Olim In Tech: Get To Know Your Local VCs #2

 Olim In Tech is honored to be joined by:

Jack Levy, Founding Partner at ICV Michael Granoff, Founder and Managing Director at Maniv Mobility Shirley Schoenfeld, Founding Partner at Seneca VC Lia Cromwell, Investor at UpWest Labs (see full bios below).

Our guests will each have the opportunity to introduce themselves, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Lia Cromwell, and then Q&A from the audience.

Drinks and snacks will be provided.

There will be limited space, so please register a ticket to guarantee a spot.

Schedule

6:00: Networking and Refreshments 7:00: Speaker Introductions 7:20: Panel Discussion Moderated by Lia Cromwell 8:00: Q & A from Audience

Location

Event will be held at Urban Place, Ahad Ha’am 9 (Migdal Shalom), 1st floor.

About the Speakers

Jack Levy

Jack is a founding partner at ICV where he leads the fund’s activities in technologies related to agriculture, food, water and sustainable materials. Jack sits on the board of Groundwork BioAg and as an observer to the boards of Prospera, FRX Polymers, Aqwise and Scodix. Jack also served on the board of Emefcy (ASX:FLC) until its IPO (2016) and Weissbeerger until it was acquired by AB InBev (2018).

Jack brings to his work at ICV over 20 years’ experience in counseling and leading high-growth companies. Prior to establishing ICV, Jack was Vice President and General Counsel of Register.com, guiding the firm as it grew to over $100M in revenues, expanded operations into five countries and completed a successful NASDAQ IPO. Jack began his career as a corporate attorney with the New York law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

Jack is active in his community serving as Chairman of the Meitarim School in Ra’anana, and on the board of ITIM.

Jack holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. in Government from Harvard College, magna cum laude.

Michael J. Granoff

Michael Granoff is founder and Managing Director of Maniv Mobility, a venture capital fund based in Tel Aviv which invests exclusively in the new mobility future. Founded in 2015, Maniv has a portfolio of over 20 mobility startups, the majority of which are based in Israel. Amongst them are companies developing sensors, software, simulation, localization, data monetization, autonomous systems, over-the-air updates, automotive cyber-security and more.

Aside from several startup boards, Mr. Granoff serves on the board of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), a Washington, DC-based policy and advocacy organization he helped establish in 2004. Past board roles included that of electric car network developer Better Place. He has been involved in three US Presidential campaigns and in 2010 received Brandeis University’s Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship.

Mr. Granoff holds a B.A. from Tufts University, an MBA and JD from Kellogg, Northwestern University, is a veteran marathon runner and father of four.

Shirley Schoenfeld

Shirley is a Founding Partner at Seneca VC, a preseed & seed stage venture fund based in San Francisco and Tel Aviv. Seneca backs teams building control points in enterprise software, future of work, and consumer experiences. Shirley is particularly focused on fintech and cloud infrastructure. Prior to Seneca, Shirley was a Principal at 83North (Greylock Israel), responsible for due diligence and deal sourcing for Israel, UK, and Germany. Shirley was also CEO and founder of Nooyalla, Israel's first Lean Startup-based consultancy, building growth and messaging frameworks for early stage tech startups. Before moving to Israel, she spent seven years on Wall Street in various operational and product roles, first as VP Enterprise Infrastructure at Morgan Stanley and then as VP Product at Standard & Poor’s, where she focused on regtech. Shirley is a first-generation immigrant, wife, and mother of two. Up until this year, she was the only Asian American venture investor permanently based in Israel. Shirley is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 23) and an active interviewer with the Harvard Alumni Association. She holds an MBA in Finance & Strategy from NYU Stern School of Business (2011) and a BA in Economics from Harvard University (2004).

Lia Cromwell

Lia Cromwell is an investor at UpWest Labs, the leading Silicon Valley-based fund investing in early stage Israeli startups penetrating the US market. Since 2012, UpWest has invested in over 80 Israeli startups. Lia is constantly on the line between Silicon Valley and the startup nation, focused both on new investments and working with the founders of existing portfolio company. Prior to joining UpWest, Lia was an Analyst at CreditSights, a boutique financial research firm in New York; and worked in business development at FiscalNote, a reg-tech startup in Washington DC. Lia holds a BA from Duke University.