Cerca Partners Research
Investment Thesis
Cerca Partners is a co-investment venture fund based in Ra'anana, Israel. It describes itself as "a leading co-investment VC fund with a sustainable advantage of unique insights and access to the best Israeli startup investment opportunities." It invests alongside top-tier VC funds rather than leading rounds, and says it is not bound by verticals. The tagline is "Entrepreneurs empowering entrepreneurs."
The firm's pitch rests on six points listed on its site: trust, access, network, insight, investment partners and success. Access comes from long-held relationships with Israeli founders and lead funds. Insight comes from long-term dialogue with companies and industry experts. Its network is a community of Israel's most successful tech entrepreneurs and executives, who source deals and mentor portfolio companies.
Stage Focus
Cerca co-invests at a range of stages. Tracked deals run from seed (Descope, Safebooks AI, Legato) through Series A (Matia, imper.ai, Utila, Upwind, Hour One, Juno Journey, Demostack) to Series B and later (HiBob Series B, SafeBase Series B, IVIX Series B, OpenWeb Series D). The firm does not publish a stage preference, so this is inferred from its deals.
Check Size
No check size is published. A third-party tracker (StartupIntros) says the first vehicle launched with about $12M of committed capital, and an IVC listing refers to a Fund IV. Neither is confirmed on the firm's site, and AUM is not disclosed.
Lead Tendency
Cerca does not lead. Tracked rounds list other firms as lead (RED DOT, Insight Partners, Lightspeed, Nyca, NFX and others). Its role is a follower or co-investor next to a lead fund.
Recent Activity
The latest tracked deals, from StartupIntros (dated by that source, not by company press releases):
- February 2026: Matia, $21M Series A led by RED DOT Capital Partners
- January 2026: Legato, $7M seed
- December 2025: Safebooks AI, $15M seed
- December 2025: imper.ai, $22M Series A
- September 2025: Koi, $48M seed/Series A
- September 2025: Utila, $22M Series A
- September 2025: Descope, $35M seed extension
The tracker counts 23 investments across 20 companies. The firm appears to be actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists about 65 companies. Notable names include Wiz, Fiverr, HiBob, Armis, Cyera, Island, Torq, Descope, Tipalti, Innovid, Dynamic Yield, Datorama, Demisto (Palo Alto Networks), Adallom (Microsoft), Granulate, Otonomo, Quantum Machines, Upwind, Zafran and OpenWeb. The mix leans toward cybersecurity, along with fintech, adtech, consumer web and automotive cybersecurity (Argus, Cylus, Otonomo). Several exits (Adallom, Demisto, Datorama, Granulate, Dynamic Yield) show a record of backing companies that were later acquired.
Team
- Ofer Katz, Founder and General Partner: Founder and Co-CEO of Nextage, a finance services firm for tech companies; CFO of Fiverr; former CFO of dozens of Israeli startups
- Haleli Barath, Founder and Managing General Partner: Partner and co-founder at BFP & Co, a corporate law firm
- Ronnie Zahavi, Partner: former Head of Business Operations at Cyberstarts
- Nir Falevich, Principal: ex-Moneta VC associate and Start-Up Nation Central cybersecurity lead; Unit 8200 alumnus
- Amit Ashkenazi, Venture Partner: Chief Strategy Officer at Artlist; formerly Fiverr and Viola Growth
- Venture partners from the founder community: Micha Kaufman (Fiverr), Nir Zohar (Wix), Ronni Zehavi (HiBob), Assaf Rappaport (Wiz), Slavik Markovich (Descope) and Dan Adika (WalkMe)
Decision Process
Not published. The firm is run by founding general partners with a small investment team that handles sourcing, deal flow and diligence, plus venture partners who bring deals and mentor companies.
Founder Preferences
The portfolio page says Cerca prioritizes "strong teams with significant prior experience in establishing successful companies." Almost all portfolio companies are Israeli or Israel-founded.
Geographic Focus
Israeli technology startups, including those that have relocated their headquarters to the US. The firm is based at 4 HaSheizaf Street, Ra'anana, Israel.
Notes and Gaps
The StartupIntros page says Cerca was acquired by Demeter, citing Crunchbase. This is unverified and not on the firm's site, so it is not reflected in the structured fields. Two logos on the portfolio page could not be read reliably ("Olegit Security" and a "VI" mark) and were left out of the portfolio list.