Aleph

About

Aleph is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2013 in Tel Aviv, Israel by Michael Eisenberg and Eden Shochat ¹. Eisenberg previously served as managing partner at Benchmark Capital, where he led investments in Wix.com and WeWork ². Shochat co-founded Face.com, a facial recognition company acquired by Facebook for $100 million in 2012, and was previously the youngest full partner at Israeli VC firm Genesis Partners, where he led investments in Riskified, Monday.com, and JoyTunes ³.

Within two months of founding, Eisenberg and Shochat raised their first fund of $154 million ³. The firm has since raised four funds: Fund I ($154M, 2013), Fund II ($180M, 2016), Fund III ($200M, 2019), and Fund IV ($300M, 2021), bringing total assets under management to approximately $850 million ^{4 5}.

Aleph is structured as an equal partnership ¹. Bruce Dunlevie, founding partner of Benchmark Capital, serves as a Special Partner advisor ¹. Aaron Rosenson, formerly of Insight Partners, joined as a third partner in 2016 and spent over six years at the firm, leading investments in Placer.ai and Coralogix ⁶. Tomer Diari, formerly a Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners, joined as a partner in 2021 ⁷. Yael Elad, who previously managed alternative investments at Harel Insurance and Clal Insurance, serves as Operating Partner and has been with the firm since its founding ⁸.

The firm has invested in over 60 companies and counts 10 unicorns, 4 IPOs, and 14 acquisitions in its portfolio ⁹. Notable exits include Lemonade (NYSE: LMND), Melio (acquired by Xero for $2.5 billion in 2025), Freightos (NASDAQ: CRGO), Windward (acquired by FTV Capital), and Houseparty (acquired by Epic Games) ^{9 10}.

Aleph operates Ampliphy, an internal platform that provides portfolio companies with tools for business development, talent acquisition, and follow-on funding support ⁹.

Stated Thesis

Aleph publicly describes its mission as partnering with “great Israeli entrepreneurs to build large, meaningful companies and impactful global brands” ⁹. The firm emphasizes a values-driven approach, with Eisenberg articulating that “the most successful companies of the 21st century are values-driven, because the best way to be successful is to make others successful” ¹.

Eisenberg’s overarching investment thesis is what he calls “Long Humanity” — investing in companies that address fundamental human needs rather than exploiting attention or base instincts. He has argued that “the next technological revolution and investment trend is humanity” and that “human beings actually crave true community, communities of help and success, not online tribes of diatribe and voyeurism” ¹¹.

Shochat has stated that Aleph’s core principle is investing in the unconventional: “It’s better to do something different than to do something in a better way. If I invest in a good start-up company that does something conventional, the price I pay for the transaction will be higher — the company will have many more competitors and it will be more difficult for it to succeed. My ambition is to invest in good companies that do something unconventional” ¹².

The firm positions itself as “a network in service of entrepreneurs” and describes its model as “a service business whose goal it is to help Israeli entrepreneurs build very large scaleable businesses” ^{1 3}. The firm’s stated focus is primarily on Series A investments, with a 12-year fund life intended to remove pressure on portfolio companies to seek quick exits ^{3 13}.

With Fund IV, Aleph expanded eligibility to include “remote companies” while maintaining focus on founders connected to Israel and the firm’s network ⁵.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 61 verified portfolio companies from Aleph’s website ⁹:

Sector distribution: - Financial services / fintech: 16 of 61 (26%) — including Lemonade, Melio, HoneyBook, Finaloop, Unit, Grain, Floodlight, Fullpath, RiseUp, Trullion, Approve, Colu, Sequence, Travelier, Uniper - Logistics / supply chain / operations: 10 of 61 (16%) — including Freightos, Bringg, Fabric, Windward, Brew, Embed, Thriver - Data infrastructure: 9 of 61 (15%) — including Coralogix, SparkBeyond, Anecdotes, Panorays, NextSilicon, Umbrella, TheGist, Ply, Geoquant - Education / edtech: 6 of 61 (10%) — including Simply, Frank, TinyTap, Spines, Trullion, RiseUp - Real estate: 5 of 61 (8%) — including Agora, Daisy, Placer.ai, Unit, Waltz - HR tech: 3 of 61 (5%) — Centrical, Compete, MyInterview - Cybersecurity: 3 of 61 (5%) — Dream, SecuriThings, Luminate - Healthcare: 2 of 61 (3%) — Healthy.io, OneStep - Developer tools: 4 of 61 (7%) — Daily.dev, Sightful, Svix, Raftt - Automotive / mobility: 2 of 61 (3%) — Nexar, Fullpath - Other (legal, web3, consumer): 5 of 61 (8%) — Empathy, Superlegal, HoneyBook, SphereX, Houseparty

Stage distribution: Aleph has made 26 investments at seed stage (average round size $7.46M) and 19 at Series A (average round size $12.6M), with 12 at Series B ($29.2M average) and 3 at Series C ($61.5M average) ¹⁴. This confirms a seed/Series A focus with selective follow-on at later stages.

