Elah Fund Research
Investment Thesis
Elah Fund is a Haifa-based growth-equity impact fund that partners with Israeli companies with real-world, revenue-generating products that are poised to become global market leaders. Founded in 2017 by Calanit Valfer, Scott Shay, and Danny Goldman after the three worked together for roughly two decades, the fund's stated mission is to generate superior returns for investors while embedding measurable ESG best practices — carbon reduction, diversity and inclusion, and strengthening Israel's economic vitality — into every portfolio company. Elah explicitly targets companies at a "critical inflection point," providing growth capital plus hands-on operational expertise to accelerate competitiveness and scale.
A defining feature of the thesis is geographic: Elah deliberately backs export-oriented, revenue-generating companies located outside the Tel Aviv–Herzliya tech corridor, in Israel's periphery (the Negev and Galilee, including towns like Misgav, Sderot, and Lod). Managing Partner Calanit Valfer has framed this as both a return driver and an impact thesis — the fund believes overlooked geographies and a more diverse talent pool (including Arab-Israeli engineers and women) represent an underpriced opportunity in Israeli tech.
Stage Focus
Elah invests at the growth stage — typically Series A, B, and C rounds in companies that already have real revenue, rather than pre-revenue seed bets. Multiple data providers describe its target profile as "high potential, medium sized, revenue generating, export oriented companies."
Check Size
Investment sizes range from roughly $1M to $10M per company, consistent with a concentrated growth-equity portfolio (Elah Fund I deployed ~$120M across only 8 companies).
Lead Tendency
Mixed/unconfirmed. Elah has clearly led rounds (e.g., Particula's $15M growth round, August 2026) and has taken large ownership stakes in portfolio companies (25% of Civan Lasers), suggesting a willingness to lead. However, evidence for a consistent lead-or-follow pattern across the full portfolio is incomplete, so this is marked "unknown" pending further confirmation.
Recent Activity
Elah Fund is actively deploying, primarily out of Elah Fund II (first investment: Sealartec, ~2023). Confirmed recent activity:
- August/September 2026 — Led Particula's $15M growth funding round (with Grove Ventures and Flashpoint participating) to scale its "Physical-AI" smart-play products (GoCube, GoChess, GoBalance, GoDice), following a Harry Potter licensing deal with Warner Bros.
- May 2026 — Portfolio company ECOncrete closed a $14M round led by Builders Vision (with Barclays Climate Ventures, Monaco's ReOcean Fund, BDT & MSD, and Open Road Impact) to scale sustainable marine infrastructure globally.
- May 2025 — Portfolio company Civan Lasers raised a $36M Series C.
- June 2026 — Civan Lasers settled a long-running dispute with Elbit Systems, clearing a path toward a pre-IPO financing round; Elah Fund holds a 25% stake in the company.
Portfolio Highlights
Elah's portfolio spans hard tech, climate, defense-adjacent hardware, and consumer hardware — all Israeli companies with tangible, exportable products:
- Civan Lasers — high-power combined-beam laser technology, dual-use commercial/defense applications; Elah owns 25% of the company.
- ECOncrete — bio-enhancing marine construction technology (ports, coastal protection); deployed from New York to New Zealand; recently completed a $14M raise led by Builders Vision.
- ZutaCore — waterless liquid cooling technology for data centers/semiconductors.
- ZoozPower — kinetic-energy-based EV charging infrastructure.
- Particula (GoCube) — connected "Physical-AI" smart toys (Rubik's Cube, chess, dice); sold over 1 million connected products worldwide; led its $15M growth round.
- TripleW — wearable continence/hydration monitoring technology.
- myAir.ai — food-tech/connected air and food-related product line.
- Netzer Precision — precision engineering and manufacturing.
- Sealartec — autonomous marine/naval defense systems; Elah Fund II's first investment.
- Maolac — biotechnology, precision-fermentation dairy alternatives.
- MTL 3D — 3D printing and additive manufacturing.
Team
- Calanit Valfer, Founding & Managing Partner — Previously Founding Partner at Nexus Israel; Chief of Staff to the Chairman of Bank Hapoalim; management consultant at Greenwich Associates. Named to Forbes' "50 Over 50" EMEA list (2024). Columbia University (BA, MIA, MBA).
- Scott Shay, Founding Chairman — Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Signature Bank; Managing Director/Partner of Ranieri Strategies since 1988; former director of Bank Hapoalim and Bank United Corp.
- Danny (Dan) Goldman, Partner — Former CFO/VP Finance of the IMC/Iscar Group (Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company); led IMC/Iscar's global M&A activity as it scaled from $29M to $4B in sales.
- Ofer Porat, Senior Investment Director — Former COO of Filtersafe Ltd.; previously headed the Industrial and Entrepreneurship Division at the Stef Wertheimer Foundation; Co-CFO of Tungaloy (Japan).
- Shmulik Tamir, CFO
- Ariel Shay, ESG & Sustainability Manager
- Amir Ivtsan, Legal Counsel
Decision Process
Small partnership structure (Managing Partner, Chairman, Partner, plus a Senior Investment Director and functional leads for CFO/ESG/Legal) — consistent with a "partnership" decision process rather than a solo GP or large investment committee.
Founder Preferences
Elah favors founders of revenue-generating, export-oriented companies building tangible, defensible products — often in industrial, hard-tech, climate, or deep-tech categories — who are committed to staying rooted in Israel's periphery (Negev/Galilee) rather than relocating to the Tel Aviv tech hub. The fund also emphasizes ESG alignment: teams open to diverse hiring practices and measurable carbon-footprint reduction.
Geographic Focus
Exclusively Israel, with explicit emphasis on the Negev and Galilee regions and other peripheral areas outside the Tel Aviv–Herzliya corridor (e.g., Misgav, Jerusalem, Sderot, Lod). Portfolio companies sell globally (US, Europe, and beyond) even though they are based in Israel's periphery.
Fund Structure & AUM
Elah Fund I closed at just over $120M (2022), deployed across 8 companies. Elah Fund II launched thereafter and had raised over $50M toward a $120M target as of 2022, bringing total assets under management to roughly $170M at that time; a 2024 Forbes profile described Elah as managing a "$200M" fund platform. The firm also joined the investment committee of Iron Nation, a $20M emergency impact fund for Israeli startups, pro bono, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.