IDF Reservists Created 150 New Startups in 2025 Backed by the 18x Elite Impact Program
The Israeli innovation ecosystem got a major boost in 2025. The 18x Elite Impact program just celebrated its first anniversary and brought some truly impressive numbers to the table: 150 new companies founded by former soldiers and veterans of the Israel Defense Forces, with $15 million raised in investment over that period. The announcement was made during the program’s anniversary event, held in Tel Aviv in partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority and with support from the law firm Arnon Tadmor-Levy.
What makes this picture even more interesting is the profile of the people behind these companies. These are reservists who served in combat in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, and who are now channeling the same discipline and focus from the battlefield into the business world. These 150 ventures represent a significant slice of the roughly 1,000 new startups reported in Israel throughout the year, according to estimates from the Innovation Authority itself, which also counts more low-profile companies that did not go through public seed investment rounds.
For context, the authority’s most recent report indicates that approximately 500 startups sought seed investment rounds in 2024, while 178 did the same in just the first half of 2025. In other words, the volume of companies born within 18x Elite Impact is quite substantial when placed in that broader landscape. 🚀
What Is the 18x Elite Impact Program and How Does It Work
The 18x Elite Impact was created by Mike Silberg, who serves as Managing Director and founder of the initiative. The goal is pretty straightforward: help IDF reservists turn the experience they gained during military service into real entrepreneurial ventures. The program provides specialized mentorship, access to a robust network of investors, and direct contact with other founders who have walked the same path.
More than a course or a typical accelerator, it works as a bridge between military life and the innovation ecosystem, recognizing that veterans carry skills that the traditional market often doesn’t know how to value. The core idea is that training within the Israeli armed forces develops traits like decision-making under pressure, team management in highly complex situations, and an uncommon ability to execute with limited resources — exactly the ingredients any startup needs to survive its early years.
Silberg laid out this vision clearly during the program’s anniversary event. According to him, the same mission-driven mindset that defines an elite soldier can, with the right support, shape an extraordinary entrepreneur. He also pointed out that veterans frequently struggle with reintegration into civilian life, and that 18x Elite Impact aims to ease that burden by helping reservists find and develop the energy and expertise they already carry, channeling it all toward entrepreneurship. In Silberg’s view, this process restores purpose and creates camaraderie, while simultaneously unlocking successful business ideas and job opportunities.
During its first year of operation, the program proved that this bet makes total sense. The 150 startups founded by participants span a wide range of sectors, including defense technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital health, and logistics. That broad spectrum of fields shows that military experience isn’t being applied only in obvious niches like defense or security — it’s driving innovation across virtually every segment where technology and disciplined execution make a difference. 💡
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A Network of 400 Investors and Heavyweight Mentors
One of the program’s biggest differentiators is its support network. 18x Elite Impact has 400 investors who actively participate in the ecosystem built around these reservist-turned-entrepreneurs. That number is significant because it’s not just about available capital — it’s about engaged people who contribute knowledge, connections, and strategic guidance.
Among the most prominent names in this network are Nadir Izrael, CTO and co-founder of Armis, a global reference in cybersecurity; Noam Bardin, former CEO of Waze, the navigation app that was acquired by Google and became one of the biggest success stories in Israeli tech history; Aviv Kohavi, former IDF Chief of Staff; and Daniel Bernard, a veteran technology sector investor.
The involvement of figures of this caliber as mentors gives the program a credibility that goes well beyond talking points. Kohavi, for instance, personally served as a mentor to Or Ben-Shabat, CEO and founder of DCA (Digital Combat Academy). In his remarks during Summit Day, Kohavi said that mentoring a reservist like Or through 18x Elite Impact showed him that the same excellence found on the battlefield is now fueling Israeli civilian resilience. He went on to say that seeing Or translate the leadership he demonstrated in combat into a tangible contribution to Israel’s economy is deeply moving, and that the reservists who defended the state with their lives are now, through entrepreneurship, building its future.
Daniel Bernard, who also served as a mentor in the program, brought a complementary perspective. In his view, the best founders are those who can navigate uncertainty with complete composure. Bernard noted that these reservists have been tested in ways that few civilians will ever experience, and that his role as a mentor is simply to provide the framework and the network — because the determination and the vision are already there in these entrepreneurs. 🎯
Summit Day: 12 Startups in the Spotlight for Investors and Industry Leaders
The program’s anniversary event, called Summit Day, took place on a Sunday in Tel Aviv and served as a showcase for the most promising projects born within 18x Elite Impact. During the gathering, 12 selected startups pitched their projects to an audience composed of top-tier venture capitalists, industry leaders, and Israeli government representatives.
This kind of exposure is extremely valuable for early-stage startups. Having the opportunity to present a product or solution directly to qualified investors and industry decision-makers can shave months or even years off the fundraising process and the development of strategic partnerships. The Summit Day format was designed precisely to maximize that potential, putting founders with powerful stories in front of an audience that values exactly the kind of profile the program cultivates.
The collaboration with the Israel Innovation Authority for the event also reinforces the institutional recognition the program is earning. When a government body partners with an initiative like this, the signal sent to the market is clear: there is formal validation that the model works and that the government sees strategic value in this movement of turning military veterans into tech entrepreneurs.
