Protego Ventures is an Israel-based venture capital firm investing in early-growth defense technology companies with battlefield-proven products. Founded after the October 7, 2023 attacks by Lital Leshem and Lee Moser, the Herzliya-based firm positions itself as the first and largest dedicated defense tech VC in Israel, and is notably led by two women.
Protego Ventures backs early-growth companies with battlefield-proven technologies that have moved beyond development into deployment with real customers, spanning autonomous systems, AI, critical infrastructure sensing, GPS/communications-denied navigation, cyber defense, and photonic sensing.
The firm invests primarily in Israeli defense technology companies serving Israel and the global defense and security community, and plans to expand into US defense-tech companies with its second fund.
Protego Ventures closed its debut fund at $125M on September 29, 2026, against an original target of $150M, following an initial $70M close and an additional $55M in final closing capital.
Ares Management is the fund's largest limited partner, with a $30M commitment.
The firm is already planning a second fund for the first quarter of 2027, expected to draw from Israeli institutional investors and at least one large US commitment already secured.
Leadership
Investment Strategy
Protego Ventures writes checks of $5M to $50M into early-growth companies that have demonstrated product sales and proven operational or battlefield performance, rather than backing pre-revenue development-stage companies.
Notable Investments
Investor inquiries: danielle@protego.vc
Partner inquiries: benm@protego.vc
Lital Leshem, Co-Founder and Managing Partner
lital@protego.vc
Lee Moser, Co-Founder
Nir Gilbert, Principal
nirg@protego.vc
Ben Moore, Head of Partnerships
benm@protego.vc
Israel
