This Week in Interviews

🇮🇱 AI, Cyber, and the Trump Effect on Tech | Tal Slobodkin on IsraelTech

What do Trump, AI chips, quantum computing, and Tel Aviv startups all have in common? Let this top VC break it down for you.

In this candid, fast-moving convo, Tal Slobodkin, Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures and ex-IDF cyber officer, joins Yoel Israel to break down the real forces shaping Israeli tech in 2025.

We talk about:

• Why the next AI arms race is about chips and why Israel just got snubbed by Biden

• How Trump’s return could reshape regulation, innovation, and VC flows globally

• What VCs actually think about AI-native startups (hint: you better not be “just another layer”)

• The end of the startup party, and why capital efficiency is sexy again

• Why IPOs collapsed… and when they’re (finally) coming back

• Why cyber is still red hot, but also way overcrowded

• The rise of quantum hardware in Israel… and how to build moonshots without billions

• And what peace deals and Gulf investors really mean for the next wave of Israeli defense tech

If you care about where tech is headed or want to build something that actually gets funded - this one’s worth your time.

👉 Watch, drop a comment, and let us know:
Is Israeli cyber still leading the next tech wave, or is the AI shift changing the game?

About Tal Slobodkin

Tal Slobodkin is Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures, one of Israel’s leading early-stage VC funds focused on deep tech, enterprise software, and cybersecurity. StageOne manages over $500M across multiple funds and has backed companies like Silverfort, Coralogix, NeuroBlade, and Second Nature.

Before joining StageOne in 2014, Tal led Cisco’s M&A and investment activity in Israel and Eastern Europe. During his time there, he oversaw more than $5.5B in acquisitions and managed a venture portfolio of over $400M.

Tal spent nearly a decade in Israel’s elite Unit 81 and is a graduate of the prestigious Talpiot program. He holds a BSc in Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science from the Hebrew University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School.

He sits on the boards of multiple high-growth startups and has led investments in companies acquired by McDonald’s, Check Point, and AppLovin. Tal is also a frequent speaker on topics like AI infrastructure, cyber innovation, and VC strategy in the Israeli ecosystem.

He splits his time between Tel Aviv and global tech hubs, helping build the next generation of billion-dollar B2B companies from day one.

About StageOne Ventures

​StageOne Ventures is a leading early-stage venture capital firm based in Herzliya, Israel, managing over $500 million across multiple funds. The firm specializes in backing Israeli founders building high-impact B2B startups in deep tech, enterprise infrastructure, and cybersecurity.

Founded in 2001, StageOne focuses on seed and Series A investments, often writing the very first checks into companies solving massive enterprise problems. The firm typically invests between $1M and $7M, with follow-on support as companies scale.

StageOne’s portfolio includes category-defining startups such as Silverfort, Coralogix, NeuroBlade, Qwak, and Second Nature. To date, the firm has backed over 60 companies and achieved more than 18 successful exits, including Apprente (acquired by McDonald’s), SafeDK (acquired by AppLovin), and Epsagon (acquired by Cisco).

Led by Managing Partners Tal Slobodkin and Yuval Cohen, StageOne combines deep operational experience with a hands-on approach to help technical founders navigate early product, go-to-market, and scaling challenges.

As one of the most respected funds in Israel’s B2B ecosystem, StageOne continues to partner with bold entrepreneurs redefining how businesses operate in an AI-powered world.

This Week in Israel Tech News

1. Safe Superintelligence Raises $2B at $32B Valuation

   Co-founded by OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever, SSI is making waves in Tel Aviv and Palo Alto with its bold ambition to build the next generation of AI - smarter, safer, and more aligned with human values.

2. Bliss Raises $17.5M to Make AI the New Face of Cosmetic Surgery

   Bliss Aesthetics is bringing AI into the operating room – not to perform surgery, but to help patients preview their results, match with top surgeons, and simplify the entire aesthetic journey. With a platform that combines generative AI and computer vision, Bliss is turning imagination into visualization and boosting patient engagement along the way.

3. Pillar Security Raises $9M to Reinvent Cyber Defense for AI-Driven Software

   As enterprises rush to deploy LLMs and autonomous agents, one Israeli startup is racing to secure them. Pillar Security is building the first full-stack defense layer for AI-native applications; designed to catch jailbreaks, data poisoning, and prompt injections before they wreak havoc.

4. Element Labs Secures $50M to Power the Next Wave of AI Chips

   Fresh out of stealth, Tel Aviv-based Element Labs is taking aim at the AI hardware giants with its next-gen inference processors. The $50M raise marks a bold step for the startup, co-founded by legendary Israeli entrepreneur Avigdor Willenz - the mind behind multiple billion-dollar chip exits including Annapurna Labs (acquired by Amazon) and Galileo Technologies (acquired by Marvell).

5. Brandlight Raises $5.75M to Shape Brand Visibility in AI Search

   This Israeli startup is helping companies gain control over how AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini perceive and present their brands. As generative AI becomes the new front line of search, Brandlight empowers businesses to take back influence in the era of LLM-driven visibility.

6.  Tapcheck Secures $225M to Scale Real-Time Wage Access

   The fintech is reimagining how hourly workers get paid, offering early access to earned wages across 12,000+ employer locations. With major brands like Hilton, McDonald’s, and Taco Bell already on board, Tapcheck is quickly becoming a go-to solution in the labor economy.

7. CloudShare Exits in $60-80M Deal After a Decade of Bootstrapped Growth

   CloudShare, the Tel Aviv-based SaaS company powering hands-on virtual labs for giants like Salesforce, Palo Alto Networks, and Atlassian, has been acquired by Bow River Capital. After years of steady, profitable growth without outside funding, CloudShare proves that bootstrapped innovation can deliver big exits.

8. Groundcover Raises $35M to Take On the Observability Giants

   This Tel Aviv-based startup is reimagining infrastructure monitoring with an AI-powered, eBPF-native approach that gives enterprises full control over their data-on-prem, in their cloud, and on their terms.

This Week in Culture

Aliza Magen, the Mossad’s only female Deputy Director in history died Monday at age 88. She joined the agency in 1958 and quickly rose through the ranks, helping to crack major cases including the rescue of kidnapped child Yossele Schumacher. Magen played a key role in international missions, including recruiting scientists and assisting in the Mossad’s response to the 1972 Munich massacre. In 1997, she shattered a glass ceiling by becoming deputy director, serving under three Mossad chiefs until her retirement in 1999. Her decades of covert work redefined women’s roles in Israeli intelligence. Mossad Director David Barnea called her a pillar of the agency whose legacy continues to shape its operatives. Feel free to send the Israel Daily News team some profiles of women you’d like to see in leading positions. 

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