For hopeful Israeli tech founders, Fusion Labs provides the ideal opportunity to see what’s possible.
“I’ve been a business English teacher throughout my entire career and never got to acquire the necessary skill set or the network that’s required to build a tech startup,” Noa Cohen, a member of Fusion’s latest accelerator program, told the Journal.
On February 16, Fusion, with founders Yair Vardi in Santa Monica and Guy Katsovich in Tel Aviv, hosted a virtual pitch fest for their ninth batch of startups.
Israel’s top early-stage accelerator, Fusion works with early-stage founders to provide institutional capital and a support system to scale their company in the United States. Pre-COVID, the Israeli founders moved to Los Angeles for this accelerator program. In March 2020, when Shelter in Place orders a into effect, Fusion flew their CEOs back to Israel.
“We doubled down on Israeli startups in the past two years and invested in over 30 teams.” – Yair Vardi
“We haven’t slowed down over COVID, but rather adjusted,” Vardi told the Journal. “We doubled down on Israeli startups in the past two years and invested in over 30 teams.”
Founded in 2017, Fusion helps with first hires, product development, customers and fundraising. Sixty-five companies have gone through the Fusion Accelerator, and have collectively gone on to raise more than $200 million; they have a combined market cap of more than $600 million.
Over the last two years, founders participated in a nine-week hybrid program: remote bootcamps in Tel Aviv (also in-person between COVID waves) and remote meetings with mentors and investors in the United States for office hours and feedback sessions.
“What led me to Fusion was the desire to surround myself with like-minded individuals with similar ambitions to mine, and a cohort of brilliant investors who will be there to support me on my entrepreneurial journey,” said Cohen, who created Claire, a subscription-based, on-demand translation and localization platform. It combines human and tech capabilities, and offers real-time support for people who regularly work and communicate in English.
Although Cohen, 29, lives in Tel Aviv, she lived in Agoura Hills during her teenage years.
“I think that even though there’s a large Israeli community in Los Angeles, the LA-Israel connection could be strengthened,” she said. “It’s important that we bridge the cultural gaps between Israel and the United States to allow Israeli startups to gain a foothold in the American market.”
For nearly five years, Fusion has been doing just that.
Fusion’s most recent cohort started in October 2021 and included 10 teams of founders. The program culminated in a rapid-fire virtual pitch fest – Fusion’s third showcase online – with 400 RSVPs and more than 200 real-time attendees from LA, New York, Israel and more. Pre-COVID, the founders would pitch at receptions in Santa Monica and Silicon Valley.
“To address the issue of ‘Zoom fatigue’ among investors, we decided to film all of our founders professionally for short two-minute videos,” said Vardi.
After their video showcases, founders took questions from the virtual audience, who were directed to each company’s landing page for more information.
“Pitching my product in front of 200 stakeholders was nerve-wracking and exhilarating at the same time,” Cohen said.
After the event, attendees reached out to Cohen and the other founders, many of whom were seeking investors and partners, as well as to spread the word about their businesses.
Female founders led 50% of the latest batch of companies, which are in industries like vertical SaaS (Software as a Service), wellness and ecommerce. According to Vardi, some of the companies, such as WorkKit, Sexence, Happy Things, LaylaElectric, Buzzer and Followear, already have clients and users from LA.
The WorkKit platform is a fast and efficient solution for on-demand hiring, Sexence is a sexual-wellness digital health company and Happy Things is a mobile app that turns science into happiness with bite-sized daily activities. LaylaElectric is a smart SaaS platform for property managers, Buzzer uses digital signal processing and artificial intelligence to match leads to salespeople and Followear is a social shopping platform.
“We are excited to share that we’re planning to go back and produce an in-person roadshow for our companies in the United States this spring after Passover,” Vardi said. “Our goal is to host a series of events in LA, Silicon Valley and New York City for batch number 10 of Fusion, marking five years since we founded Fusion.”
For more information on the program or these companies, go to Fusion-VC.com.
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