MizMaa Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
MizMaa Ventures is an early-stage, thesis-driven venture capital firm that invests exclusively in Israeli entrepreneurs building deep-technology solutions. The firm's name combines the Hebrew words "Mizrach" and "Maarav" (East and West), reflecting its core value proposition: bridging Israeli innovation to global markets across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. MizMaa is explicit that it invests where "Israel has a technological advantage" and positions itself as a hands-on partner rather than a passive capital source, leveraging its leadership team's executive networks in Silicon Valley, Hong Kong, and the Gulf to help portfolio companies land customers, hire, and go to market internationally.
Stage Focus
MizMaa invests primarily at Pre-Seed through Series A, with selective follow-on participation into growth rounds for its strongest portfolio companies (e.g., continued participation in Orca AI's Series B, STARK's 2025 growth round, and Deciphex's Series C). The bulk of disclosed deal activity is Seed and Pre-Seed: recent rounds in Tenet Security ($6M Seed), Blast Security ($10M Seed), DataAgent ($10M Pre-Seed), Decart ($21M Seed), and Hark (Seed) all fall in this range.
Check Size
Exact check sizes are not published. Round sizes MizMaa has led or co-led range from roughly $5M (Mobb) to $21M (Decart, total round), with the firm typically appearing as a lead or co-lead investor in first institutional rounds rather than writing the largest check in a syndicate. Given the firm's ~$240M AUM across two funds and 32 investments, average deployment per company is consistent with a $1M-$5M first check with reserves for follow-on.
Lead Tendency
MizMaa frequently leads or co-leads first institutional rounds: it was the first institutional investor in Orca AI, led a seed round in NOVOS, co-led Blast Security's $10M seed alongside 10D, co-led Tenet Security's $6M seed alongside The Westly Group, and led DataAgent's $10M pre-seed alongside Alicorn Venture Partners. It also participates as a follow-on investor in later rounds of its stronger portfolio companies (Orca AI Series B, Deciphex Series C, STARK growth round).
Recent Activity
MizMaa has been consistently active through 2024-2026:
- September 2026: Led DataAgent's $10M pre-seed round (self-healing cloud/Kubernetes remediation) alongside Alicorn Venture Partners.
- June 2026: Co-led Tenet Security's $6M seed round (AI agent security) alongside The Westly Group.
- November 2025: Co-led Blast Security's $10M seed round (cloud security) alongside 10D.
- August 2025: Participated in a growth round for STARK (defense technology) and in Kriya Therapeutics' $320M round.
- May 2025: Portfolio company Orca AI closed a $72.5M Series B led by Brighton Park Capital; MizMaa was an earlier-round investor.
- January 2025: Participated in Deciphex's Series C (digital pathology).
- October 2024: Participated in Decart's $21M seed round (AI/real-time media, alongside Sequoia Capital) and STARK's Series A.
- June 2024: Participated in Hark's seed round.
The pace and diversity of 2025-2026 activity (cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, defense tech, biotech) indicate an actively deploying fund.
Portfolio Highlights
MizMaa's public portfolio page lists 32 investments. Notable exits include Corephotonics (acquired by Samsung), Spectral and Protego Labs (both acquired by Check Point), Shookit (acquired by Reef Technologies), Ananda Networks (acquired by VMware), and Varada (acquired by Starburst). CHEQ raised a Series C led by Tiger Global, becoming one of the firm's marquee outcomes. Active portfolio highlights include Orca AI (maritime AI), Aurora Labs (automotive software intelligence, ~90 patents), Coro (cybersecurity), Silverfort (identity security, Series C), and ClearML (MLOps platform).
Team
- Isaac Applbaum - Founder & Partner. 30 years in entrepreneurship, VC, and philanthropy. Sold Concorde Solutions to Bank of America in 1991; later Partner and Managing Director for Israel at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Sits on the boards of Anagog, Lynx.MD, and other portfolio companies.
- Catherine Leung - Founder & Partner. Board member of Orca AI, Aurora Labs, ClearML, Syte, and other portfolio companies. Former Vice Chairman of Asia Investment Banking at JP Morgan (20 years in investment banking), Wharton graduate.
- Rick Kaplan - Operating Partner. Former IBM worldwide business development leader for Financial Services and IBM Israel Country General Manager after a 30-year IBM career. Sits on multiple portfolio company boards.
- Aaron Applbaum - Partner, runs the firm's Israel practice. Sits on the boards of Ottopia, Autofleet, Anima, CHEQ, Mobb, and other portfolio companies. Previously Principal/Director at Strategic Cyber Ventures.
- Aviv Kerbel - Vice President, leads R&D, Cloud, and Cyber investments. Former developer in IDF unit 8200.
- Sarit Konikov - Head of Operations. Previously eight years at El Al Israel Airlines.
Decision Process
MizMaa operates as a multi-partner investment team (two founding partners, one Israel-focused partner, one operating partner, one VP) rather than a solo-GP structure, consistent with a partnership decision process.
Founder Preferences
MizMaa backs Israeli technical founders building deep-technology solutions in sectors where Israel has a structural advantage: cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, AI, mobility/automotive software, fintech, and digital health. The firm emphasizes being a hands-on partner, providing customer introductions, go-to-market advice, and connections to strategic investors and follow-on capital, particularly in Asia and North America.
Geographic Focus
MizMaa invests almost exclusively in Israeli-founded companies, then helps them expand into North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The firm has offices in Tel Aviv, San Francisco, and Hong Kong, reflecting this East-West bridge strategy.