar Weiss(Founder/CEO)inShachar Zohar(Founder/CTO)in
Co-investorsFundersClubY CombinatorZenStone Venture CapitalFoundryHillsven
PerfectScale provides an autonomous Kubernetes optimization platform that right-sizes workloads, tunes autoscaling, and maximizes node capacity to reduce cloud costs and prevent misconfigurations that affect reliability.
Cloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsSaaS
Eli Birger(Founder)in
Co-investorsBlumberg CapitalInner Loop Capital
Raven develops AI assistants for manufacturing plants that help with operations including training, job planning, troubleshooting, and real-time analytics, integrating with existing industrial systems.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareBengaluru, IN
Priyansh Srivastava(Founder)inSriyansh Srivastava(Founder)in
Co-investorsY CombinatorElron VenturesFifth WallJibe VenturesNorwest Venture Partners
Salespeak provides an AI conversation layer for B2B companies that answers buyer questions on their website, corrects what AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude say about their product, and feeds a single verified source of truth to sales teams.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaSSales TechPalo Alto, US
Omer Gotlieb(Cofounder & CEO)inLior Mechlovich(Cofounder & CTO)in
Co-investorsJ-Ventures
The page presents identity management solutions positioned as a foundation for digital growth, referencing "Ping." It offers little concrete detail about specific products or customers.
Cybersecurity
Stampli offers an accounts payable automation platform that centralizes invoice capture, coding, PO matching, approvals, and communication in an ERP-aligned system with a complete audit trail.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFintechSaaS
Eyal Feldman(Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder)inOfer Feldman(Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder)Ido Peleg(Chief Operating Officer, Israel)
Co-investorsInsight PartnersNimble PartnersSignalFireBlackstoneBloomberg Beta
Co-investorsAV8 VenturesCrosslink CapitalEpisode1ICONYC labs
The site operates LOTUS4D, an online gambling platform offering casino betting, live sports, slots, arcade games, and lottery (togel) with deposit bonuses and cashback promotions.
ConsumerGaming
Co-investorsAtlantic Vantage Point
Tillion is an AI assistant for legal contract work that analyzes agreements to summarize documents, identify risks and red-flag clauses, compare contracts, and suggest alternative language.
AI & Machine LearningLegalTechSaaS
Lior Romano(Founder)inBarak Naveh(Founder)in
Co-investorsKindred CapitalVermilion Cliffs VenturesSelah Ventures
Torch provides a connectivity framework for identity governance and administration (IGA), using AI agents to build and maintain connectors that link any application — from modern SaaS and SCIM APIs to legacy mainframe and undocumented internal tools — to a company's identity governance program.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise Software
Co-investorsPresence CapitalSeven Peaks VenturesSilicon Valley Data Capital
UnitySCM provides a supply chain visibility and data platform that integrates disparate data sources, cleans and normalizes data, and delivers order, shipment, and inventory insights.
Data & InfrastructureLogistics & Supply ChainSaaSSan Jose, US
Amir Taichman(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Barak Cohen(Director)Aviad Ariel(Director)
Co-investorsVertex VenturesVertex Ventures Israel
Co-investorsSJF Ventures
Check Point provides unified security solutions for AI, infrastructure, data, and users across on-premises, cloud, and remote environments using hybrid mesh network architecture and zero trust principles.
Cybersecurity
Co-investorsG20 VenturesTorch CapitalTreasuryat.inc/
Zone7 develops data and AI-powered products to optimize performance and durability for high-performance teams.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareHealthtechHR TechSports Tech
Tal Brown(CEO & Co-Founder)inEyal Eliakim(CTO & Co-Founder)in
Co-investorsResolute VenturesSocial StartsValuestream Ventures
Exits · 1
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioSentinel OneNYSE: S
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesMobilize · opportunitiesforyouth.org · Aug 7, 2026
Zenity · finance.yahoo.com · Aug 4, 2026
Torch · nairametrics.com · Aug 1, 2026
Stampli · stampli.com · Jul 16, 2026
Balance · benzinga.com · Jul 16, 2026
Raven · pulse2.com · Jul 10, 2026
Raven · finsmes.com · Jul 7, 2026
HoneyBook · quotesign.vercel.app · May 21, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has UpWest made?
- UpWest has 48 tracked investments, 2 of which have exited via acquisition or IPO, including 1 dated in the last 24 months.
- What stage does UpWest invest at?
- UpWest invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
- What is UpWest's typical check size?
- UpWest typically writes checks of $100K – $3M.
- What sectors does UpWest focus on?
- UpWest focuses on Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Digital Health, Enterprise Software, SaaS, Sector Agnostic.
- Where is UpWest located?
- UpWest is headquartered in Silicon Valley, US.
- Does UpWest lead rounds?
- Yes, UpWest leads investment rounds.
- Who does UpWest co-invest with?
- UpWest most often shares deals with Norwest Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, among 105 tracked co-investors.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamWhat VCs REALLY Think After Your Pitch | Lia Cromwell (UpWest)
Founder Storiez · Lia Cromwell
“Most teams are building under the radar,” says UpWest Partner Lia Cromwell | Ctech
Lia Cromwell · calcalistech.com
418th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Shuly Galili, UpWest Labs
1Mby1M Roundtables · Shuly Galili
Innovation Conference: Shuly Galili, Founding Partner at UpWest VC
Boardroom Club · Shuly Galili
How UpWest is redefining success for Israeli Startup in America ft. Lia Cromwell
IsraelTech · Lia Cromwell
Ep553: Gil Ben-Artzy | Founding Partner, UpWest
The Matias Experiment · Gil Ben-Artzy
Images
Co-investors · 11
Resolute Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that leads pre-seed and seed rounds, backing founders with grit, energy and conviction.
Lightspeed is a global venture capital firm that has spent over two decades backing innovative companies as an early and first investor.
Triventures is a global venture capital fund with roots in healthcare that invests in early-stage companies across multiple industries, focusing on bio-convergence and data-driven technologies.
Accel is a venture capital firm that partners with exceptional teams, positioning itself as a first partner to founders globally.
Thomvest is a group of investment companies that invests on behalf of Peter J. Thomson and his family, backing teams across market cycles and supporting portfolio companies with mentorship, strategic guidance, and resources.
Harpoon Ventures is a venture capital firm backing founders building in AI, deep tech, software infrastructure, cybersecurity, and defense, with a focus on American technological leadership and government/defense markets.
SV Angel is a firm that has backed startup founders since the 1990s, leveraging a large network of founders, industry leaders, and regulators to support portfolio companies.
BITKRAFT Ventures is a global investment platform focused on gaming, interactive media, and related technologies, backing companies building at the convergence of physical and digital worlds (which it calls Synthetic Reality).
Notion Capital is a B2B software-focused venture capital firm built by operators, backing SaaS, cloud and enterprise technology companies.
Sorenson Capital collaborates with B2B, product-first founders, investing in B2B software companies across their lifecycle from early-stage to pre-IPO through separate venture and growth-stage funds.
Cambrian is an early-stage fintech investment firm run by a solo GP, pairing capital with a community network of founders, investors, and operators to support fintech entrepreneurs.
Firms observed investing alongside UpWest, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with UpWest's recorded portfolio.
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