Top Startups to Watch From DLD Tel Aviv 2023

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Leta Capital

5 min readFeb 3, 2023

DLD Tel Aviv is the largest hi-tech conference in Israel. 20,000+ hi-tech professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors from Israel and abroad gather for the conference showcasing and discussing the latest in high-tech and innovation. DLD, founded in 2005 by the legendary Dr. Yossi Vardi and Steffi Czerny, was previously also hosted in Munich, New York, Beijing, San Francisco, London, Moscow, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The Economist and Sifted referred to DLD as “one of Europe’s leading conferences on innovation” and “one of Europe’s best tech conferences”.

Before I share the full list of startups pitching at the DLD Tel Aviv 2023, and nominate my favorites among them (see below), I want to share with you some personal reflections about the conference and its surroundings, which after a 3-year break due to COVID finally took place as an in-person event.

DLD Tel Aviv 2023 was the 4th time I’ve visited DLD. I remember visiting DLD for the first time back in 2016 when I was accompanied by Jeremie Berrebi and David Sultan, while we worked together at Magical Capital, who, alongside Nimrod May, showed me the way into the wonderful world of venture capital.

Jeremie Berrebi (on the left), Alexander Zemlyak (center) and David Sultan (on the right) at DLD Tel Aviv 2016 — With Jeremie Berrebi (on the left) and David Sultan (on the right) at DLD Tel Aviv 2016.

DLD’s previous years’ events were organized in the lovely venue of Hatachana Tel Aviv (Old railway station) in the open air which made it even more authentic.

In 2023, however, the conference took place in early February, which is a rainy season in Israel, moreover, it was held indoors in Expo Tel Aviv (first day, together with the Cybertech conference) and in Habima Theatre (second day).

Habima Theatre, DLD Tel Aviv 2023 — Habima Theatre at the top of Rothschild Boulevard, venue for DLD Tel Aviv 2023

As always, the program of the conference was packed with a wide range of fascinating topics and world-class speakers. The conference was opened by a long-serving Mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai (who is currently serving his 5th five-year term!). Mayor made an opening speech delivering an inspiring spiel full of jokes, while also holding an umbrella for some time 😁 (famous Israeli “out-of-the-box thinking”?)

DLD opening speech by Mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai

Early February 2023 in Israel means not only a rainy season but also a time of heated political debates and protests. DLD was no exception. As you can see, in the middle of the conference a small group of anti-Netanyahu protesters occupied the entrance and chanted “dictatorship will kill high-tech” and “no democracy = no startups”. What are your thoughts on this, btw?

Protesters rally against judicial reforms in Israel

At the very same time as the protesters outside were vowing to fight the reforms, the head of IIA (Israel Innovation Authority) inside was presenting the data showing a mind-boggling scale that the Israeli high-tech industry has gained recently and the impact it has had on the Israeli economy as a whole.

But let’s not deviate too much and get back on track with the main idea of DLD — connecting the dots between innovation, startups, investors, corporates, breakthrough technologies, government, and the wider public.

While there were numerous excellent activities like panels, meetups, lectures, and parties, I enjoyed startup pitches the most.

I mean, who am I kidding? Apparently, an afterparty at the Matta club was a whole lot of fun.

But startup pitches were pretty good too. Even more so, an initially planned 1-hour activity turned into a 2-hour pitching marathon with more than 25 founders pitching their ideas on stage to the judges and investors in the audience followed by speed dating between VCs and startups.