The Freshest VC in Israel — 2.0
What do Facebook, Google, and Snapchat have in common? They were all built out of dorm rooms. The next unicorn might very well come from unsuspecting students eating ramen noodles and furiously coding in their dorm rooms.
We traveled across Israel and recruited the best and brightest university students as Venture Capital analysts. Here’s why.
Written by: Daniel Keyes & Zaki Djemal
Just over a year ago, we started the first university-focused venture fund in Israel. Like the startups we support, we chose to start small focusing first on Jerusalem. We wanted to test the waters, experiment, and learn everything we could about the university startup ecosystem before taking the leap into the deep end.
It was worth the wait. We quickly discovered that not only Jerusalem is hungry for a support network for student entrepreneurs. Applications began pouring in from students and academics from across the country. And while our core mission remained clearer than ever — to find and invest in the boldest and most creative startups coming from Israeli universities — we realized it was time to expand.
This year we are excited to announce that fresh.fund has opened chapters across Israel, with student analysts at Hebrew University, Tel Aviv, The Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC), Technion, and the Lev Academic College.
Our model is simple. We start by finding the most passionate and driven students in Israel. Next, the student analysts go through a 3-month extensive Investing Bootcamp (™ pending) where they learn the building blocks of investing from leaders in tech, venture capital, product and more. Finally, the analysts return to their campuses with their ears to the ground. They create communities, initiate events, meet with founders, and help lead the investment process with market research and diligence.
The new team comes from a wide variety of schools, faculties, and interests, yet we are all united by our drive to help our fellow students build companies. For students by students -that’s the motto.
It is hard not to come away form this interviewing process humbled. Over the past few months, we have interviewed many dozens of the top university students in Israel. Their passion and interest in venture and technology is awe inspiring. One of our core goals is to create a home for like minded students and entrepreneurs. A place to meet and collaborate. A network of dreamers and builders.
We are so excited to see what the student analysts will accomplish.
Let’s Dive a Bit Deeper
The new team members span many faculties, passions and studies. Our analysts are pursuing degrees in design, engineering + computer science, law, statistics, neuroscience and biology to name a few.
When fresh.fund invests, we bring far more than just money. We invest a 20 person hungry team of hackers, artists, and builders. We bring data scientists, PhDs, statisticians, experts in social media and coders. When we sign the first check, our work has just begun.
Imagine your startup team growing from 2 to 22 with a single investment :)
The new team consists of undergraduate, master, and PhD students. This range coupled with the diverse faculties and schools that each student analysts taps into provides great insight and inspiration.
Location Location Location
With chapters in universities across the country, fresh.fund gains ground floor access to the incredible untapped talent found in libraries and labs.
fresh.fund analysts are the face of the fund on campus. Their roles include seeking out local investment opportunities, meeting with founders, market research and a lot more. We could not be more confident in the team chosen.
Chapters across Israel, a global leader in technology, grants fresh.fund a truly unique deal flow funnel. Our new team helps fresh.fund expand and gain access to hundreds of research labs and tens of thousands more students, academics, and recent alumni. We now have fund members roaming every corridor, library and university hall in the country!
Round Table of Opinions
Great investments often come from the most unexpected places. fresh.fund’s team is incredibly diverse and represents the full spectrum of Israeli society: Arabs and Jews, ultra-Orthodox and strongly secular, left and right brain, men and women, Jerusalem — Tel Aviv — Haifa — Herzliya.
Our differences are our strength — they make us wiser and more interesting than we would be without them.
If you’re a student who wants to join our team, keep your eyes open — we will be opening the application for next year’s cohort in a couple months.
Are you a founder that’s working on something epic? Reach out at fresh.fund and we can help.
