Michael Eisenberg

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Michael Eisenberg
Michael Eisenberg, Aleph VC.png
Born(1971-05-18)18 May 1971
New York, New York
NationalityAmerican, Israeli
Alma materYeshiva University
OccupationVenture capitalist, author
Known forLemonade, WeWork, Wix.com, JoyTunes
Spouse(s)Yaffa
Children8

Michael Eisenberg (Hebrew: מייקל אייזנברג) (born May 18, 1971) is an American-born Israeli businessman, venture capitalist and author.

Biography[]

Michael Eisenberg was born in Manhattan, New York, the eldest of seven children. He was brought up in an observant Jewish home and studied at Orthodox Jewish schools. After graduating high school, he spent two years studying at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut. He then returned to the United States and completed his B.A. in Political Science at Yeshiva University.[1]

In 1993, Eisenberg and his wife Yaffa immigrated to Israel. He is a resident of Jerusalem and has eight children.[2]

Business career[]

Eisenberg is the co-founder and general partner of Aleph, a Tel-Aviv-based venture capital firm.

Eisenberg began his career as a consultant for Marttila and Kiley, Inc. a political consulting firm.[3] In 1995, Eisenberg was appointed Montgomery Securities Investment Bank representative in Israel. That year, he also began working as VP Investment Banking at Jerusalem Global Investment Bank in partnership with Shlomo Kalish. Eisenberg’s first investment was in PictureVision, a photo-sharing company,[4] which was acquired by Kodak in the late 1990s.[5]

Between 1997 and 2005, Eisenberg was a partner in Israel Seed Partners, an Israeli venture capital fund. His investments included Shopping.com, which went public in 2004 and was later acquired by eBay,[6]Finjan Holdings, GuruNet and answers.com. Shopping.com reached a market cap of $810 million after its first day of trading, while GuruNet reached a market cap of $11 million on its first day.[7]

In 2005, Eisenberg joined Benchmark Capital as managing Partner and was appointed its representative in Israel.[8] His investments at Benchmark included Gigya, acquired in 2017 by SAP,[9]) Conduit, and Seeking Alpha. Eisenberg also led the investment in the website development platform Wix.com and WeWork.

In 2013, he co-founded Aleph, a venture capital fund based in Tel Aviv, together with Eden Shochat.[10] Aleph is an early-stage fund with $550M under management focused on partnering with Israeli entrepreneurs to build large and impactful global brands. Since its founding, Aleph has invested in over 50 companies, including Melio, Lemonade[11] Frank (acquired in 2021 by JP Morgan), Bringg, JoyTunes, Healthy.io, Fabric,[12] Windward,[13] Honeybook[14] and Nexar.[15]

The fund has had six exits to date, including four M&A transactions and two public offerings, Lemonade (NYSE: LMND), which was traded at a market cap of $3.88 billion as of November 2021 [16] and WeWork (NYSE: WE), which went public through a SPAC.

In April 2016, Aaron Rosenson, formerly of Insight Venture Partners, joined the fund as a third partner,[17] immigrating to Israel from New York to assume his new role.[18] In September of that year, Aleph raised $180 for its second fund.[19] In December 2019, Aleph launched a $200 million third fund.[20] Aleph now has five partners, including Yael Elad, who became operating partner in 2019 [21] and Tomer Diari who joined in February 2021.[22]

In December 2021, Aleph announced it was raising a fourth VC fund amounting to $300 million.[23]

Public and community service[]

Eisenberg is a board member of Yeshivat Har Etzion, which combines advanced Torah study with military service. He is also chairman of Hashomer HaChadash, a social movement established in 2007 to continue the historic path of the Zionist movement and strengthen the values of mutual responsibility, civic action and love of the land. Eisenberg was also the director of Snunit, a non-profit organization that promotes technology studies in Israeli elementary schools.[24]

In 2017, Eisenberg organized a Content Marketing Seminar for Olim to help new immigrants integrate in Israel’s high-tech eco-system.[25] In 2020, he established Nevo Network, a fellowship program for new immigrants working in high-tech,[26] and spearheaded a two-year program run by the non-profit Machshava Tova that teaches high school students from disadvantaged homes to code and build websites.[27]

Journalism and social media[]

In 1991-1992 Eisenberg was the news editor of ‘’The Commentator,” the student newspaper of Yeshiva University.[28] In 2005, he launched an Internet blog called "Six Kids and a Full-Time Job,” where he discusses politics, technology, Judaism, Zionism, macroeconomics, investments, entrepreneurship, family and parenting.[29]

In 2010, he published ‘’The Hummus Manifesto,” a series of articles on the challenges facing Israeli high tech. Eisenberg is a frequent contributor to Israel’s daily business papers TheMarker, Calcalist,[29] and Hashiloah, an Israeli journal for thought and policy.[30]

He has also written for the Washington Examiner.[31]

Published works[]

In 2016-2017, Eisenberg published ‘’Ben Baruch,’’ an analysis of Tractate Brachot in the Jerusalem Talmud[32] and ‘’The Vanishing Jew: A Wake-Up Call From the Book of Esther,’’ which looks at Megillat Esther from the perspective of economic philosophy and the struggle for money, power and control.[33]

In August 2021, he published ‘’The Tree of Life and Prosperity: 21st Century Business Principles from the Book of Genesis.’’ [34]

Other books by Eisenberg are Kol Ehad Moshe Rabbenu (“Everyone can be Moses”) and Shevet Sho'eg (“Roaring Tribe”), published in Hebrew.[35]

Views and opinions[]

