The tech sector remains robust in the fast of a turbulent year

2024 has been an unquestionably difficult year for Israel. Yet despite the turbulence, the country’s innovation economy remains in robust shape. Research center IVC and LeumiTech, a Bank Leumi arm that specializes in tech companies, found that investments were up by 40% in Q3 of 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023.

Positive indicators can also be found with a number of prominent buyouts of startups from Israel. In 2024 alone Nvidia is estimated to have spent $1 billion USD to acquire two high-tech startups that highlight the promise in ideas emerging from the country.

This is welcome news given what a prominent role the tech sector plays in Israel’s overall economy. As of 2022, the sector employed over 14% of the workforce, contributed more than 18% of GDP, and accounted for half of the country’s exports, according to the 2023 annual report from the Israel Innovation Authority.

This success has been driven in a large part thanks to the talented Jewish entrepreneurs who have built globally recognized technology brands both in Israel and abroad. Their foresight and creative ideas have bolstered the local economy and disrupted countless industries.

As the year comes to a close, let’s take a look at 10 Jewish entrepreneurs to watch in 2025 who have had major success with startups, contributed to global and local tech ecosystems, and kept international investors interested in the innovation economy.

Yonatan Geifman, CEO and Co-Founder, Deci (acquired by Nvidia in 2024)

Yonatan Geifman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Deci. The company, acquired in April by tech heavyweight Nvidia, started after Geifman completed his PhD at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

The mission of Deci is to enable deep learning models to run efficiently on any hardware in real-time, and the company has brought together some of the brightest business minds and technologists to solve one of the most challenging problems in AI.

The importance of their success was highlighted by Nvidia’s acquisition earlier this year, with the deal estimated to be worth $300 million USD. Following the move, NVIDIA’s expertise in AI will be complemented by Deci’s capabilities in NAS, which automates the design of deep learning models to improve performance.

Hilla Ovil-Brenner, Founder, Yazamiyot and Partner, Arieli Capital 

Hilla Ovil-Brenner is a Partner at Arieli Capital, which is an investor in early stage global companies. She was earlier the Managing Director of Techstars Tel Aviv, the global investment fund that invests in a diverse, global pool of entrepreneurs and high-growth companies.

Hilla currently serves on the advisory boards of a number of Israeli startups, and is the CEO of Yazamiyot – Women Entrepreneurs, a non-profit network for female founders that aims to increase the number of women entrepreneurs in the tech ecosystem.

Per LinkedIn, the group currently has over 6,000 female entrepreneurs and is one of the leading women entrepreneurs’ groups in Israel.

Yuval Tal, Founder, Payoneer and CEO, Linguana  

Yuval Tal earlier founded Payoneer, the trailblazing international payments platform that has already achieved the coveted Unicorn status, following a $1 billion USD public valuation in 2019.

Today Yuval is the Co-Founder and CEO of Linguana, a technology company that localizes and monetizes videos across languages and platforms. Yuval is also a Managing Partner at the VC fund Team8. According to Inc. Magazine, Yuval is widely regarded as the godfather of Israeli fintech.

Ami Gal, CEO and Co-Founder, SQream

Ami Gal is the CEO of SQream, another exciting startup from Israel’s high-tech industry that offers a unique way to process heavy data loads more quickly to save time and resources.

Ami is driven by a passion for creating innovative solutions that solve real-world problems and unlock new opportunities for growth and value. He has a strong background in strategy, product management and startups, and has a vision to transform the world with Big Data, AI, and analytics.

At present, this vision is coming to life with SQream’s patented data acceleration platform that leverages Nvidia GPU technology that’s already breaking industry standards when it comes to how much compute power is required to handle massive data loads. The company has been helping enterprises with their data analytic goals for over a decade.

Ornit Dweck-Maizel, CTO and Co-Founder, Sunbit

Digital solutions have transformed the range of payment options consumers have available at checkout, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions are one of the most popular options with shoppers. The ability to split the cost of large purchases into installments has been standard procedure in Israel for years, but it wasn’t an option in most countries. Ornit Dweck-Maizel, a self-described numbers geek since childhood, recognized the opportunity to bring the concept of BNPL to global markets, which led her to create Sunbit.

Ornit currently serves as CTO at Sunbit, now a market leader and pioneer of BNPL technology. In 2021 Sunbit raised $130 million in funding.

Semyon Kukach, Founding Partner, One Way Ventures

Semyon Dukach is a Founding Partner at One Way Ventures, an investment fund that looks to support exceptional immigrant founders. The venture capitalist originally became infamous as an attendee at MIT, where he joined one of the university’s blackjack teams. His team won millions from casinos by counting cards, and later inspired the book and the movie 21.

Semyon now leads One Way Ventures, a seed-stage fund for immigrant tech founders in the United States and Canada that has quickly become a go-to fund for entrepreneurs.

Eynat Guez, CEO and Co-Founder, Papaya Global

Eynat Guez is the CEO and co-founder of Papaya Global, a platform that helps companies streamline payroll tasks across international borders.

With extensive experience in tech solutions for HR, Eynat was a driving force behind the creation of Papaya Global. Although the company was first founded in 2016, investors didn’t initially see the need for a dedicated global payroll platform. However, after the pandemic the demand has seen the company swell in terms of users and investments, thanks to the keen foresight of Eynat.

Tzahi (Zack) Weisfeld, Founder, Microsoft Ventures (Microsoft Accelerators program) and General Manager, Intel Ignite

Tzahi (Zack) Weisfeld has over 25 years of experience in the consumer tech and enterprise market, making him one of the most seasoned executives on this list. He’s also a serial entrepreneur and a huge contributor to establishing startup ecosystems worldwide.

Zack was one of the initial founders of Microsoft’s R&D site in Israel and was the Founder of Microsoft Ventures (Microsoft Accelerators program). This saw his responsibilities span across 110 countries and build partnerships with over 200 accelerators in 47 countries.

Today Zack is the General Manager and Vice President of Intel Ignite. Intel’s accelerator program for deep tech startups connects the company with disruptors from around the world.

Yaacov Martin, CEO and Founder, Jifiti

Jifiti is a fintech startup on a mission to connect lenders, retailers and consumers with financing that takes place at the merchant’s point of sale.

Founded by Yaacov Martin in 2011, the company removes the need for consumers to apply for loans or credit in advance. Instead, the digital solution makes the credit application process so fast that it can take place at the checkout, whether that’s online or in-store. Jifiti works with major financial institutions including Mastercard, Citizens Bank, CaixaBank, and Credit Agricole, in addition to retailers like IKEA and Walmart.

Guy Kroupp, CEO and Co-Founder, Getgud.io

Guy Kroupp is a tech entrepreneur and impact strategist with over 20 years of experience thanks to his highly technical background.

He is the CEO and co-founder of Getgud.io, a startup in the gaming industry that harnesses AI to deliver observability and insights on how users interact with the game programming and other players. From his years of experience, Guy wanted to help game design agencies access a way to understand how in-game activity affects things like churn rates or subscription numbers. By providing easy to leverage tools, the gaming industry can unlock insights into key performance metrics.

Before founding Getgud.io, Guy was the Founder and CEO of Coralogix, a Bay Area startup.