Geographic concentration: Of verified investments, 32 are Israel-based and 26 are US-based, reflecting the firm’s Israel-first strategy with US market expansion ¹⁴.

Check size: Reported range of $250K to $2M initial check, with a sweet spot around $1.1M ¹⁴. The firm follows on heavily into winners — its 12% stake in Melio at the time of the $2.5B Xero acquisition suggests significant reserves deployed over time ¹⁰.

Founder profile patterns: The portfolio skews strongly toward Israeli founders building for global markets. Many founders have deep technical backgrounds: Shai Wininger (Lemonade) was a product leader, Matan Bar (Melio) led consumer payments at eBay/PayPal, Ilan Atias (Melio) previously ran R&D at portfolio company Windward ¹⁵. The firm invests in repeat founders and has a strong internal referral network.

Co-investor patterns: Frequent co-investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Tiger Global, Accel, and Sequoia. The Bessemer relationship is particularly strong — Tomer Diari came from Bessemer, and Bessemer was the largest shareholder in Melio alongside Aleph ^{10 7}.

Notable gaps vs. stated thesis: Despite the “Long Humanity” framing, the portfolio is heavily weighted toward B2B software and fintech, with relatively few consumer-facing investments. Healthcare — an area where human impact is most direct — represents only 3% of the portfolio. The values-driven thesis is more accurately described as a preference for mission-oriented B2B companies serving underserved markets (small business payments, affordable insurance, freight logistics).

Portfolio

This table represents 61 of approximately 68 total investments reported by Tracxn ¹⁴, covering approximately 90% of the known portfolio. Years marked with ~ are approximate based on the company’s founding year listed on Aleph’s portfolio page.

In Their Own Words

“The most successful companies of the 21st century are values-driven, because the best way to be successful is to make others successful.” — Michael Eisenberg, Aleph founding blog post ¹

“The next technological revolution and investment trend is humanity.” — Michael Eisenberg, Calcalist, “My Core Investment Thesis: Long Humanity” ¹¹

“Human beings actually crave true community, communities of help and success, not online tribes of diatribe and voyeurism.” — Michael Eisenberg, Calcalist, “My Core Investment Thesis: Long Humanity” ¹¹

“It’s better to do something different than to do something in a better way. If I invest in a good start-up company that does something conventional, the price I pay for the transaction will be higher — the company will have many more competitors and it will be more difficult for it to succeed. My ambition is to invest in good companies that do something unconventional.” — Eden Shochat, Chatbot Summit / public interviews ¹²

“We’re redefining the kind of support entrepreneurs and the local high tech community can expect from a VC firm.” — Aleph website ⁹

“The fund will do exactly the same as the previous funds, perhaps apart from supporting companies overseas, as long as we can connect it to our network of entrepreneurs, as well as to our familiarity with Israel.” — Aleph leadership, on Fund IV, Globes ⁵

What Founders Say

Matan Bar, Co-Founder and CEO of Melio, on Michael Eisenberg’s support: “You say things as they are, and you couldn’t care less if it’s comfortable hearing it or not. But it’s always driven from the right place, and the success of the company.” — Invested by Aleph podcast, Episode 24 ¹⁵

Matan Bar on Eisenberg’s guidance in naming Melio: “We picked the name based on your guidance and Adam Fisher’s guidance. You told us we shouldn’t pick a name that is like a name of a feature, because that would limit us.” — Invested by Aleph podcast, Episode 24 ¹⁵

Matan Bar on Eisenberg’s hands-on involvement in storytelling: “We came to you with, ‘we’re an accounts payable automation solution company.’ Not as inspiring as ‘Keep small business and business.’ I remember you called us to your house and you’re like, ‘We need to get out of the office.’” — Invested by Aleph podcast, Episode 24 ¹⁵

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond the Aleph podcast. The firm’s website features portfolio company logos but does not include public testimonials from founders.

Sources