F2 News | February 2025 | Insights

Message From The Team

In February, strong momentum continued with two Israeli startups – Augury and Dream Security – passing the billion dollar valuation mark on the back of very strong revenue growth. At the same time, Open AI cofounder Ilya Sutskever’s new US/Israeli startup SSI is heading for a $30 billion valuation on their quest toward safe superintelligence that aligns with human values.

F2 portfolio companies also continued to make major strides: Zero Networks announced a strategic partnership with Palo Alto Networks and Astrix’s CEO delivered a keynote at the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network Summit. This month we also closed a term sheet with a company on a mission to build AGI - Academic General Intelligence - and transform science.

Sector Spotlight

This month we released a report on startup investor sentiment in Israel based on insights from 25 fellow early stage VCs. The data shows AI now dominates early-stage funding, with 87% of investors reporting that over 75% of pre-seed deals were AI-driven, and 77% saying the same for seed rounds. As AI becomes table stakes, the bar to raise a seed investment has risen, driving a 25% increase in pre-seed rounds as founders seek tangible validation earlier. While cybersecurity and defense remain key focus areas, investors are increasingly exploring fintech, supply chain, and DevOps, where untapped opportunities and global demand converge.

These findings reinforce our raison dêtre – to partner and support visionary founders building with AI from inception to global leadership.