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Gil Ben-Artzy
Founding Partner, UpWest
Gil Ben-Artzy is a Founding Partner at UpWest, a venture capital firm focused on investing in Israeli startups and helping them scale in the United States.12 Here are some key details about Gil Ben-Artzy:
Background and Education
Gil Ben-Artzy holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics and Business Administration from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.13
Professional Experience
- Founding Partner at UpWest since 20123
- Previously worked at Yahoo! for 6 years, serving as VP of Operations Management and in the Corporate Development group3
- Former consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in New York23
Role at UpWest
As a Founding Partner, Gil Ben-Artzy:
- Helps Israeli founders scale their startups in the US market2
- Invests in early-stage companies, typically in the pre-seed and seed stages1
- Focuses on sectors such as Enterprise Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, AI, and SaaS1
Investment Philosophy
Gil is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build large companies and providing resources to accelerate their growth.3 He leverages his experience and network in Silicon Valley to support Israeli founders entering the US market.2
Personal Interests
Outside of work, Gil enjoys attending live music performances, with the Coachella Music Festival being an annual highlight. He's also an avid sports fan, particularly fond of soccer.3
Gil Ben-Artzy's LinkedIn username is gilbenartzy.4
Highlights
In the past couple of years, UpWest has tripled the number of its portfolio companies that are headquartered in New York. Excited to be spending this week in NYC meeting our companies, as well as many new founders that are working on interesting new ventures. Hopefully, we will make many more investments in this town!
Also, congrats to the folks at Calcalist כלכליסט, Valley Bank and all their partners for organizing the successful Mind the Tech conference. It was fantastic hearing from the likes of NYC Mayor Adams and amazing Israeli founders & investors.
It has been over two weeks since the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians. The shock is still hard to overcome, as is the overwhelming concern for the hostages that have been taken. It has been virtually impossible for me to do anything but engage with my family and friends, follow the news and try to figure out how best to contribute.
Throughout this time, the UpWest team and I have been talking to & supporting many of our founders and portfolio companies. We have been inspired by their resiliency, as they deal with figuring out alternative plans for their employees that were called up for reserve military duty, offering support to the remaining employees that are coping with the situation, all while trying to run their business.
As I try to look ahead, I do not know how things will evolve, but I am certain that we cannot wait for things to get better. The founders we aim to back cannot wait. We all need to make things better.
We founded UpWest 12 years ago with a clear mission to help Israeli founders break into the US market, a mission that we take very seriously. Even in the face of extreme adversity, we simply cannot relent in our belief in Israeli founders.
So, now more than ever, we are committed to helping Israeli founders during these incredibly difficult times, either by investing or in other ways. Our doors are always open, and we hope to contribute by helping to fortify this amazing tech ecosystem that has been many decades in the making.
