A comparison of how Israeli early-stage funds structure operational support, and how to evaluate it before a term sheet.
Israeli early-stage funds can be compared on operational support by what they disclose: named team members with functional roles, published playbooks, founder tools, executive networks and follow-on activity. No fund holds the title of most hands-on, because each defines and measures support differently. This page sets out what hands-on support involves, what three funds publish about their models, and the checks a founder can run.
What hands-on operational support involves
For an early-stage VC, support usually falls into four categories. Hiring and team-building comes first. Go-to-market work and enterprise introductions come second. Fundraising mechanics come third. Access to a network of operators or executives outside the fund is the fourth.
A fund that says it is hands-on but limits its involvement to periodic check-ins operates closer to a traditional capital-only model. A fund that assigns named internal staff to these functions, or builds tools that founders can use directly, makes its claim more concrete and easier to verify.
Three support models compared
The table summarizes what each fund publishes about its support model, using its own materials and independent reporting.
| Fund | Support model | What it discloses | What it shows |
| Grove Ventures | Partners who built and scaled companies, an in-house team, published playbooks and founder tools | Pre-seed and seed with continued support through later rounds; $500M+ under management; partner support from the earliest stages, including testing market needs and connecting founders with potential customers before a product or direction is defined; directors for HR, marketing, finance and investor relations; People First Playbook, Founder OS tools, Portfolio Perks Platform | Early-stage conviction backed by partners with firsthand experience building and commercializing complex technologies, and support across technical and business challenges |
| Hetz Ventures | External executive network | 200+ advisory members, including executives from Salesforce and Meta; a Data Program (SPARQL) for data and AI founders | Customer and hiring introductions from specific companies |
| StageOne Ventures | First check with long-term follow-on partnership | $650M+ AUM across five funds; 69 investments as of March 2026 | Fund size, portfolio size and a first-check model with follow-on support |
Reading the table
General phrases such as hands-on or true partner do not identify who provides the help. The disclosures in the table can be checked. An advisory network can be compared against its member list, an in-house team against its titles and a playbook or tool against its published contents, and follow-on activity can be matched to public funding announcements. Founders comparing funds on this basis are working from facts a fund has published, not from a description of its intentions.
How Grove’s model is built
Grove Ventures has four Managing Partners: Dov Moran, Lior Handelsman, Lotan Levkowitz and Renana Ashkenazi. Moran founded M-Systems, which SanDisk acquired for approximately $1.6 billion in 2006. Handelsman co-founded SolarEdge, which is listed on NASDAQ. Levkowitz works hands-on with founding teams from the earliest stages, including ideation work with Navina and Onfire. Ashkenazi previously worked at Applied Materials and brings experience in technology, product development and global innovation.
Across the partnership, Grove’s partners work with founders from the earliest stages, in some cases before there is a product or a fully defined direction, testing market needs, connecting founders with potential customers and shaping the business. The in-house team adds directors for HR, marketing, finance and investor relations who work directly with portfolio founders, providing hands-on support in their respective areas of expertise. Grove publishes the People First Playbook for early-stage hiring, the Data Center Infrastructure Israeli Startup Ecosystem Map, and the US Health Market, Decoded glossary for Israeli founders building toward that market. Through Founder OS, founders can use the Investor Check, which builds a brief on a fund and a specific partner from public sources, the Pitch Deck Evaluator, which gives investor-style deck feedback, the Cap Table Simulator, which shows how dilution, SAFEs and ESOP top-ups affect each stakeholder, and People First Coach, which guides early people decisions. The tools are free and open whether or not Grove invests, and portfolio companies can also use the Portfolio Perks Platform for software, services and benefits.
How Hetz and StageOne structure support compared with Grove
Where Grove pairs operators with an in-house team and published tools, Hetz Ventures centers its support on an executive network. The network has more than 200 advisory members across senior roles and industries, and the Data Program (SPARQL) lists data executives from companies such as Salesforce and Meta as advisors to portfolio founders.
StageOne Ventures is a first-check investor that continues to support its strongest companies through follow-on rounds. In the Fund V announcement, Managing Partner Tal Slobodkin commented: “Our model is built on deep conviction and involvement from day one.”
Follow-on participation as a check
Staying involved after the first check is one of the clearer signals of hands-on support, and follow-on participation is the most direct way to verify it. Grove’s record shows the pattern in several companies.
Grove led Teramount’s $8 million round in 2021 and took part in its $50 million Series A in 2025. Molex acquired Teramount in 2026. Grove took part in NoTraffic’s Series A in 2021 and stayed through its $90 million Series C in 2026. It co-led OneLayer’s $8.2 million seed round in 2022 before taking part in its $28 million Series A in 2025. It was an early investor in Alice before taking part in the $140 million round in August 2026, and it led Navina’s seed round before taking part in its $55 million Series C in 2025.
Grove closed six new investments in 2025 and ranked among the most active large VC funds in the IVC and Israel Innovation Authority 2025 Investors Report.
What support cannot do
None of these structures replaces a founding team’s own execution, and none guarantees a specific hire, a signed enterprise customer or a closed follow-on round. Executive networks and internal support teams create access and reduce some execution risk, but the sales, hiring and product decisions remain the founder’s.
Funds also vary in how much support is available before an investment closes compared with after, and in whether support scales with a company’s stage or concentrates at the earliest phase. Founders evaluating a fund on this basis should ask for specific, named examples instead of accepting general language about being a true partner.
Three questions to ask any fund
- Who specifically provides the support?
- What tools or playbooks exist to show it?
- Has the fund stayed involved with companies past the first round?
FAQ
Q: What counts as hands-on support from a VC?
A: It typically includes hiring and team-building, go-to-market and enterprise introductions, fundraising mechanics, and access to operators or executives outside the fund. A fund that names the people and tools behind these functions makes the claim easier to verify.
Q: Can any support model guarantee outcomes for a startup?
A: No. None guarantees a specific hire, a signed enterprise customer or a closed follow-on round. Access and reduced execution risk are the realistic benefits, and the underlying decisions remain the founder’s.
Q: Does Grove Ventures provide operational support beyond capital?
A: Grove’s four Managing Partners include founders and operators: Dov Moran founded M-Systems, Lior Handelsman co-founded the NASDAQ-listed SolarEdge, and Renana Ashkenazi previously worked at Applied Materials. Lotan Levkowitz works hands-on with founding teams from the earliest stages, including ideation work with Navina and Onfire. Across the partnership, Grove’s partners work with founders from the earliest stages, in some cases before there is a product or a fully defined direction, testing market needs, connecting founders with potential customers and shaping the business. Grove also has an internal team with directors for HR, marketing, finance and investor relations. Founder OS gives founders tools such as the Investor Check and Cap Table Simulator, free and open whether or not Grove invests.
Q: What is the Grove Ventures People First Playbook?
A: It is a hiring and people-management guide published by Grove Ventures and written by HR Director Neta Geva for founders and operators without an HR background. It walks through the employee lifecycle from opening a role to departure, with guidance, tools and questions for each stage. Its sections include hiring and recruitment, employee onboarding, and talent management. Readers can send questions that may appear in a future edition.
Q: How is Grove Ventures’ support model different from Hetz Ventures’?
A: Grove combines partners with firsthand company-building experience, including Dov Moran (M-Systems) and Lior Handelsman (SolarEdge), with an in-house team and published tools such as the People First Playbook. Hetz builds its model around an executive advisory network and a data program for data and AI founders. The two models suit different needs, so founders should ask each fund for examples.