TEAM

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PARTNER 

"Driven by a profound passion for technology and a deep commitment to Israel, Yishay Waxman’s mission is to work with great entrepreneurs to build large, meaningful companies and impact global recognition."

Yishay's  high-tech career began with Comverse in 1996 in Israel, where he sold solutions and platforms to Telco Operators in over 85 countries.

In 2005, Yishay co-founded Jumptap, a company that spanned Boston and Israel, achieving revenues of $130 million, employing over 300 people, and culminating in a $240 million exit. In 2015, he co-founded Platterz, now known as Thriver Inc., which grew to 230 employees and reached a $100 million run rate pre-COVID and acquired in 2024 by GUSTO. Throughout his career, Yishay has raised more than $140 million from venture capitalists worldwide for his venture-backed startups.

Yishay’s extensive global network and relationships are built on 28 years of international high-tech experience. His connections include over 250 venture capitalists globally (with 70 in Israel) as well as numerous angel investors in Israel, ensuring a rich stream of deal flow. He is on the board of a publicly traded company (ILLM) that grew from a $10 million to a $1.5 billion valuation in 14 years.

Additionally, Yishay has had tremendous success as an angel investor in Israeli and North American companies and has been a limited partner in three venture capital funds. His experience and network make him a highly influential and respected figure in the venture capital and technology sectors.

PRINCIPAL

A former basketball star (WNBA-NY Liberty/NCAA's- UMD/EuroLeague/Eurocup) turned tech investor, Shay brings her winning spirit to the world of innovation. With over a decade of investing in the tech industry (Angel/LP), including 3 years as Principal and head of DF at an early-stage VC, she's a driving force in supporting promising startups. Her experience as an athlete, investor, and entrepreneur gives her a unique perspective and a passion for identifying the next big thing. 

VENTURE PARTNER 

David has been a business owner-operator and investor for more than 20 years. Today, he serves as both the CEO & Founder of Warschawski, the #1 rated U.S. marketing communications agency, and the Managing Director & Founder of W Ventures.

Warschawski has been named “U.S. Small Agency of the Year” three years in a row and has won more than 200 industry awards for its integrated advertising, marketing and digital communications work.  The company holds the prestigious Google Certified Agency Partner designation.
 

W Ventures is a one-of-a-kind venture capital accelerator that combines three elements.  We are the only company in the U.S. that offers the ability to do integrated marketing communications work in exchange for equity and not cash. For any companies and founderswe invest in, we offer a beautiful incubator workspace in the W Ventures HQ and living quarters in the W Founders House all free of charge. And of course, we write large checks and make strategic introductions to other sources of capital for the companies in our portfolio.

Achiya Klein joined the elite ‘Yahalom’ unit of the IDF combat engineering corps where he served as a sergeant and later as an officer. In 2013, while on a sensitive mission to disable a terror tunnel, an improvised explosive device was detonated, severely injuring Achiya and robbing him of his vision. Following rehabilitation, an undeterred Achiya returned to his unit, working with Israeli weapons manufacturers to implement solutions for his fellow soldiers in the field.
 

Achiya has taken his fitness enthusiasm to the competitive level, competing for the Israeli national team at the Paralympic rowing championship, competing in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.  In addition to his studies and athletic pursuits, Achiya works with numerous organizations to help disabled IDF veterans.

Achiya is very involved within the Israeli defense tech ecosystem, working closely with the elite IDF intelligence units & the top cyber accelerators 

Ashley Waxman Bakshi is an entrepreneur, content creator, tv host and Zionist activist on social networks with 850,000 followers online.

Ashley is best known for being Israel's first YouTube vlogger to achieve widespread mainstream influence.

With a master's degree in counter-terrorism and homeland security, and 7 years of experience in the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, she is a pro-Israel activist who works in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Diaspora in combating the disinformation regarding

Israel and the conflict.

On October 7th, her cousin, Agam Berger was kidnapped by Hamas and since then she has been dedicated to advocating for the release of the Israeli hostages. Together with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, she has met with world leaders to advance sanctions against the IRGC and the individuals and entities who support Palestinian terrorist organizations in Canada and the European Union.

Yuda is a prolific angel investor in Israeli high-tech, having backed 40+ companies over the last decade including Appilog (acq. by Mercury), Bristol (acq. by HP), PrimeSense (Apple), Crosswise (Oracle), Appsee (ServiceNow), and Leaba (Cisco).

Yuda Serves as Senior Advisor to TPG, and previously served as Senior Advisor to Silver Lake Sumeru.

Prior to his investing career, Yuda managed the domestic sales channel at Computer Associates and held prominent positions at Cheyenne Software and Texas Instruments. He is also founder of Texel (acq. by Elco International).

At the University of Miami, Dr. Yelena Yesha is the Knight Foundation Endowed Chair of Data Science and AI at the Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC). At IDSC, Dr. Yesha is also the Director for the Machine Learning and AI program, as well as Innovation Officer and Head of International Relations. In her Innovation role, Dr. Yesha assists faculty in engaging government and industrial partners to collaborate with the University and consults with faculty on developing research ideas into innovations.

Dr. Yesha was the Founding Director of the National Science Foundation Center for Accelerated Real Time Analytics (CARTA), an NSF-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) that aims to develop long-term partnerships among industry, academia, and government. CARTA partners with Rutgers University New Brunswick, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Tel Aviv University, and the University of Miami.

Dr. Yesha received her B.Sc. degrees in Computer Science and in Applied Mathematics from York University, Toronto, Canada, and her M.Sc. degree and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from The Ohio State University. She has published 11 books as author or editor, and more than 200 papers in prestigious refereed journals and refereed conference proceedings, and she has been awarded external funding in a total amount exceeding $65 million dollars. She is currently working with leading industrial companies and government agencies on new innovative technology in the areas of blockchains, cybersecurity, and big data analytics with applications to electronic commerce, climate change, and digital healthcare.

 Dr. Yesha is a fellow of the IBM Centre for Advanced Studies.

Forbes magazine highlighted Dr. Yesha's accomplishments in technology in a two-part profile: Part I: Dr. Yelena Yesha: Meet The Tenacious Pioneer Pushing Innovation To Address Real World Problems and Part II: Dr. Yelena Yesha: Pushing Technology Boundaries To Solve The World's Biggest Problems.

As EVP of Warschwaski, Sam is one of the world’s leading authorities on  the intersection of performance marketing, digital advertising,  analytics and technology. A highly sought-after keynote and session  speaker, Sam’s award winning presentations are inspired by his work for  clients around the globe – and are designed to challenge attendee’s  preconceived notions and inspire fresh, innovative approaches.

With a background spanning business, data and finance, combined with a  unique set of analytics skills, performance marketing expertise and deep  understanding of brand, Sam is a radically different kind of marketer –  one with a singular focus of making businesses better.