Meet the Investors: Stav Erez, Labs/02
The Jerusalem Trailblazer
Stav Erez is the pioneer of the Jerusalem startup ecosystem.
She was one of the original founders of Siftech in 2012, which at the time was the only startup accelerator in the entire city. She then moved onto the Jerusalem Development Authority where she managed and advanced Jnext, and then transitioned to the Business Development team at OurCrowd. Today, she is a partner at Labs/02, “Jerusalem’s seed-stage incubator backed by OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries, Israel Innovation Authority, and in Strategic partnership with Yissum Technology Transfer.” I had the privilege to meet with her this week to discuss her investment methods and preferences, Labs/02, and of course, the Jerusalem ecosystem.
Not Your Ordinary Investors
Still in its first year, Labs/02 is an organization designed to fill the ever-growing need in Jerusalem of venture capital funds for early-stage companies. Founders can enter “with just a PowerPoint” and still end up with investments, Stav tells me. But the organization is much more than an investment fund, acting as an incubator with resources galore for selected startup companies, and as a “boot camp” of sorts for them. Once a company is selected for investment, “we go to bat for them,” Stav says. The investment team provides mentorship and networks for the startups, and even attends conferences with the companies.
What Stav Is Looking For
Labs/02 doesn’t exactly have a specific field of interest for their investments, but only invests in companies that it can add value to via its resources and networks. Because of this, most investments will go to B2B focused startups, and none will go to life science startups.
For the investment team, the personalities of the entrepreneurs are at the top of the decision ballot. When I asked why, Stav replied, “we work in the same office.” Once a company is selected, it is provided with an office in the Labs/02 space. Since they will be working closely with the investment team, the founders need to be nice and personable.
Stav is also on the lookout for founders who have seen victory in the past. It doesn’t matter the type of success, she explains, but people who have seen at least one “win” in the past “are motivated not to fail.”
The Profile
Out of the many applications and pitches for investments, Labs/02 has made four investments to date (soon to be five.) Three of the companies chosen are cyber-teams, the fourth works in development operations. Each of the companies has now received investments ranging between $750,000-$1.2 million.
Before selecting a company for investment, Labs/02 employs the resources of its partners to do due-diligence, including OurCrowd’s pool of 25,000 investors, and teams of experts from Motorola and Reliance. The vetting process is rigorous, but companies that are selected are connected to immense resources and funding.
Venture Creation
“My dream is venture creation,” Stav tells me. She explains her belief that academic institutions’ research can be used to build large-scale companies that promote regional economic development, as long as the companies are built with strong foundations. Labs/02, she believes, is valuable beyond providing funding in that it contributes its team’s expertise to ensure positive foundational development in the early stages of promising startups.
Update
Since this article was initially written, Labs/02 announced a “collaboration agreement with two Korean venture capital firms, Development Trusts NI (DTNI) and Yozma Group Korea, the Korean branch of Israeli venture capital firm Yozma Group.”
