Venture Capital firm 10D, founded by Yahal Zilka, Rotem Eldar, and Itay Rand / Photo credit omer Hacohen
Venture Capital firm 10D, founded by Yahal Zilka, Rotem Eldar, and Itay Rand, has raised over $110 million.
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10D invests primarily in early-stage Seed and Series A investment rounds in startups using deep technologies, creating new business models, and featuring exceptional entrepreneurial teams.
Since its inception, 10D has made six investments in various technology ventures, and its portfolio companies such Seebo, which develops artificial intelligence technologies for industrial plants; StuffThatWorks, which is creating a new healthcare database based on crowdsourcing; DayTwo, which provides customized nutritional guidelines based on the gut microbiome for the purpose of lowering blood sugar levels.
Operate under the temporary name Ofek Ventures, 10D’s Zilka and Eldar are experienced investors in the venture capital industry.
Zilka, former CFO of VocalTec Communications has a twenty-year experience in the venture capital industry during which he served as an investor, consultant, and board member in companies such as Waze, Argus, Onavo, Replay Technologies, DesignArt Networks, Phonetic Systems, Magisto, Indegy, and OptimalPlus, all acquired by Google, Continental, Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm, Nuance, IAC, NI, National Instruments, and others.
Eldar has over twenty years of experience in building technology companies, starting out on the operational side, and for the last ten years as an investor. As a partner at Gemini Israel Ventures, Eldar invested in and served as a board member and observer at WalkMe, Moovit (acquired by Intel), Minute Media, and Implisit (acquired by SalesForce).
“Innovation in the technology world is continuously changing and evolving,” says Zilka, “therefore we chose not to define a rigid set of areas of investment focus for the fund. We understand that we must listen to the ideas entrepreneurs bring to us and recognize trends early so we can learn about them in-depth and develop the necessary strategic relationships to support us in making informed investment decisions and more importantly – help our portfolio companies succeed.”
Zilka is known in the industry for helping entrepreneurs and creating great value by assisting them in building new categories and leading companies. Entrepreneurs who he has worked within this past often seek his investment and involvement in the next ventures they establish.
“We founded the fund after realizing that we share the belief that entrepreneurs, not investors, are the most important and central factor in the success of both companies and the technology industry. Our role as investors is to support them and help them be the best version of themselves throughout the lifecycle of the company,” says Eldar. “In addition, we come from different backgrounds and have different professional experience which is complementary in many areas,” he adds.
Eldar has deep technological and product understanding. He is a graduate of Talpiot, an elite program designed to train technological leaders, and Unit 81, the technological unit of the Intelligence Corps of the Israel Defense Forces, where he was awarded the prestigious Israel National Security Award for a complex and groundbreaking project he led. He later led product management at a number of technology startups.
Itay Rand joined the team and brings with him experience as an investor at 83North and Founders Group, as well as vast operational and business experience, both as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and as the CEO of a technology company.
10D expects to add new members to its investment team in the coming year as part of realizing their vision to build an organization with a long-term horizon that works in collaboration, empowerment, and inclusion.
“At 10D we do things a little differently. In our work culture, in each of the investments we review, the entire investment team spends a lot of time with the entrepreneurs. This approach helps to build meaningful relationships with the entrepreneurs and creates an openness based on deep business acquaintance with each one of the team members. So in practice, the entrepreneurs get a whole fund that works with them and for them,” says Rand.
