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YL Ventures Expands Advisory Board with Akamai and Imperva Executives for $75M Fund
[June 22, 2017]

YL Ventures Expands Advisory Board with Akamai and Imperva Executives for $75M Fund


YL Ventures, the Silicon Valley headquartered seed-stage venture capital firm investing in Israeli innovation, announces the expansion of its leadership team with another two market leading venture advisors, Andy Ellis, chief security officer of Akamai (News - Alert) Technologies, Inc. and Amichai Shulman, co-founder and chief technology officer of Imperva, Inc.

The expansion of YL Ventures leadership team follows closing its third fund of $75 million to invest in seed-stage Israeli companies in high-growth sectors including cybersecurity, enterprise software, autonomous vehicles, drone technologies and VR/AR.

Ellis and Shulman join Justin Somaini, chief security officer at SAP (News - Alert), who joined YL Ventures as their first venture advisor earlier this year.

As global demand for cybersecurity solutions continues to soar together with special interest in Israeli expertise, cybersecurity will remain YL Ventures' main focus in its new fund. YL Ventures has brought these exeptional experts to help its investment team asses new opportunities, provide feedback and insights to Israeli entrepreneurs within the YL Ventures network and work closely with its portfolio companies.



"We are thrilled to welcome Andy and Amichai to our team as venture advisors," said Yoav Leitersdorf, managing partner of YL Ventures. "YL Ventures has long-term relationships with Andy and Amichai and highly values their unique insights and experience. We are honored to have them on board and are positive that they will broaden our knowledge and expertise in assessing potential investments and helping Israeli entrepreneurs scale their companies."

Mr. Andy Ellis has been the chief security officer of Akamai Technologies, Inc. since July 2011. Andy is responsible for governing the safety, resilience, and compliance of Akamai's planetary-scale network. He is the designer of several critical Akamai technologies, including its secure TLS acceleration network and many of the core components of the company's web security solutions. Andy is a frequent speaker on issues of internet security, safety, and risk management and a recipient of several awards.


"I'm very excited to be joining forces with YL Ventures team. I've worked closely with YL Ventures in the past and am thrilled to take this partnership further. YL Ventures has an outstanding track record and amazing access to brilliant entrepreneurs, and I can't wait to play a more active role in advancing Israeli startups."

Mr. Amichai Shulman is co-founder and chief technology officer of Imperva Inc. With 25 years of domain leadership, Amichai is a pioneer in research and innovation in data and application cyber security. Prior to founding Imperva, Amichai was co-founder and chief technology officer of a cyber security services company specializing in penetration tests for large organizations and consulting to the government and financial sector. Amichai is a veteran startup investor and advisor to several cyber security startups including Lacoon (sold to Checkpoint) and SkyFence (sold to Imperva).

"I appreciate YL Ventures' unique ability to identify special talents and respect their strong values in helping their entrepreneurs successfully grow their businesses. I'm looking forward to helping to fuel the next generation of cybersecurity innovators with YL Ventures."

About YL Ventures

YL Ventures is a Silicon Valley based seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in Israeli innovations with a strong focus on cybersecurity, enterprise software, autonomous vehicles, drone technologies and VR/AR. Currently investing out of its $75 million third fund, YL Ventures accelerates the evolution of portfolio companies via strategic advice and Silicon Valley-based operational execution.


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