Erel Margalit

Erel N. Margalit (Hebrew: אראל מרגלית; born 1 January 1961) is an Israeli venture capitalist and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of the global venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Margalit StartUp City. He is also the founder of two non-profit organizations Bakehila and Israel Initiative 2020, which has established seven regions of excellence that combine technology and education. Margalit currently serves as chairman of the board for several technology companies. He is the chairman of Earnix, an AI software provider for the insurance industry. He also chairs ControlUp, a company that develops AI-based software for digital employee-experience management, and ThetaRay, which provides AI technology to financial institutions to detect financial crime. He also serves as chairman of the board of Centrical and is a member of the boards of directors of Nanit and Inshur. Under his leadership, JVP has invested in and built 160 companies, led 52 exits, and achieved 12 IPOs on NASDAQ. Previously, Margalit served as a member of the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party, from election in January 2013 until resigning in October 2017. Margalit has been included on the Forbes Midas (The Golden Touch) List for his work as a venture capitalist. The Marker also named him among the best venture capitalists in Israel.