Before October 7, Israeli Ethiopian entrepreneur Solomon Geveye was feeling confident about his newest endeavor, Haile Venture Capital Fund, the first investment vehicle for pre-seed startups with disruptive technologies in which at least one founder is from Israel’s Ethiopian community.
Haile means “within my power” in Amharic, and Geveye hopes it will empower fellow Israeli Ethiopians to explore high-tech entrepreneurship, a path few take and that he has trailblazed. Many potential backers expressed interest.
“Unfortunately, since October 7 there were less meetings and some investors put us on hold. Even though lots of funding opportunities arose to support the startup ecosystem, we didn’t secure our funds yet as it seems it’s much harder to fundraise for a new VC, especially for a minority-dedicated one,” he says candidly.
Moreover, the war has made it difficult for him to move forward on his plan for Haile to open an entrepreneurship and acceleration program at Reichman University’s Google and Reichman Tech School, with support from the Israel Innovation Authority.
“As an officer in the reserves, it was very hard to focus on Haile as my mind was also troubled with the war. I was supposed to enlist but my wife and I were expecting twins so I needed to be at home. As an entrepreneur, this kind of challenge is part of the process and hopefully we’ll conclude the fundraising by the end of 2024.”
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