UpWest

About

UpWest is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Shuly Galili and Gil Ben-Artzy in Palo Alto, California ¹². The firm specializes exclusively in backing Israeli founders who are expanding into the US market, a niche focus that has made it one of the most active Israel-to-US venture bridges ³⁴.

UpWest started in 2012 with a $2 million bootstrapped fund ². The firm has since grown significantly: Fund III raised $18.5 million (as reported in 2020) ², and Fund IV closed at $70 million in November 2021 ³. The firm has backed over 100 startups, which have collectively raised over $3 billion in follow-on investments and achieved an aggregate portfolio value exceeding $20 billion ¹⁵.

Notable exits include SentinelOne (IPO on NYSE in June 2021 at a valuation exceeding $10 billion) ¹, as well as acquisitions by Microsoft (CyberX, 2020), Google (SlickLogin, 2014; Invi Messages, 2017), Splunk (Flowmill, 2020), Nielsen (vBrand, 2017), and others ¹.

Galili also co-founded the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, and the firm leverages its deep network across both ecosystems to support founders ⁵. Lia Cromwell was elevated to Partner in 2024, expanding the firm’s investment capacity ⁶.

Stated Thesis

UpWest publicly describes its mission as funding, fast-tracking, and frontlining Israeli founders into the US market ¹. The firm’s core insight is that Israeli founders face a market access problem, not a capital problem.

Shuly Galili has stated: “Israel as an ecosystem is cash rich, market access poor” ². She has described the firm’s approach as testing whether they “can take these founders who are super-focused on the US market, give them a little bit of money and then mostly work with them on validation” ².

The firm looks at approximately 1,000 Israeli startups per year and invests in 6-8 companies annually ². UpWest’s stated approach emphasizes distributed team management capability, CEO communication skills, and willingness to relocate strategically ².

On distributed teams, Galili has noted: “For us that’s capital efficiency, when they’re hiring tech somewhere else. They’re getting the best of both worlds” ⁷.

Inferred Thesis

Based on UpWest’s publicly listed portfolio of 63+ companies (37 active, 26 exited) on the firm’s portfolio page ¹, the actual investment behavior reveals:

Stage distribution: UpWest invests exclusively at pre-seed and seed stages, with average check sizes of $250K-$400K and target ownership of approximately 8% ². The firm consistently describes itself as a “first check” investor.

Sector breakdown: Based on 37 active portfolio companies ¹: cybersecurity and security (SentinelOne, CyCognito, Zenity, Rotate, Raven, Torch — 6 companies, 16%); enterprise software and DevOps (Stampli, Codefresh, PerfectScale, Tillion.ai, TrialKit, Darwin — 6 companies, 16%); healthcare and life sciences (Canopy, Latica, Ecton, Elio — 4 companies, 11%); AI/ML (Anyword, Salespeak — 2 companies, 5%); fintech and payments (Balance, Livble — 2 companies, 5%); agtech and climate (BeeHero, InnerPlant — 2 companies, 5%); other B2B (Deeto, Simpo, Metis, Jolt, Zone7, UnitySCM — 6 companies, 16%); consumer/marketplace (HoneyBook, Gifted — 2 companies, 5%); robotics/hardware (Imubit, BOLTX — 2 companies, 5%); other (Mobilize, Loadmill, uMake, Genoox — 4 companies, 11%). Note: some companies span multiple categories; assigned to primary category.

Geographic focus: 100% Israeli founders ¹. The firm sources approximately 90% of its deal flow from Israel ². Portfolio companies typically maintain R&D in Israel with US-facing operations.

Exit patterns: Of 26 exited companies, notable acquirers include Microsoft, Google (2 acquisitions), Splunk, Nielsen, Gong, Fiverr, WalkMe, Priceline/Agoda, and Ping Identity ¹. This demonstrates strong enterprise and security-focused exit paths.

Founder profile: The firm exclusively backs Israeli founding teams. Based on the portfolio, founders tend to be technical, often with backgrounds in Israel’s military intelligence units or prior startup experience.

Co-investor patterns: As a seed-stage Israel-focused fund, UpWest typically co-invests with other Israel-focused funds and later-stage US funds in follow-on rounds.

Notable pattern: UpWest’s portfolio skews heavily toward cybersecurity and enterprise software, which aligns with Israel’s strengths in these areas. Consumer investments (HoneyBook being the standout) are a minority of the portfolio.

Portfolio

This table includes 51 of UpWest’s 100+ total investments. Investment years are based on the firm’s stated “first check” dates on their portfolio page ¹.

In Their Own Words

Shuly Galili on UpWest’s founding insight: “Israel as an ecosystem is cash rich, market access poor.” — Crunchbase Seed Series interview ²

Shuly Galili on deal flow: “We look at around a thousand startups a year, and we invest in about six to eight companies.” — Crunchbase Seed Series interview ²

Shuly Galili on distributed teams: “For us that’s capital efficiency, when they’re hiring tech somewhere else. They’re getting the best of both worlds.” — CTech interview ⁷

Shuly Galili on founding UpWest: “We started eight years ago in 2012. There wasn’t a seed environment established in Israel then.” — Crunchbase Seed Series interview ²

Shuly Galili on communication during uncertainty: “In times of uncertainty and great challenges, it is always crucial to maintain a high level of communication and transparency with both founders and investors.” — CTech interview ⁸

Gil Ben-Artzy on AI integration: The firm has integrated AI “from streamlining due diligence research, to quickly mapping competitive landscapes, to summarizing technical documentation so we can get to the heart of the matter faster.” — CTech interview ⁹

What Founders Say

Oz Alon, Co-founder of HoneyBook, on UpWest’s value: “UpWest team is exceptional at helping you immerse yourself in the US market.” — UpWest website ¹

Shely Aronov, CEO of HoneyBook, on UpWest’s impact: “Being in Silicon Valley makes a huge difference… they convince you to dream bigger.” — UpWest website ¹

Note: These testimonials are from the firm’s own website and should be considered potentially biased. No independently published founder quotes about working with UpWest were found in public sources outside the firm’s marketing materials.

Sources