TAU National Unicorn Day

Event:

Mingling

Introduction and Welcome

Part 1. Unicorn Stories

Speakers:

Arik Faingold / Pentera [Alumnus- Faculty of Management]

Joel Bar-El / El-Trax [Alumnus- Faculty of Exact Sciences]

Hosted by Meital Shamia / Microsoft [Alumna- Faculty of Management]

 
Part 2. Funding Panel

Panelists:

Lia Cromwell / UpWest

Moshe Sarfaty / Aristagora VC

Anat Eitan / Hetz Ventures [Alumnus- Faculty of Law]

Zecharia Rechtschaffen / Rangar

Hosted by Adv. Eyal Bar-Zvi / HFN, Palsar VC

More about the speakers and hosts
 

Arik Faingold
Serial entrepreneur, Chairman at Commit, Co-Founder of Pentera.

Arik, a serial entrepreneur, and co-founder of both Commit and the unicorn Pentera, brings over 25 years of experience in the technology and entrepreneurial sectors. He possesses a robust drive to identify new business opportunities and an unwavering commitment to the success and growth of the companies he leads. Arik excels in building companies from the ground up, contributing to their growth, and creating innovative high-tech products. Prior to his role at Commit, Arik served as the CTO and GM of Open TV Israel, a division of Open TV Global. Earlier in his career, he co-founded and served as the CTO of Open Gaming, specializing in gaming platforms and real-time transaction management. Arik holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, and an Executive MBA from Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Joel Bar-Eli
Executive Chairman, Trax

Joel Bar-El is a co-founder and the Executive Chairman at Trax. Joel is responsible for Trax’s long-term vision and leads efforts on corporate strategy, innovation and shareholder value creation. Before being named Executive Chairman of Trax in January 2021, Joel was Trax’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to Trax, Joel was CEO of Sentryi Limited, a wealth management software company, which after four years of establishment was sold to IRESS Limited. Joel also co-founded Tersus Software Limited, where he built and managed the global sales channels and marketing activities. Joel previously served as SunGard Business Integration General Manager for Asia Pacific and later North America, overseeing complete P&L and execution in those regions. Joel has a unique ability to envision, develop and deliver paradigm changing technologies and is in every sense, a tech entrepreneur. Joel has spent the last 20 years delivering technology solutions to blue-chip clients and holds a B.Sc. in Science from Tel Aviv University and Executive MBA from Harvard.

Meital Shamia
Global program manager, Microsoft for Startups

Meital is a tech evangelist, speaker, and portfolio manager for a select group of high-growth, disruptive startups primarily focused on cutting-edge innovations in cybersecurity, generative AI, retail, and cross-industry solutions. In addition to her role at Microsoft, she serves as an angel investor and Venture Partner, leveraging her expertise and network to support the growth and success of emerging companies.Meital graduated from the Technion (The Israel Institute of Technology) with dual degrees in Industrial Engineering and Management, as well as Economics. She then enrolled in the MBA program at Tel Aviv University and participated in the global campus rotation program, spending her second year at NYU’s Stern School of Business. When she's not busy driving business innovation, Meital volunteers her time and expertise to Engineers Without Borders (EWB), an NGO that helps communities around the world access clean water, better housing, and other essential needs. She also supports the alumni network. Additionally, she's passionate about using the power of AI for good, particularly in the areas of accessibility and sustainability.

Adv. Eyal Bar-Zvi
Partner, at Herzog, Fox & Neeman. Founder, Palsar.vc

Eyal Bar-Zvi is a partner and department manager at Herzog, Fox & Neeman, where he represents numerous multinationals, start-ups, and investors in various industry verticals.Eyal is an attorney and an economist, who specializes in international transactions and tax matters, and often lectures at Tel-Aviv university and other academic forums. Eyal is also one of the founders of Palsar.vc, an investment company which invests in early stage companies and sponsors the online track in the annual TAU Coller competition.

Adv. Zac Rechtschaffen
Partner & CEO, Ragnar.

Zac is the Managing Partner&CEO at Ragnar and has been very active in the Israeli financial market and has played a leading role in landmark projects involving integrating some of the most prominent international financial institutions into the Israeli economy. Zac’s work has been recognized by international financial and legal publications, including Forbes and The Legal 500. In addition to his practical work, Zac lectures at universities about his practice. Zac is a lecturer in the course: “Introduction to Investment Funds” at the Coller Capital Market Club in the Tel Aviv University Coller School of Management and lectured a class about Fintech & Financial Entrepreneurship at Bar-Ilan University to students enrolled in an MA program for bachelor in engineering or computer science.

Anat Eitan
Partner & CFO, Hetz Ventures

Anat Eitan is CFO at Hetz Ventures, where she brings 20+ years of finance leadership and management experience at global companies. Throughout her career, Anat has been responsible for the finance, legal and commercial activities including fundraising, M&A and strategic planning. Prior to joining Hetz Ventures, Anat served as CFO at Tytocare, which developed a device for patients to perform guided medical exams remotely, alongside a healthcare provider. Previously, Anat filled CFO roles at Stratoscale, a software-defined cloud infrastructure solution, and at Waze for 4.5 years, from Round A to the company's acquisition by Google.

Moshe Sarfaty
Founder & Managing Partner, Ristagora VC

Moshe Sarfaty is a graduate of Yale University with years of experience in early-stage technology investments as a former managing partner at Krypton VC, which focused on seed-stage technology investments. Hailing from the world of investment banking at Bank of America in New York, Sarfaty is a lecturer at higher education institutions in Israel and abroad. He is experienced in the worlds of banking and finance and works closely with start-ups from around the world, supporting them from inception to initial revenue stage.

Lia Cromwell
Principal, UpWest

Bio: Lia Cromwell is a Principal and the Head of Israel Office at UpWest, the cross-border VC with the largest portfolio of Israeli startups in the US. A native New Yorker who grew up in an Israeli-American family, Lia is adept at helping Israeli founders translate their vision to the US market. Lia’s select investments at UpWest include CyCognito, Balance, Zone7, Canopy, OviO and more companies that are currently in stealth mode. Prior to joining UpWest, Lia worked in politics, regulatory tech, and finance in the US. She holds a BA in Public Policy from Duke University.

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