Eisenberg credits Rabbi Yehuda Amital, one of the heads of Yeshivat Har Etzion, for giving him direction and providing the inspiration for his life’s work. In answer to Eisenberg’s question about the mitzvah of settling in the Land of Israel, Rabbi Amital said: “It’s all nonsense – set up a factory to employ 10,000 people so they can earn an honest and decent living. That is the biggest mitzvah.” [1]

Analyzing the Israeli start-up industry and the phenomenon of early exits, Eisenberg offers a psychological hypothesis: “This is a country where people want to be their own boss...There is less of an appreciation of the impact of the size of the overall pie versus my piece of the pie”[36] He believes that Israeli companies need to aim for bigger outcomes, such as attempting initial public offerings and SPACs, while keeping their headquarters in Israel.[37]

Awards and recognition[]

Eisenberg was ranked #98 in Forbes Midas List: Top Tech Investors 2019, and #11 in Midas List Europe: Top Tech Investors 2020.[38] In 2021, he rose to #8 in Midas Europe.[39]

Media appearances[]

Eisenberg lectures and appears on TV, radio and podcast programs, including Harry Stebbings’ “Twenty Minute VC,” [40] the Tikvah Podcast,[41] Anthony Scaramucci’s “The Mooch” [34] and Mark Gerson’s “The Rabbi’s Husband.” [42] He speaks about venture capital, Israel and entrepreneurship.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "An Honest and Decent Living in the Digital Economy | Jewish Book Council". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. August 23, 2021.
  2. ^ "Michael Eisenberg". המכון החרדי למחקרי מדיניות.
  3. ^ "Form F-1". www.sec.gov.
  4. ^ ""I read a fair amount, but I learn more by meeting and speaking with interesting people."". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. July 29, 2021.
  5. ^ News, Bloomberg. "COMPANY NEWS; KODAK BUYS OUT REST OF PICTUREVISION FOR $90 MILLION". Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  6. ^ "eBay to Acquire Shopping.com". Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  7. ^ Israel Seed Partners general partner Michael Eisenberg tops “Forbes Israel” Midas list, Globes
  8. ^ "Michael Eisenberg joins Benchmark Capital in Israel as general partner AltAssets Private Equity News". www.altassets.net. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  9. ^ "SAP buys customer identity management firm Gigya for $350M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  10. ^ "רשמי: אדן שוחט ומייקל אייזנברג מכריזים על קרן חדשה של 140 מיליון דולר". גיקטיים (in Hebrew). 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  11. ^ "How Lemonade's founders raised a massive seed round just by talking". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  12. ^ Press, Viva Sarah. "Israeli entrepreneurs pay it forward as 'scale-up nation' takes shape". www.timesofisrael.com.
  13. ^ "Former CIA director invests in Israeli startup Windward". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  14. ^ "Event planning platform co HoneyBook raises $22m". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  15. ^ "Nexar gets $30M Series B for its AI-based road safety dashcams and network". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  16. ^ Market capitalization of Lemonade (NYSE: LMND)
  17. ^ Konrad, Alex. "Why Top Israeli Venture Firm Aleph Is Making A 26-Year-Old An Equal Partner". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  18. ^ Israeli VC remains bullish, foreseeing $10b companies, Haaretz
  19. ^ "TechNation: Aleph raises $180 million for second venture capital fund". haaretz.com. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  20. ^ Aleph Venture Capital Raises a $200 Million Third Fund, Calcalist
  21. ^ Job, Michael A. Eisenberg: Six Kids And A. Full Time (April 15, 2019). "Please Congratulate Our Operating Partner Yael Elad".
  22. ^ "Tomer Diari". www.bloomberg.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ^ Aleph raises $300m fourth VC fund, Globes
  24. ^ Miller, Rabbi Jason (October 8, 2014). "Sukkot and the Growth of Israel's Tech Economy". Jewish Techs.
  25. ^ "Aleph VC firm trains new immigrants for jobs in high-tech". Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  26. ^ The government’s search for Olim might just fill the tech gap, Calcalist
  27. ^ "Machshava Tova helps prepare Israeli hi-tech's next generation". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  28. ^ "What Happened to the Future of Orthodox American Judaism? It Moved to Israel". Tablet Magazine. March 10, 2017.
  29. ^ a b "Michael Eisenberg". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  30. ^ "להנהיג את כלכלת היהודים". השילוח. April 8, 2017.
  31. ^ Big Tech is a modern Tower of Babel that must be scattered, The Washington Examiner
  32. ^ "Michael Eisenberg". Tablet Magazine.
  33. ^ The true villain of the Purim story exposed: It’s Mordechai, Times of Israel
  34. ^ a b Michael Eisenberg, Jo Maugham and Maria Tatar, Episode 58, Mooch FM
  35. ^ "מייקל אייזנברג". סלע מאיר.
  36. ^ Rosenberg, David (April 7, 2018). Israel's Technology Economy: Origins and Impact. Springer. ISBN 9783319766546 – via Google Books.
  37. ^ CTalk: Israeli tech companies experienced a liquidity crisis in 2019, says Michael Eisenberg, Calcalist
  38. ^ "Michael Eisenberg". Forbes.
  39. ^ Konrad, Alex. "Meet The Israeli VC Still Bullish On WeWork, Lemonade And The Old Testament". Forbes.
  40. ^ "20VC: Aleph's Michael Eisenberg on Why Generalists Over Specialists, Why Boutique Smaller Firms Over Multi-Stage Firms, Portfolio Construction Theory, Capital Concentration Limits and How To Think Through Reserve Allocations with Market Cycles in Mind? from The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch on Hark". harkaudio.com.
  41. ^ "Podcast: Michael Eisenberg on Economics in the Book of Genesis". The Tikvah Fund. October 29, 2021.
  42. ^ "The Rabbi's Husband on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts.

External links[]

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