Pitango Venture Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Pitango is Israel's largest and longest-standing venture capital firm, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Herzliya. Over more than three decades it has backed 300+ companies, deployed $3B+ of capital across 13 funds, and produced 100+ exits, including numerous IPOs and acquisitions. The firm's stated thesis is to back visionary founders building enduring global companies, with roots grounded in Israel but a network and reach that spans the globe. Pitango positions itself as more than a capital provider: it emphasizes go-to-market support, hiring assistance, business development, finance, legal, and marketing help delivered through in-house operating teams, plus access to a 30-year network of strategic LPs, venture partners, and industry leaders.
Fund Structure and Stage Focus
Pitango operates through three dedicated, purpose-built funds rather than a single generalist vehicle:
- Pitango First — seed and early-stage fund for trailblazing founders and breakthrough technology, focused on generative AI, cybersecurity, quantum computing, fintech, DevOps, cloud infrastructure, mobility/TransitTech, and e-commerce.
- Pitango Growth — venture-growth fund for companies with proven traction seeking to unlock explosive scale, spanning cloud infrastructure, generative AI, food tech, mobility/smart city, cybersecurity, and digital health.
- Pitango HealthTech — invests across all stages of the health tech sector, from digital health and medical devices to diagnostics, foodtech, ag-tech, biotech, and life sciences.
Across the three funds, Pitango explicitly states it invests "across all stages — from early startups to established companies ready to scale," and welcomes first-time entrepreneurs and even idea-stage founders through Pitango First.
Check Size and Lead Tendency
Pitango does not publish explicit check-size ranges on its site. Evidence from recent deals shows a mix of leading and co-leading rounds: Pitango co-led Catch's $5M seed round (September 2026) alongside Entrée Capital, and has historically been noted as "one of the first seed-round investors" in several portfolio companies, per founder testimonials on the firm's homepage. The firm also participates in later, larger rounds as portfolio companies scale (e.g., DriveNets' $410M total raised, AppsFlyer's $1B+ cumulative funding).
Recent Activity
Pitango closed $300M in November 2025 across two new early-stage vehicles, Pitango First and Pitango HealthTech, signaling continued active deployment into 2026. In September 2026 it co-led the $5M seed round for Catch, an AI agent automating executive administrative work. The firm has also publicly congratulated portfolio companies on major milestones through 2026, including AppsFlyer surpassing $1B in funding and DriveNets crossing $410M in total funding raised. Portfolio company Tulip (industrial/factory-floor AI) raised a $120M round in January 2026.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable current and past portfolio companies span all three funds: AppsFlyer (mobile marketing analytics), Taboola (Nasdaq: TBLA, content recommendation), DriveNets (networking infrastructure), Tomorrow.io / DeepSky (weather intelligence), Via Transportation (public mobility, Nasdaq IPO), Optibus (public transit planning software), Zerto (disaster recovery, acquired by HPE), Tailor Brands (business-building platform), Duda (website building platform), Masterschool (professional education), Papaya Global (global workforce payments and compliance), Nexite (retail IoT), Komodor (Kubernetes management), Finout (FinOps platform), Frontegg (user management infrastructure for SaaS), AI21 Labs (generative AI/LLMs), QuantHealth (AI-driven clinical trial simulation), Magenta Medical (transcatheter heart-failure devices), and Tulip Interfaces (frontline operations / Industry 4.0). The firm has produced multiple IPOs (Nasdaq listings including Via Transportation, Taboola, and Stratasys among its historical exits) and a long list of acquisitions.
Team
Pitango is led by a large partnership spanning its three funds:
- Nechemia (Chemi) J. Peres — Managing Partner & Co-Founder
- Rami Kalish — Managing Partner & Co-Founder
- Eyal Niv — Managing Partner, Pitango First
- Aaron Mankovski — Managing Partner
- Isaac Hillel — Managing Partner, Pitango Growth
- Ayal Itzkovitz — Managing Partner, Pitango First
- Ittai Harel — Managing Partner, Pitango HealthTech
- Hila Karah — Managing Partner, Pitango HealthTech
- Yair Cassuto and Gad Huldai — General Partners, Pitango First
- Jonathan Glazer, MD — Partner, Pitango HealthTech
- Eyal Klein — Partner & CFO
- Maya Hawlasewicz — Principal, Pitango Growth
- Dina Walker — Investor, Pitango First
- Dan Charash — Chairman
Decisions run through this broad partnership structure rather than a solo GP model, consistent with a firm of Pitango's scale and 30+ year history.
Founder Preferences and Decision Process
Pitango's messaging emphasizes backing "trailblazers" and technical founders forging new paths, with explicit openness to first-time entrepreneurs and idea-stage pitches through Pitango First. The firm frames itself as a long-term partner "forming enduring partnerships with entrepreneurs shaping industries," citing testimonials from CEOs who valued Pitango's early conviction and market understanding.
Geographic Focus
Pitango's roots and largest concentration of portfolio companies are in Israel, but its reach and LP/network relationships are global, with portfolio companies and follow-on activity across the US and Europe as they scale internationally.