Jibe Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Jibe Ventures was founded in 2020 with a core belief that the best relationships start with authentic human connections, not formal pitch decks. The fund emphasizes building real relationships with founders from the earliest stages of their journey. Their motto is "Great relationships start with a beer, not a deck." Jibe focuses on providing hands-on support beyond capital, including team building assistance, go-to-market strategy development, and ideation support to help founders navigate the challenges of building a startup.
The fund operates through a unique "Crew Members" model, where experienced founders and builders from high-growth startups serve as mentors and advisors to portfolio companies. This approach leverages the collective experience of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to add value beyond financial investment.
Sector Focus
Jibe Ventures maintains a broad but focused investment thesis across several key sectors:
Primary Focus Areas:
- Business Software and Enterprise Applications
- Financial Technology (Fintech) and Payments
- Healthcare Innovation and Digital Health
- Cybersecurity and Data Security
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Climate Tech and Environmental Services
- Developer Tools and Infrastructure
The fund has demonstrated particular strength in security and infrastructure categories, with notable portfolio companies like Blockaid (seed security), Radiant Security (seed), Groundcover (seed APM), and Otterize (acquired by Cyera).
Stage Focus
Jibe Ventures is firmly positioned as an early-stage fund with primary focus on:
- Pre-Seed: $250K-$750K for teams with validated problem and initial concept
- Seed: $500K-$2M for companies with product-market validation and early customers
- Selective Series A follow-ons for exceptional portfolio companies
The fund's portfolio composition shows a strong emphasis on pre-seed and seed investments, with 32 portfolio companies as of late 2025.
Check Size & Investment Ranges
Based on portfolio analysis, Jibe's typical investment range is:
- Pre-Seed: $250K-$750K
- Seed: $500K-$2M
- Average check: ~$750K-$1.5M
The fund demonstrates flexibility in check sizes depending on founder quality and company stage.
Lead Tendency
Jibe Ventures typically leads early-stage rounds, particularly for pre-seed and seed investments. The fund has shown a pattern of leading rounds with occasional co-leads and participations in larger funding rounds. Recent activity shows they led investments in companies like Uplifted and CarbonBlue (pre-seed), Blockaid and Finout (seed), while also participating in larger rounds like Voyantis' $41M funding.
Geographic Focus
While based in Tel Aviv, Jibe Ventures has a global investment mandate:
- Primary: Israel (strong home market advantage and deal flow)
- Secondary: Europe, United States
- Tertiary: MENA region
The firm invests across multiple geographies but maintains particular depth in the Israeli ecosystem.
Recent Activity & Fund Status
Jibe Ventures Fund I was actively deploying in 2025 and into 2026:
Recent Notable Investments (2025-2026):
- January 2026: Slice Global (fintech)
- November 2025: Modulight Biotherapeutics (seed)
- April 2025: Groundcover (Series B follow-on)
- February 2025: Voyantis (participated in $41M funding)
- Recent participation in Tenzai, Emerix, Radiant Security, and MCP Total (all seed)
Fund Status: Actively deploying from Fund I, with continued investment activity through 2026.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable Exits & Acquisitions:
- Otterize: Acquired by Cyera (June 2025) - led pre-seed investment
- Avalor Security: Acquired by Zscaler for $350M (2024-2025) - Series A participation
- Deci AI: Multiple rounds of investment
- Illumex: Acquired by Nvidia - led pre-seed investment
Active High-Growth Portfolio Companies (32 total):
- Balance (led pre-seed)
- Voyantis (seed, $41M Series A in Feb 2025)
- Reco (seed)
- Finout (seed, fintech)
- Blockaid (seed, security)
- Groundcover (seed, APM/observability)
- Notch (seed)
- Emerix (seed, AI)
- Radiant Security (seed, cybersecurity)
- MCP Total (seed)
- Tenzai (seed)
- daily.dev (pre-seed, developer community)
- Uplifted (led pre-seed)
- Tomorrow (Series A, climate tech)
- CarbonBlue (led pre-seed, climate)
- Xternity (pre-seed)
- Sensi.ai (pre-seed, recent follow-on)
- Jigso (seed)
- And 14+ additional companies
Portfolio Characteristics:
- 32 portfolio companies as of late 2025
- 4+ successful exits/acquisitions
- Strong representation in software infrastructure, fintech, and climate tech
- Mix of Israeli and international companies
Team & Organization
Founding Team:
- Assaf Jacobi - Founding Captain & Co-Founder (LinkedIn: assaf-jacobi)
- Danny Hadar - Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Investment Partners:
- Shani Zanescu - Climate Tech Venture Partner
Crew Members (Mentor Network): The fund maintains a network of experienced founders and operators serving as crew members, including:
- Raanan Raz
- Yevgeny Peres
- Tali Krakowsky Apel
- Alon Alroy
- Eyal Levy
- Uri Marchand
- Shira Levy Barkan
- Yoel Amir
- Avigail Levine
- Ofer Ben-Noon
- Asaf Wexler
- Avery More
- Nimrod Lehavi (investor)
The Crew Members program provides portfolio companies with access to experienced operators who can advise on product, go-to-market, hiring, and fundraising challenges.
Decision Process & Timeline
Decision Structure: Partnership-based with emphasis on relationship and founder fit
Decision Timeline: Typical 2-4 weeks for pre-seed/seed decisions, with flexibility for compelling founders
Process: Relationship-first approach with emphasis on understanding founder background, team composition, problem validation, and founder-investor chemistry
Founder Preferences
Jibe Ventures shows strong preference for:
- Technical founders with domain expertise
- Repeat founders or founders with relevant operating experience
- Teams with diversity and complementary skills
- Founders solving real problems they've experienced firsthand
- International ambitions from Israeli base
- Founders seeking partnership beyond capital
Notable Founder Success Patterns
The fund's portfolio success suggests they excel at backing:
- Security/cybersecurity founders (Blockaid, Radiant Security, Otterize, Avalor)
- Infrastructure/platform founders (Groundcover, daily.dev, Tenzai)
- Climate tech/sustainability founders (Tomorrow, CarbonBlue)
- Fintech founders (Finout, Voyantis, Reco)
- Emerging AI/ML founders (Emerix, Reco, Uplifted)
Warm Introductions & Contact
Jibe Ventures maintains an open approach to founder outreach but clearly benefits from warm introductions through their Crew Members network. The fund has a job board and portfolio listings on their website. Direct contact: [email protected]
Founders can also explore introduction opportunities through the Crew Members directory on their website or via LinkedIn.
Summary
Jibe Ventures is an Israeli-based early-stage venture fund founded in 2020 with a relationship-first approach to founder partnership. The fund invests $250K-$2M in pre-seed and seed stage companies across enterprise software, fintech, healthcare, cybersecurity, climate tech, and AI/ML sectors. With 32 portfolio companies and 4+ successful exits (including Zscaler and Cyera acquisitions), the fund has demonstrated strong investment instincts, particularly in infrastructure and security categories. The Crew Members program provides a unique value-add of experienced operator mentorship. Jibe is actively deploying from Fund I with continued investment activity through 2026.