Insights from illumex.ai Founder & CEO Inna Tokarev Sela on Enterprise AI, Global Competition, and the Road Ahead
Inna Tokarev Sela isn’t here to follow trends. As the sole founder and CEO of illumex.ai, she’s focused on helping enterprises act faster and make better decisions based on facts. In a conversation with IsraelTech’s Yoel Israel, Inna Tokarev Sela broke down what it really means to build a company with AI at its core and why every serious business needs to rethink its approach to data.
AI Is No Longer Optional
“Artificial intelligence is an old term,” Inna said. “We’re now talking about agent AI.” It’s not just about adding intelligence to a product. It’s about building systems that align with how people already work, through tools like Teams or Slack.
She emphasized that this isn’t theoretical. Analysts estimate that within three years, a quarter of revenue across the Fortune 500 will come from AI and data-based offerings. Inna’s view is simple: AI can’t be an afterthought. It has to be designed into the way companies operate from the beginning.
Building illumex with Purpose
Unlike many startup founders, Inna didn’t go searching for a co-founder. She had her team in mind from the start, having worked with them in past roles at SAP and Sisense. “I already knew who was going to be part of the founding team,” she explained. “It felt natural.”
illumex launched in 2021, before generative AI became part of daily business conversations. From day one, the company focused on preparing enterprise data for smarter use. Once public interest in large language models exploded, illumex was ready. They didn’t need to change their product, only the way they described it.
Helping Enterprises Work With Their Data
illumex is designed to make working with data simple for employees who don’t live in spreadsheets. “Talk to your data” isn’t a slogan. It’s how users engage with information inside their organization, without needing dashboards or IT tickets.
To do this, companies must avoid treating AI as a black box. Inna points out that businesses need clear definitions, consistent labels, and trusted sources. If churn means one thing in marketing and another in finance, confusion spreads quickly.
illumex helps solve this by creating a common structure across departments, making sure data is reliable and usable in real time.
Why Plug-and-Play Doesn’t Work
Many executives assume they can just connect a tool like ChatGPT to internal systems and get reliable answers. Inna disagrees. “It doesn’t work that way. You need to align the data with your business logic first.”
Rather than depending on one large model, Inna believes companies should use the right tools for specific tasks. That means retaining ownership of internal knowledge and logic, while selecting technologies that serve each use case.
Regulations Are Not the Enemy
There’s a perception that companies must choose between speed and compliance. Inna doesn’t buy it. “Legislation can bring clarity. It helps organizations build AI responsibly.”
She points to standards already adopted in Europe as a good example. These frameworks give enterprises the confidence to deploy AI without the risk of violating privacy laws or mishandling data. illumex is already supporting companies in regulated sectors like insurance and banking, helping them meet these requirements as they scale.
Israel’s Place in the Global AI Ecosystem
Inna is clear-eyed about Israel’s current position. “We were late to the first wave of generative AI,” she said. “But we are catching up in areas that require precision and trust – defense, healthcare, regulated industries.”
To stay competitive, she believes Israel needs greater national focus. While the United States is investing heavily in AI infrastructure, Israel’s progress is still being driven mostly by the private sector.
She sees a role for the government in setting high standards and encouraging collaboration, especially around data sharing for research and innovation. “We can still lead. But we need to focus.”
Key Takeaways
- AI adoption is now being driven by business needs, not just technical interest.
- Enterprises must invest in structuring their data before they can expect useful results from AI.
- Compliance and user trust are just as important as performance when scaling intelligent systems.
- Israel can lead in productizing AI for regulated sectors, even if it missed the first wave of foundational research.
- Startup founders don’t need to build AI models, but they do need to understand how AI impacts their business model.
What This Means for the Future
For startups, the message is clear: if you’re building a product in 2025, AI should be a core part of the plan. That doesn’t mean you need to train your own models. But you do need to understand where AI fits in your offering, how it can reduce costs, or open up new ways to deliver value.
For enterprises, the time for experimentation has passed. Leaders need to start thinking about AI the way they think about cloud or cybersecurity – as a foundational capability that must be managed, governed, and fully integrated.
And for Israel, there’s still time to lead. But it will take concentrated investment, stronger collaboration between sectors, and a willingness to double down on areas where the country has unique advantages: applied research, secure data practices, and practical innovation.
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