Why IDF Reservists Have So Much Potential as Entrepreneurs
Israel is already recognized worldwide as one of the nations with the most vibrant startup ecosystems on the planet, and a large part of that reputation has direct roots in the country’s military culture. Mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces exposes young people to leadership situations and complex problem-solving far earlier than any other professional trajectory would. When a 22-year-old soldier has already been through missions requiring team coordination, rapid adaptation to unpredictable scenarios, and responsibility for high-impact decisions, they enter the market with an executive maturity that would take years to develop in a conventional corporate environment.
In the specific case of the reservists who participated in 18x Elite Impact, that profile gains an additional layer of complexity. These are veterans who, in many cases, simultaneously balanced civilian life, their careers, and call-ups for active duty during a period of intense conflict. Maintaining emotional, professional, and personal stability in that context requires a level of organization and resilience that goes beyond what any formal training can teach. When that same individual decides to found a company, they have already been through a real-world stress test that few entrepreneurs around the globe can say they have experienced.
The result is a founder who doesn’t panic at the first setbacks along the way, who knows how to work with uncertainty, and who understands firsthand the value of a tight-knit team operating under pressure. The investment the program managed to attract in such a short time reflects precisely this combination of technical profile, proven resilience, and trust networks that these founders bring to the table.
Another factor that strengthens this entrepreneurial profile is the kind of network that military service builds over time. In the IDF, it is common for people from different backgrounds, educational paths, and skill sets to work side by side for years, creating deeply rooted bonds of trust. When these people transition to civilian life and decide to start a business, they already have access to a consolidated network of contacts with complementary profiles and a proven track record of working together. For a startup, having a founding team that has already collectively been through high-pressure situations is a competitive advantage that is very hard to replicate.
The Impact on Israel’s Innovation Ecosystem
The numbers from 18x Elite Impact arrive at a very particular moment for Israel. The country has gone through a period of significant instability in recent years, and the startup ecosystem felt that weight in various ways, from talent departures to the temporary pullback of some international investors. That is why seeing a program born precisely in this context generate 150 startups and attract $15 million in investment in just 12 months is a sign of recovery and strength that goes beyond the numbers themselves.
For the local ecosystem, the program also represents an important diversification in the origin of founders. Historically, a large share of high-impact Israeli startups were born within prestigious universities or spun out of major tech companies. 18x Elite Impact opens a new pathway, where structured military experience becomes a legitimate and recognized entry point into the world of entrepreneurship. This has a meaningful democratizing effect, because it broadens the range of profiles the ecosystem considers as potentially fundable, and that, in turn, increases the diversity of ideas, approaches, and solutions reaching the market.
Savvy investors have already noticed this shift and are adjusting their radar to include these new founder profiles in their portfolios. When smart money starts moving toward a trend, it is usually because the data supports the thesis — and the results from the program’s first year provide exactly that kind of concrete evidence.
The Fastest-Growing Sectors Among the Program’s Startups
Within the portfolio of companies created by 18x Elite Impact participants, a few sectors stand out pretty clearly. Cybersecurity leads the list, which is no surprise given Israel’s track record in that space and the technical expertise many reservists develop in specialized IDF units. The cyber startups created through the program are already generating interest from international investors, especially U.S. and European funds looking for solutions in a market that only keeps growing in demand and complexity. The combination of cutting-edge technical knowledge with hands-on experience in real threat scenarios is a differentiator that very few founders in the world can present with the same credibility.
Artificial intelligence also shows up strongly among these startups’ focus areas, especially in applications geared toward defense, logistics, and healthcare. The access many reservists had to AI systems developed or used by the IDF creates a foundation of applied knowledge that is extremely valuable when it comes to building commercial products. It is not just about knowing how to train models — it is about understanding how AI systems perform in real-world, adversarial, high-pressure conditions, a type of insight that is very hard to gain in a lab or controlled environment.
Beyond cyber and AI, areas like healthtech, agritech, and smart logistics also show up on the program’s startup map. Many of these entrepreneurs identified market gaps based on situations they experienced in the field, whether in supply management, health monitoring under extreme conditions, or route and resource optimization in highly complex environments. That practical eye for real problems is, in many ways, the best starting point for building a product the market actually needs.
The Community-Driven Model as a Growth Engine
The 18x Elite Impact model also sets itself apart by being deeply community-driven. Reservists who go through the program don’t just receive support — they also become part of a network that stays active long after the formal participation period ends. This dynamic creates an important multiplier effect: more experienced founders mentor those who come after them, investors who have already backed one company from the program tend to pay closer attention to the next ones, and the Israeli ecosystem itself begins to recognize these founders’ seal of origin as a positive indicator of quality and resilience.
It is the kind of structure that turns a one-time program into a lasting movement within the country’s startup scene. Veteran reintegration into civilian life takes on a new meaning when it comes paired with purpose, community, and a real opportunity to build something with economic and social impact. The results from 18x Elite Impact’s first year suggest that this approach could become a benchmark not only in Israel but as a model for other countries looking for ways to leverage military experience within their innovation ecosystems. 🌍
In the long run, the program’s success could inspire similar initiatives in nations that also have a strong military culture and developing technological infrastructure. The formula is not easy to replicate, because it depends on a specific combination of culture, institutional support, and market willingness to value the military profile as an entrepreneurial asset. But the results Israel is delivering in 2025 provide a concrete, documented model that other ecosystems can study and adapt. ⚙️
