Grove Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Grove Ventures is a Tel Aviv-based early-stage venture capital fund, founded in 2017, that partners with pre-seed and seed-stage Israeli founders building in enterprise AI, deeptech, AI infrastructure, and healthtech. The firm's public positioning is "More Than Funding: A Team That Builds With You" — Grove frames itself as founders and operators (rather than pure financiers) who have built and scaled companies from zero to breakout, and who stay hands-on through the decisions that shape a company's early years. Managing Partner Dov Moran, inventor of the USB flash drive and founder of M-Systems (acquired by SanDisk for $1.6B), anchors the firm's reputation as operator-investors with deep technical roots in the Israeli tech ecosystem.
Sector Focus
Grove's four managing partners each specialize in overlapping technical domains that define the firm's coverage:
- Enterprise AI and vertical AI (Lotan Levkowitz, Renana Ashkenazi)
- Deeptech, semiconductors, quantum computing, and space (Dov Moran)
- Physical AI, compute, data/AI infrastructure, and energy/climate tech (Lior Handelsman)
- Healthtech and healthcare AI (Renana Ashkenazi, Lotan Levkowitz)
- Infrastructure software and services-as-software (Lotan Levkowitz)
The portfolio spans semiconductors and photonics (Majestic Labs, Quantum Source, TriEye), IoT/physical AI (Wiliot, OneLayer), trust & safety AI (Alice, formerly ActiveFence), healthcare AI (Navina, Opmed.ai, Nucleai, Jimini Health, Calmigo), mobility (NoTraffic), climate/energy (LAVA), biotech (Scala Biodesign, Enzymit, protAI), and developer/cloud infrastructure (env zero, UniFabrix, RapidAPI).
Stage Focus
Grove explicitly states it invests "at pre-seed and seed" and stays involved through the founder's earliest, highest-stakes decisions. The firm is Fund III to date, having closed "Grove III" at $185M for early-stage Israeli startups developing disruptive technologies, on top of $500M+ total AUM.
Check Size
No explicit check-size range is published on the site; typical early-stage Israeli seed rounds Grove leads or co-leads run in the low-to-mid single-digit millions (e.g., FormX's $12.5M seed), consistent with a fund of this size doing concentrated early bets with reserves for follow-ons.
Lead Tendency
Grove frequently leads: FormX's $12.5M seed was "Led by Grove Ventures," and Majestic Labs' $100M launch round was a Series A "led by Grove Ventures." The firm also participates in growth-stage follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies (e.g., Alice's $140M Series D, which Grove joined alongside Apax Digital, Resolute Ventures, CRV, and Highland Europe).
Recent Activity
Grove was named among the most active large VC funds in Israel in 2025 (IVC Data & Israel Innovation Authority 2025 Investors Report), completing six new investments that year and continuing to deploy into 2026. Notable recent milestones: Majestic Labs launched with $100M (Nov 2025); Onfire AI raised a $20M Series A (Oct 2025); FormX closed a $12.5M seed led by Grove (2026); NoTraffic raised a $90M Series C (Mar 2026); Quantum Source raised a $50M Series A; Teramount was acquired by Molex (announced Apr 2026, closed May 2026); and Alice (formerly ActiveFence) raised a $140M Series D (Aug 2026), bringing its total funding to $280M.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable exits/acquisitions: Teramount (acquired by Molex, 2026), RapidAPI (acquired), NeuroBlade (acquired), CommonGround (acquired), Mirato (acquired), Lumigo (acquired), Deepchecks (acquired). Active standouts include Wiliot (physical AI/IoT, $200M+ raised), Alice (AI trust & safety, ~$280M total funding, nearing $1B valuation), Majestic Labs (AI infrastructure), Quantum Source (photonic quantum computing), and NoTraffic (AI traffic management, $178M+ total raised).
Team
- Dov Moran — Managing Partner; inventor of the USB flash drive, founder of M-Systems (acquired by SanDisk, $1.6B), former Tower Semiconductor chairman
- Renana Ashkenazi — Managing Partner; ex-Applied Materials, Northwestern research fellow, IDF Unit 8200 veteran; focuses on healthtech, deeptech, physical/vertical AI
- Lior Handelsman — Managing Partner; founder and former VP Marketing & Product Strategy of SolarEdge (NASDAQ:SEDG); focuses on physical AI, compute, energy/climate tech, data/AI infrastructure
- Lotan Levkowitz — Co-Founder & Managing Partner; focuses on enterprise AI, infrastructure software, vertical AI, physical AI, healthcare AI
- Liat Koren — Partner & CFO
- Or Git — Principal (investor)
- Litan Cherikover — Associate
The firm also maintains a broader team (HR, IR, marketing, finance) and a Development Council / advisor bench including Prof. Yoram Yovell, Prof. Uriel Levy, Bryan Sivak, and others.
Decision Process
Four-partner structure (Dov Moran, Renana Ashkenazi, Lior Handelsman, Lotan Levkowitz) suggests a partnership-style decision process rather than a solo-GP model, supported by a Principal and Associate for sourcing and diligence.
Founder Preferences
Grove favors technical founders and operators, often with backgrounds at elite Israeli military tech units (8200, Unit 81) or as veteran entrepreneurs who have already built and scaled companies, building in deeptech, enterprise AI, and healthcare AI.
Geographic Focus
Israel-focused early-stage investor; portfolio companies are overwhelmingly Israeli-founded, with some expanding into US/global markets post-Series A.