Venture capital investor and former NBA star Omri Casspi has raised one other $100 million for his fund Swish Ventures to put money into excessive profile Israeli unicorns like Eon, Upwind, Tenzai and Irregular and US firms like Cognition and Applied Compute.
Casspi, who has teamed up with distinguished US traders like Peter Thiel, Joshua Kushner, Joe Lonsdale, Elad Gil and Sean Maguire, and serial entrepreneurs like Ofir Ehrlich, Amiram Shachar, and Roi Tiger, has constructed a portfolio in a brief time period that features a massive focus of high-value, fast-growing firms. The new alternative fund will enable Swish to proceed to take care of its holdings in later phases of fund elevating for firms and profit from their continued appreciation. Casspi has a excessive proportion of unicorns in its portfolio for a enterprise capital fund that’s simply three years previous.
The fund, which was raised principally from present traders in Swish Ventures – senior companions in distinguished enterprise capital funds, together with Sean Maguire from Sequoia – has already invested within the newest financing spherical of Eon, an Israeli unicorn that offers with information backup for AI processing and raised $300 million final week at a valuation of $4 billion.
Swish additionally holds shares in Cognition AI, the US AI large that acquired the automated software program improvement engine WIndsurf, and Amiram Shachar’s Upwind Security, which was in talks to be acquired by Datadog for $1 billion, and the promising startup Tenzai, which raised $75 million final month.
Casspi’s community of connections has underpinned Swish’s achievements. It is often the one small fund amongst giants in seed rounds. In Tenzai it invested alongside Greylock, Lux Capital and Battery Ventures and within the Israeli AI lab Irregular it invested alongside Sequoia and Redpoint.
“We received motivation from our entrepreneurs and also from the investors to continue investing in companies and to increase our commitment to them down the road,” Casspi tells “Globes.” “We announced the establishment of the fund and completed its raising within a few weeks and in a relatively short period. The fund has matured relatively rapidly, but has been built carefully starting with our first fund in 2022 (the Sheva fund), and until today, what guides us is to be a partner to our entrepreneurs, in Israel and the US.”
In the wake of this fund elevating, the entire belongings underneath administration of Casspi and his funds within the tech sector is $300 million, which incorporates the Swish seed fund, which was raised final 12 months totaling $63 million; the Sheva fund, which he based in 2022 with David Citron for $35 million; and different devoted investments exterior the funds, that are estimated to be price about $100 million. The new alternative fund plans to make about eight investments within the fields of cybersecurity, expertise infrastructure and AI, with a mean funding of about $10 million.
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Casspi doesn’t reveal the identities of the traders within the fund and makes do with a basic assertion: “The biggest names in US venture capital funds and partners in funds,” however it may be estimated that his connections with high funds resembling Founders Fund, 8VC, Sequoia, Thrive and Lux Capital helped him on this. Casspi provides that along with the common traders in Swish, funds that interact in philanthropy on this planet of life sciences have additionally joined the Opportunity Fund.
According to the enterprise capital fund web site PitchBook, among the many restricted traders in Swish are additionally serial entrepreneurs Amiram Shachar, Ofir Ehrlich, Alon Arvatz and Gal David – all of whom raised capital from the fund for his or her startups. The connection to distinguished serial entrepreneurs can also be associated to the excessive focus of unicorns within the portfolio. “The main strength of the fund for an investor who came from basketball, with no background in startups and venture capital, actually comes from our entrepreneurs. This is our bread and butter and is the major factor that determines. We try to work closely with them because this is what will ultimately bring the next companies and the next entrepreneurs. It’s a small industry where everyone talks to everyone else and works with top-notch funds.”
Cybersecurity and AI
Casspi, who because the founding of the fund has been enjoying within the crowded and costly discipline of distinguished Israeli cybersecurity firms in addition to within the discipline of Israeli serial entrepreneurs, enjoys intensive connections with the large funds at an attention-grabbing time. According to a report by the cybersecurity fund YL Ventures, for the primary time in Israeli tech, US funds have surpassed Israeli funds in seed investments in Israeli cybersecurity, with 44 seed spherical investments in contrast with 35 from Israeli funds. The entry of large funds like Sequoia, Greylock and Lux into such early phases of firms additionally brings with it a rise in worth and the opportunity of a bubble in Israeli cybersecurity.
“It’s a very competitive market, but I don’t know if the word cybersecurity bubble is correct in this case,” says Casspi. “For each company the valuation is derived from the market in which the company operates, the exit potential, the identity of the entrepreneurs and the adoption of the product in the market. Even when the value is very high, there is a very large market potential and team. I began my journey in venture capital in 2022 when high-tech was at a low, which continued into 2023 and today we see the tectonic changes in the market, the technological upheaval that allows new companies to replace so many veteran players. And ultimately, the size of the investment is not a factor but the growth potential of the company. If you invested in SpaceX, even 5% of it could provide you with billions.”
Casspi’s community of connections in US enterprise capital – Sean Maguire, Joshua Kushner and Peter Thiel – are near the Republican Party, economically conservative, and sympathetic to Israel. Casspi talks in regards to the inflow of large American funds into Israel, and cybersecurity firms particularly. “These international funds have been investing right here because the starting of the battle, and they’re current right here in a really excessive focus, they’re very aggressive they usually even have the power to assist entrepreneurs within the US, and they’re searching for the very best cybersecurity offers right here.
“They understand that there is a magic circle here. Talents leave the army, found companies that are acquired, and today they are already second- or third-time entrepreneurs who found even better companies. I have no doubt that the next $100 billion AI and cybersecurity companies will come out of Israel – we see parent companies here that can “disrupt” more mature industries. Unfortunately, we see this less in the worlds outside of cybersecurity and AI here.”
Did Israel miss the AI revolution?
Casspi: “I do not assume anybody anticipated Israel to play a distinguished position in growing massive language fashions. In this recreation, by way of capital expenditures (capex) and the competitors for expertise, the US has a distinguished place, and it’s tough for Israeli firms to compete with an ambition like OpenAI’s to speculate a trillion {dollars} within the subsequent 5 years, however we’re very robust in optimizations, functions and naturally in cybersecurity for AI. I anticipate the military, which invests closely in cybersecurity and produces glorious cybersecurity individuals, to make a big change in direction of AI, and this may result in Israel’s future management within the discipline of knowledge facilities, power and neo-cloud.
You transfer in the fitting circles within the US, however Israel was hit onerous in Europe and the Gulf in the course of the battle, together with by sports activities associations.
“It is not right for us Israelis to cancel relations with European investors who have pulled away, but rather to keep the door open, and as business and professional companies to show them where they went wrong. I am happy that around the table in the companies we invest in, there is a pro-Israel team, sitting and planning to keep it that way. Our investors are very optimistic about Israel.”
Published by Globes, Israel enterprise news – en.globes.co.il – on December 11, 2025.
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