Capital New Era secures $120 million for its third fund closure
New Era Capital Partners, an Israeli venture capital firm, has successfully secured $120 million for its third fund. The fund will invest in early-stage Israeli startups focused on AI-based technologies, with a particular focus on sectors like cybersecurity, enterprise software, fintech, and smart mobility.
The firm's strategy is high-conviction investing and strong support for selected companies. This approach has consistently ranked New Era's previous funds in the top quartile among peers.
Ran Simha, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at New Era, emphasizes the importance of innovation in cybersecurity. He believes that Israel, with its unmatched cyber talent and many founders possessing direct operational experience in protecting strategic assets at a national level, is a key growth engine for the cybersecurity sector.
Ziv Conen, another Managing Partner at New Era, highlights the importance of cybersecurity as a key growth engine for the Israeli tech ecosystem. He notes that Israeli startups are combining generative AI, computer vision, deep learning, and real-time predictive modeling with world-class teams from elite tech units and academia. Cybersecurity continues to be a critical area of innovation in detection, defense, and rapid response.
The fund was raised from global institutional and private investors. Gideon Argov, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of New Era, stated that raising $120 million during a time of global and local uncertainty reflects a strong vote of confidence from both international and Israeli investors in the resilience of the Israeli economy and its innovation ecosystem.
Sector-specific Trends
Cybersecurity
Israeli startups continue to be global leaders in AI-driven cybersecurity innovations. Notable developments include BlinkOps, which raised $50 million to advance their AI-based “Security Micro Agents” platform enabling autonomous handling of security tasks such as incident response and vulnerability patching. Another startup, Tonic Security, secured $7 million for an AI platform that clarifies the threat landscape and streamlines vulnerability and threat management.
Enterprise Software & Vertical AI
Investors are showing increasing interest in startups applying deep AI expertise combined with domain knowledge to traditional US markets such as construction, supply chain, legal, and finance. The focus is on scalable AI startups that combine domain and technical expertise. Israeli firms are recognised for their ability to scale quickly in the US and develop category-defining AI companies outside of just cybersecurity.
Fintech
While not detailed specifically in the funding breakdown, fintech is highlighted as a key focus area within the vertical AI sectors that Israeli startups are targeting, along with finance as a traditional market ripe for AI-driven disruption. The overall startup funding surge in Israel includes strong investment flows into finance and related AI applications.
Smart Mobility
Israel remains a leading hub for smart mobility innovations, particularly in autonomous vehicle technology. Jerusalem features prominently with a large AI R&D centre and historic success such as Mobileye, the autonomous car tech company acquired by Intel for $15 billion in 2017. This ecosystem continues to foster AI and mobility startups, boosting Israel’s leadership in smart mobility and autonomous driving tech.
Summary
The latest developments and trends in Israeli AI-based startups span several sectors, with particularly strong activity and funding in cybersecurity, enterprise software, fintech, and smart mobility. New Era targets technology companies with early revenues, solid product-market fit, and global potential. Argov also stated that the fund will enable New Era to continue identifying exceptional founders, help them build global companies, and connect them to their extensive business network in Israel and abroad. The Israeli market presents extraordinary opportunities, particularly in areas like generative AI, autonomy, and real-world applications across sectors such as cybersecurity, healthcare, finance, and infrastructure.
- New Era Capital Partners, with its recent $120 million fund, will leverage its strategy of high-conviction investing and strong support for selected companies to invest in AI-based technologies, particularly in the sector of cybersecurity, where Israeli startups are global leaders.
- The fund, focusing on technology companies with early revenues, solid product-market fit, and global potential, will also target startups in the fields of enterprise software, fintech, and smart mobility, as investors show increasing interest in vertical AI sectors, recognizing Israel's ability to quickly scale in these markets and develop category-defining AI companies.
