YL Ventures is the cyber-only Israeli VC founded by Yoav Leitersdorf. Silicon Valley + Tel Aviv cross-border, Series A specialist. Portfolio: Twistlock (acq. Palo Alto $410M), Hexadite (acq. Microsoft), Axonius, Karamba Security.
YL Ventures is the cyber-only Israeli venture fund founded by Yoav (Yoav) Leitersdorf, headquartered across Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, operating a US-Israel cross-border model that writes Series A checks into Israeli cyber founders. YL's portfolio has produced a series of the highest-value Israeli cyber exits of the last decade: Twistlock (acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $410M in 2019), Hexadite (acquired by Microsoft for a reported $100M in 2017), Karamba Security, Axonius, and additional cyber category leaders. Alongside Cyberstarts, Team8, and Glilot Capital Partners, YL is one of the four dedicated cyber-anchored Israeli venture platforms — and the most explicitly US-market-oriented of the four.
What YL does
YL writes Series A checks into Israeli-founder cybersecurity companies with US enterprise-market ambitions. The fund does not do seed at scale, does not do consumer, does not do fintech, and does not do generalist SaaS. Every check is Series A, cyber, Israeli-founder — with a stated preference for teams building for the US Fortune 500 CISO customer.
The specialization is executed through a cross-border operating model. YL maintains a Silicon Valley presence and a Tel Aviv presence, with the partner group divided between the two geographies. The structural argument to founders is that YL can shorten the distance between an Israeli technical team and the US enterprise buyer — the customer decision-maker who will determine whether the company scales to category leadership or plateaus at Israeli-market revenue.
Yoav Leitersdorf
Yoav Leitersdorf founded and leads YL Ventures. His investment history is anchored in the Israeli-founder-US-buyer transaction pattern — the model that has produced the majority of the highest-value Israeli cyber exits. YL's brand inside the Israeli cyber founder community is built on Leitersdorf's operational role: hands-on Series A involvement, direct CISO introductions from the fund's US network, and structured go-to-market support through the first commercial scaling phase.
Portfolio
Twistlock — Container security. Acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2019 for approximately $410M. One of the highest-value pure-cyber Israeli exits of the pre-Wiz generation.
Hexadite — Security orchestration and automated incident response. Acquired by Microsoft in 2017 for a reported $100M. Now core to Microsoft Defender's automated-response capability.
Axonius — Cybersecurity asset management. Private unicorn. YL Series A investor.
Karamba Security — Automotive and IoT cybersecurity. Israeli-founder, US-anchored customer base.
Additional YL portfolio includes cloud security, application security, identity, and DevSecOps categories where Israeli founder density is highest.
Position in the Israeli cyber cluster
YL sits inside the four-fund dedicated cyber cluster alongside Cyberstarts, Team8, and Glilot. Each holds a differentiated model:
- Cyberstarts (Gili Raanan) — LP base of CISOs, seed anchor, backed Wiz.
- Team8 (Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg, Liran Grinberg) — Build-and-invest platform, company-building foundry.
- Glilot Capital Partners (Kobi Samboursky, Arik Kleinstein) — Seed-through-growth cyber-only, Herzliya-anchored.
- YL Ventures (Yoav Leitersdorf) — Series A specialist, US-Israel cross-border, US enterprise-buyer orientation.
The four platforms compete for the same pool of Israeli cyber founders, but each brings a different customer network, check size, and stage discipline. YL's differentiator is the Series A concentration plus the US-side commercial infrastructure. A founder choosing YL over Team8 or Glilot typically prioritizes proximity to the US customer over Israeli-based company-building support.
Primary Sources
YL Ventures corporate materials (ylventures.com); Twistlock-Palo Alto Networks acquisition disclosures (2019); Hexadite-Microsoft transaction reporting (2017); Axonius funding round announcements; Karamba Security corporate materials.