Stratos Ventures is an Israeli-American defense tech and resilience venture fund founded in 2026 by Rotem Yehuda Kakon, Aviad Grinfeld, and Daniel Fouzailov, operating between Tel Aviv and Miami. The fund backs pre-seed and seed stage Israeli and Israel-connected founders building technologies that reinforce national security, digital sovereignty, and operational resilience for democratic societies. Stratos has active partnerships with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Department of Defense, and NATO's DIANA accelerator program, and operates in the US in partnership with The LAB Miami, providing portfolio companies with access to DOW, CENTCOM, and the Port of Miami.
Stratos backs early-stage companies across autonomous and unmanned systems, AI and machine learning, space and satellite technology, cybersecurity, smart manufacturing, next-generation communications, advanced materials and energy, and quantum computing and sensing.
The fund targets Israeli entrepreneurs or companies with strong ties to Israel, investing at pre-seed and seed stages in companies building the breakthrough technologies that will define national and infrastructure resilience.
Stratos Ventures raised $50M against an $80M target as of June 2026, reaching its initial fundraising milestone within six months of launch.
The fund is anchored by a major institutional investor from the United Kingdom, with additional LPs including family offices from the US, Europe, India, South America, Australia, and Israel.
The fund plans to back 15–20 startups with initial checks of $2–4M.
Five portfolio companies have already been backed, four of which have secured follow-on funding rounds led by major US VC firms at significantly higher valuations.
Leadership
Rotem Yehuda Kakon is Co-Founder and Managing Partner. He previously led technology investment activity for a UK-based family office, deploying $250M+ across 20+ companies, funds, and tech accelerators, and is an LP in 16+ leading VC funds across Israel, the US, and Europe. He served as Chief of Staff to two ministers in the Government of Israel and was an early investor in Carbyne, Infinidome, and RepAir.
Aviad Grinfeld is Co-Founder and Managing Partner. He has worked in defense and homeland security for more than 15 years, helping scale one of Israel's leading defense groups from roughly $10M in revenue to several hundred million dollars across 80+ countries. His prior investment track record includes IRD, Skylock, MyDefence, and BeeSense.
Daniel Fouzailov is General Partner, a veteran venture capitalist and former head of Paz Capital, the investment vehicle of the Fouzailov diamond family, with multiple IPOs and 10–30x returns across deep tech investments.
Investment Strategy
Stratos writes $2–4M initial checks at pre-seed and seed stages into Israeli or Israel-connected defense tech and resilience founders.
The firm's differentiated access comes from its institutional relationships with the Israeli MOD, US DoD, and NATO's DIANA program, which accelerate procurement and deployment pathways for portfolio companies. Its US operations, run through The LAB Miami partnership, provide portfolio companies with direct access to major defense and industrial entities including CENTCOM, DOW, and the Port of Miami, alongside US government and defense sector customers.
The fund has a combined track record of 30+ investments in defense tech and dual-use startups and 10+ exits, with an average MOIC of 5.8x across prior resilience tech investments.
Notable Investments
Rotem Yehuda Kakon — Co-Founder & Managing Partner
rotem@stratos-vc.com
Aviad Grinfeld — Co-Founder & Managing Partner
aviad@stratos-vc.com
Daniel Fouzailov — General Partner
Israel
