At $125M, Protego Ventures has finished raising its first fund, a vehicle the firm bills as Israel’s biggest dedicated bet on defense technology.
Lital Leshem and Lee Moser run the two-year-old operation. Checks fall between $5M and $15M, aimed at companies meeting Israeli and global defense needs, and the scope takes in drones, sensors, autonomous systems and AI.
The $30M that Ares Management put in as seed capital got the pair moving, and it was the October 7, 2023 attacks that pushed them to launch. Leshem had co-founded a startup that sold for $625M and brings 11 years in military intelligence; on that day she was called up as a reservist.
Falling below the $150M goal was deliberate. One large winner goes further in a small fund, Leshem argues, and one of its holdings may be exactly that: XTEND, the drone maker that reached the NYSE this month. A wider investor base would only spread that upside thinner.
The portfolio holds more than XTEND. ASIO, another holding, supplies situational awareness systems and counts Anduril as a partner.
Rivals are coming. Israel’s government has handed two competing firms, Adir Capital and Sling Capital, roughly $33M in state guarantees for military and dual-use work, and other funds are lining up behind similar theses.
One fund will not be the end of it. Early 2027 should bring a successor, anchored by a single large US commitment and Israeli institutional money, with a mandate broad enough to reach early-growth American defense companies.
