When you speak with Adi Levanon, founder of Selah Ventures, you immediately feel the combination of conviction, curiosity and grounded experience that shapes her investment philosophy. Her fund is young, but the decade that led to it was built inside early-stage venture capital roles across Israel and the United States, mostly focused on FinTech.
Selah Ventures is her way of taking everything she learned in those years and building something with her own fingerprint: early, technical, conviction-driven investing with no hesitation about being the first institutional check in.
This is the story behind the fund, the thinking that guides it and why Adi believes Israel is just getting started in FinTech.
The Path to Selah Ventures
The idea of running a fund was not sudden. Adi describes it as something that followed her for years, even before she fully understood that venture could be her long-term career.
She began as a lawyer, shifted into venture, worked at multiple funds, and kept feeling the pull toward creating something of her own. Selah Ventures officially formed after she moved back to Israel and realized there was a unique way she wanted to support founders.
The name itself carries two meanings. In Hebrew, “Selah” spelled one way refers to a rock, a steady foundation. Spelled another way, it means to lift or elevate.
Adi wanted the fund to represent both ideas: stability at the foundation with the purpose of helping founders rise.
That duality captures her style: deeply grounded, but always pushing companies upward.
Becoming a Solo GP Was Not the Goal, but It Was the Right Path
For years, LPs were skeptical of solo GPs. Adi explains that early on, many investors saw it as risky, similar to how people once viewed solo founders in startups.
Over time, the perception shifted. The industry realized that solo GPs can be fast, deeply connected to founders, and uniquely decisive. Many of the most exciting emerging funds today are run by individuals rather than multi-partner partnerships.
For Adi, going solo was never about independence for its own sake. It was about timing, clarity and readiness. She knew the sector she wanted to invest in, she understood the pace of early-stage venture and she wanted the ability to write checks based on her own conviction.
“It was the right moment in my personal life and my career, and I knew I was the person to build this.”
That does not mean she intends to remain solo forever. She is open about eventually finding the right partner. But the partner must fit the same alignment of passion, experience and grit that she brings.
The First Check and What It Means to Bet Early
Selah Ventures invests at pre-seed and seed, often the first institutional capital entering a company. That requires clarity, speed and a degree of confidence that only comes from reviewing thousands of companies across her career.
Her first investment was in Corvell, founded by Leora Lichtenstein. Adi had known her for years, trusted her instincts and respected her industry understanding.
The company builds a platform for industrial manufacturers combining sales infrastructure with financing tools for large equipment purchases.
Writing that first $500K check did not scare her. It felt natural. Years of experience had built her internal barometer, and she could recognize the “fire” she looks for in founders: humility paired with conviction, industry insight paired with hunger.
“I get excited every time. This is the part of the job I love.”
Curiosity as the Engine Behind Early-Stage Investing
One of the traits that defines Adi’s approach is her curiosity. Founders often reach out before they even incorporate, wanting to talk through ideas or validate early thinking. She thrives in these conversations.
Meeting teams before there is a product, deck or roadmap gives her energy. It is where she feels most connected to the journey, helping founders shape the earliest version of what could become a major company.
“I love meeting people at the very beginning. The back-and-forth is electrifying.”
Curiosity also makes risk feel natural. She grew up moving between countries and states, which built adaptability. She sees risk not as danger, but as part of the adventure of building.
Why FinTech Became Her Focus
Adi did not come from a finance background. She chose FinTech intentionally after moving to New York nearly a decade ago. A mentor pushed her to specialize, so she explored sectors and found herself intrigued by financial technology.
Back then, the industry barely had a name. But she recognized how central money is to every aspect of human behavior and commerce. Payments, capital markets, identity, trust, privacy and security all converge in FinTech.
“It touches everything we do. It affects how people live, what they buy, how they plan, how they protect themselves.”
FinTech intersects with psychology, risk, data, security and infrastructure. It is technical, behavioral and deeply practical all at once. For a curious mind, it is an endless well.
Why Israel Produces World-Class FinTech Companies
Israel is not a financial center. It lacks a competitive banking landscape and has limited regulatory flexibility. It will never be a global FinTech hub in the classic sense.
But it produces exceptional FinTech companies.
Adi explains why:
- Israelis are experts at handling enormous datasets.
- The country has deep experience in privacy, encryption and secure identity systems.
- Many of the hardest FinTech problems resemble cyber, data and infrastructure challenges Israel already excels in.
- The culture encourages building from scratch and challenging legacy systems that feel outdated or inefficient.
This is why Israel has produced more than twenty billion-dollar FinTech companies across payments, lending, fraud prevention, digital insurance, crypto infrastructure and more.
In her view, Israel is not strong in FinTech despite lacking a finance industry. It is strong because the problems FinTech requires solving map naturally onto Israel’s technical strengths.
Where FinTech Is Going Next
Adi sees several major trends shaping the next generation of FinTech:
AI-native FinTech
Companies built from the ground up with AI at the core, not as a feature.
This includes instant KYC, real-time fraud prediction, and dynamic risk models that cannot exist without AI.
FinTech Defense
An emerging category she has been tracking closely since October 7.
It combines cybersecurity, financial compliance, geopolitical intelligence and transaction monitoring.
Stopping the flow of illicit money is a direct path to stopping terrorism, and it requires expertise across multiple disciplines.
Embedded FinTech
Financial capabilities layered into industries that historically operated offline, such as logistics, agriculture and manufacturing.
Corvell is one example, but she expects many more.
Consumer behavior and financial wellness
FinTech that helps people understand and manage stress, household finances and long-term planning.
Privacy infrastructure
Zero-knowledge approaches and identity systems that let data move securely without revealing unnecessary information.
The Rise of Crypto and What Actually Matters
Adi has followed crypto since 2013. She believes the hype cycles distract from the real value: infrastructure, not speculation.
The most exciting opportunities involve tokenization and the future of ownership, especially now that regulatory shifts in the United States are opening new pathways.
She sees potential in stablecoins, compliant digital assets and the systems that will be required to move value globally with integrity and verification.
What she is not seeing yet is enough high-quality startups building in this direction.
Why the Future of Israeli FinTech Is Bigger Than People Realize
When Adi founded Selah Ventures, she had a thesis: Israel would produce more FinTech companies than cybersecurity companies. She was right.
Not only is FinTech larger in number, but the gap between the two sectors is narrower than people assume.
FinTech is deep, technical and often misunderstood. But it is also one of Israel’s greatest global strengths. The talent is here. The experience is here. The customer demand is worldwide.
“If I did not believe Israel was only at the beginning of its FinTech potential, I would not have built this fund.”
A Founder’s Energy at the Heart of a Venture Fund
What stands out most about Adi is that she approaches venture the same way founders approach building companies: with curiosity, conviction and grit.
She is early by choice. Hands-on by nature. And aligned with founders who are hungry, thoughtful and ready to build in complex industries that matter.
It is not hard to see why Selah Ventures emerged now, or why Adi believes the next wave of Israeli FinTech is about to get even bigger.
