Why the investor behind a $60bn AI success story is betting on Israel

“Anyone serious in the tech field who’s not blinded by hatred believes Israel is an extraordinary place for investment.”

Such is the message from Michael Fertik, the US-based entrepreneur and venture capitalist and the first investor in Anysphere, the company behind AI coding tool Cursor, which was acquired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for $60 billion in August.

His record also includes two “life-changing exits” spanning AI and life sciences.

For Fertik, Israel’s commercial appeal lies particularly in machine learning and its applications in cybersecurity, enterprise AI and gaming.

“Israel’s schools, universities and military develop deep and nimble excellence in this area,” he told Jewish News.

“Israel is like the Babe Ruth of machine learning.

“I think of Israel as America’s third-best state for investment,” he added, ranking it behind California and New York.

But the ultimate test, he says, is whether that expertise translates into returns. “It’s not like, is it cool tech, but can it actually create shareholder value?”

Fertik believes it can. He is committed to investing around 15 per cent of his portfolio in Israeli companies for the foreseeable future. His investments include financial technology company Sunbit and computing company NextSilicon.

While Fertik acknowledges that geopolitical uncertainty will influence some investors’ decisions, his outlook extends beyond the immediate headlines. “Investors in tech are usually investing for a ten-year horizon.”

His ability to spot potential early also led him to Anysphere, the company founded by MIT graduates Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, and Aman Sanger, which created Cursor. Cursor’s sale to SpaceX for $60 billion marked one of the biggest acquisitions of a venture-backed company in history.

“The founders built such a valuable business in less than five years.

“I’m overjoyed for them.”

For Fertik, choosing what to back begins with the people. “I always invest in extraordinary people. While the market matters, if you’ve got good founders, they will be capable of finding a great one [market].

“There may be no product, sales history or even pitch deck to assess but if I believe in the person, I’ll invest.

It is an approach he is now pursuing through Verdict Capital, the firm he started with fellow investor Niko Bonatsos. Verdict has made 32 investments since March 2026 and recently made its largest investment to date in an Israeli company working in the satellite sector.

His connection to Israel, however, began long before his investing career. Growing up in New York, Fertik was raised in a Reform Jewish family whose connection to the country was particularly strong. His late father, Bill, an Academy Award-winning film director, made commercials promoting Israeli tourism in America as a pro bono contribution. The work brought the family to Israel regularly.

His older brother went on to serve as a lone soldier in the IDF. Because his brother could not leave Israel at the time, Fertik had his barmitzvah there. Later, he met his wife, an American who also holds Israeli citizenship, in Israel.

Today, the father of five describes his household as “Orthodox adjacent”. They keep Shabbat, and he tries to visit Israel four or five times a year.

A sought-after commentator on technology, Fertik is vocal about his Zionism. During the war, he wore hostage dog tags in television appearances, whether addressing a friendly or hostile audience, continuing until the hostages came home.

Around ten years ago, entrepreneurial success gave him greater financial freedom and prompted him to consider his next chapter. Part of the answer was developing a closer, independent adult relationship with Israel. Investing there gave him a way to build it.

Fifteen of the 105 companies he has backed over the past eleven years are Israeli. He describes Sunbit’s chief executive as one of the best he has met and NextSilicon founder Elad Raz as one of the most brilliant and creative technologists he has encountered.

Cybersecurity, he argues, is probably the most overfunded part of Israel’s technology ecosystem. “The field is exciting, but already attracts considerable attention from specialist investors.

“I try to look for places that get less attention because I think the returns are better,” he says.

His own entrepreneurial career began at 19, when he started a software company while at Harvard. He went on to found Reputation.com. His ventures also include conversational AI business b4.ai, acquired by an unnamed Fortune 500 company, and SightGlass Vision, a developer of lenses to slow childhood short-sightedness, acquired by CooperVision in 2021.

Fertik says his “best opportunities” have come through founders he has already backed and their networks. Those relationships provide his strongest source of new investments.

But he would not establish an Israel-only fund. “The market is too small for this. Israel belongs within a broader portfolio.

“Israel should be an extraordinary and essential element of a venture portfolio.”