Swish Ventures, the venture capital firm led by Omri Casspi, just announced a new $250 million fund aimed at early-stage high-tech startups.
If you don’t know Casspi beyond the basketball court, now is the perfect time to change that. He was the first Israeli to play in the NBA, and after hanging up his sneakers, he decided to bet on a different kind of game — tech investing. And the numbers show he’s absolutely crushing it in this new chapter 🏀💼
With this latest raise, Swish Ventures reaches an impressive $800 million in total capital raised, all within just over a year since the firm was founded. That’s no small feat, right? The firm’s third fund already has a clear destination: around 12 early-stage tech companies, primarily in seed or Series A rounds, will receive average investments of $20 million each, with a focus on sectors like cybersecurity, industrial artificial intelligence, defense, physical AI, government technology, and tech infrastructure.
From elite athlete to heavyweight investor
Omri Casspi’s journey in the business world didn’t happen overnight. During his NBA years, he already showed a genuine interest in technology and the Israeli innovation ecosystem, which is recognized worldwide as one of the most dynamic and productive on the planet. Israel is often called the Startup Nation, and Casspi grew up immersed in that culture of entrepreneurship and complex problem-solving. When he wrapped up his career on the court, he didn’t head to the bench — quite the opposite. He stepped onto the field in a completely different arena but with the same competitive mindset that took him to the top of professional basketball.
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The founding of Swish Ventures, which took place in early 2025, was in many ways a natural extension of who Casspi has always been: someone who spots potential where others are still trying to figure out the game. The firm was created with a clear mission to identify and support high-tech startups in their earliest stages, right when the risk is highest but the potential return is also exponentially greater. This strategic positioning — getting in early and backing founders with a long-term vision — has been the firm’s signature move since it began operations.
What stands out isn’t just the volume of capital raised but the speed at which it happened. Reaching $800 million in total capital raised within just over a year of existence is a milestone very few venture capital firms manage to hit, regardless of the market they operate in. One detail that makes this achievement even more striking: the combined valuation of the companies in Swish Ventures’ portfolio already exceeds $60 billion. That speaks volumes about the credibility Casspi has built with institutional investors and other players in the global financial market, who clearly believe in the investment thesis he and his team are championing.
A portfolio packed with unicorns
To understand why Swish Ventures has been attracting so much attention, just look at the companies the firm has already invested in. Names like Cognition AI, Applied Compute, EON, and Wonderful are part of the portfolio, and these are anything but random bets. According to the firm itself, eight of the 20 companies it has invested in have become unicorns, meaning they’ve reached market valuations above $1 billion.
That kind of hit rate is extremely rare in the venture capital world, where most investments tend not to take off as expected. Having nearly half of the portfolio made up of unicorns in such a short period demonstrates not just luck but a real ability to identify promising startups before they explode. It’s this track record that gives new investors the confidence to get in the game and trust their capital to Casspi’s vision.
What’s inside the new $250 million fund
Swish Ventures’ third fund, totaling $250 million, already has a well-defined strategy for how the capital will be allocated. The plan is to invest in approximately 12 early-stage tech startups, with an average check of $20 million per company. That investment size is considered robust for the early stage, which signals that the firm isn’t just participating in small rounds but taking meaningful positions in the companies it believes in. It also suggests that Swish Ventures is after a closer, more active relationship with founders — something that goes well beyond simply writing a check.
The sectors chosen for these investments weren’t picked at random. Cybersecurity, industrial artificial intelligence, physical AI, defense, government technology, and tech infrastructure are areas at the center of the most urgent conversations in the modern world. The growing digitization of global economies, combined with rising cyber threats and the need to modernize critical infrastructure, creates a real and growing demand for innovative solutions in these segments. Betting on these verticals is both a commercially smart move and a reflection of a careful reading of where the world is heading in the coming years.
It’s worth highlighting that industrial artificial intelligence, in particular, has emerged as one of the most promising fields within the global tech ecosystem. Unlike consumer-facing AI, industrial AI focuses on optimizing production processes, supply chains, predictive maintenance, and the automation of complex operations — all with a direct impact on companies’ efficiency and competitiveness. When you add these trends to the current geopolitical landscape, which has been driving increased investments in defense and security technologies across the globe, it becomes clear that Swish Ventures is aiming at exactly the right targets.
Who’s behind the investments and what Casspi thinks about the future
To grasp the scale of what Swish Ventures is building, it’s also important to look at who’s on the other side of the table — the investors who backed the fund. Among the new supporters of this third fund are American pension funds, top U.S. universities, family offices, and the renowned Sequoia Capital, one of the most respected venture capital firms on the planet. That kind of trust isn’t earned just through a strong personal brand — it comes from concrete results, a coherent investment thesis, and a team that knows what it’s doing.
One interesting detail is that Casspi serves as the firm’s sole managing partner, which is quite uncommon for operations of this size. Running a firm single-handedly with a portfolio valued at over $60 billion requires not only technical expertise but also an impressive ability to build relationships and make strategic decisions with precision.
In his public statements, Omri Casspi has been pretty transparent about his vision. According to him, closing the third fund in such a short time, with backing from some of the world’s top institutional investors, represents above all a vote of confidence in the founders the firm supports. Casspi also emphasized that the new fund is a direct continuation of a focused strategy, with the goal of being the most relevant partner possible for the world’s most talented entrepreneurs.
Another pillar of this philosophy is careful selection. Instead of spreading resources across dozens of companies, Swish Ventures prefers to handpick a small number of exceptional founders each year, which allows them to act as true partners throughout the entire startup journey. This distinction matters in the venture capital world, where hype around certain technologies can easily cloud the real viability analysis of a business. Swish Ventures’ approach, then, appears more deliberate than opportunistic — something that tends to produce more sustainable results over the long run.
It’s also worth noting the connection between the Israeli innovation ecosystem and the global tech market. Israel has an impressive density of talent in areas like cybersecurity, AI, and software engineering, and Swish Ventures is positioned to serve as a bridge between that talent and the major consumer markets around the world. This combination of privileged access to a highly skilled ecosystem, coupled with a global network of relationships Casspi built during his basketball career and business ventures, puts the firm in a truly differentiated position within the high-tech startup investment market 🚀
