Guy Fighel

Partner & Head of Data Program at hetz-ventures

Reviewed Updated Jul 25, 2026

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Location Israel / San Francisco
Check Size Not publicly disclosed
Last Verified Investment Willow (Seed) — Jun 4, 2026
Social @guyfig LinkedIn
Stage Focus
seed series-a
Sector Focus
ai data-infrastructure developer-tools enterprise-software

Background

Guy Fighel is a Partner and Head of the Data Program at Hetz Ventures, an Israeli venture capital firm managing approximately $500M AUM focused on data and AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, developer tools, and enterprise software 12. He joined Hetz as a Venture Partner and leads the firm’s Hetz Data Program, which provides sparring and technical guidance to portfolio companies building in data and ML 13.

Prior to joining Hetz, Fighel spent over 25 years as an operator and technical leader. He was SVP & GM of Data Platform Engineering & AI at New Relic, joining after New Relic acquired his prior company 1. In 2016 he co-founded SignifAI, an AI/ML correlation engine for DevOps teams, serving as CTO until the company was acquired by New Relic in February 2019 1. He holds more than 20 patents 1.

Stated Thesis

Fighel’s public statements focus on data and AI infrastructure specifically for the Israeli ecosystem. In launching the Hetz Data Program he said he was “bothered by the lack of genuine and substantial engagement with the data sector in Israel” and created the program to change that 4. His investments through Hetz center on infrastructure that sits between AI models and enterprise systems — governance, observability, orchestration, and safety layers 56.

Inferred Thesis

Based on publicly verified investments led or co-led by Fighel through Hetz, the pattern is consistent and narrow:

  • Category focus: ML/AI infrastructure and enterprise AI governance. Willow (AI agent governance for the enterprise) and Runhouse (ML stack sharing, lineage, and governance layer) both target the operational layer that sits between models and production systems 56.
  • Stage: Seed. Both verified deals are seed rounds ($7M for Willow in June 2026 5; Runhouse seed in August 2025 6).
  • Geography: Israel-centered, consistent with Hetz’s overall mandate 2.
  • Founder profile: Deeply technical, often with prior scale experience at large tech operators. Willow’s founding team built the governance capability at Wix internally before spinning it out 5; Fighel himself came out of New Relic’s data platform organization 1.

Sample size is small (2 publicly attributed personal investments), so treat percentages with skepticism. The pattern is qualitative: infrastructure for AI in production, at seed, in Israel.

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Source
Willow 2026 Seed ($7M, led) 5
Runhouse 2025 Seed 6
Stigg 2022 Seed ($6.4M) 7
Helios 2022 Seed ($5M) 7

In Their Own Words

On leading Willow’s seed round (June 2026):

“The gateway between AI agents and an enterprise’s internal systems is rapidly becoming one of the most overlooked blind spots in enterprise security. What convinced us to lead this round was watching Willow solve the problem inside Wix first, at the scale of thousands of employees, before bringing it to market. Eyal, Shalev, and Idan have built something rare: a governance layer that enterprises actually deploy, rather than another framework that sits on a shelf. They’re the right team to define this category.” 5

On launching the Hetz Data Program:

“I was bothered by the lack of genuine and substantial engagement with the data sector in Israel.” 4

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found at the time of research.

Sources

  1. Hetz Ventures, “Meet the Team,” accessed July 2026. https://www.hetz.vc/our-team↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Tracxn, “Hetz Ventures — 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends,” accessed July 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/hetz-ventures/__LYR2RXkcX-OY2B0l8naYO5O0CMhrnjVxvMfmpfe4N8s↩↩

  3. Hetz Ventures, “Hetz Data Program,” accessed July 2026. https://data.hetz.vc/↩

  4. Hetz Ventures, “I was bothered by the lack of genuine and substantial engagement with the data sector in Israel,” accessed July 2026. https://www.hetz.vc/news/i-was-bothered-by-the-lack-of-genuine-and-substantial-engagement-with-the-data-sector-in-israel↩↩

  5. Financial IT, “Willow Raises $7M Seed to Ensure Enterprises Can Fully Oversee and Govern Autonomous Agents,” June 4, 2026. https://financialit.net/news/fundraising-news/willow-raises-7m-seed-ensure-enterprises-can-fully-oversee-and-govern↩↩↩↩↩↩

  6. Hetz Ventures, “Runhouse — A Hetz Ventures Portfolio Company,” accessed July 2026. https://www.hetz.vc/portfolio/runhouse↩↩↩↩

  7. Tracxn, “Guy Fighel — Portfolio & Founded Companies,” accessed July 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/guy-fighel/__V7UsXYPd53V1mZSrcJL_ITU4poAMh0Q7sfn856mlDdk↩↩