# Firstime

Firstime is an Asset Manager based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** Tel Aviv, Israel
- **Region:** Middle East
- **Address:** Tel Aviv, Israel
- **Founded:** 2014
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** www.firstime.vc
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/firstime-ventures

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Firstime is an experienced venture capital platform that managed multiple VC funds, including a sustainability-focused fund. Through its work with technology-driven companies in infrastructure, energy transition, industrials and sustainability, it identified that many businesses were moving beyond product development into a more capital-intensive phase of commercialization, deployment and scale. Endurance was founded to address that financing gap and previously operated as Firstime Credit.

## Sectors

- ClimateTech
- Digital Health
- AgriTech & FoodTech
- Clean & Circular Economy
- AI/ML
- Energy Transition & Renewables

## People

- Jonathan Benartzi — Managing Partner, Co-Founder & CEO
- Nir Tarlovsky — Managing Partner
- Keren Kopilov — Partner & Head of Digital Health

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Firstime?

Managing Partners Jonathan Benartzi and Nir Tarlovsky lead investment decisions at Firstime. Benartzi is a serial founder who co-founded and led LATTO and Netking, while Tarlovsky brings 30 years of investing experience and co-founded RSLCOM and Nielsen BuzzMetrics. Keren Kopilov oversees digital health investments and serves as COO and CFO.

### Does Firstime operate more like a venture firm or a sustainability-focused investor?

Firstime functions as a venture firm, but its third fund is structured entirely around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, making sustainability the core investment mandate rather than a sidecar strategy. The firm explicitly states that the next thousand unicorns will be climate-tech startups, and it allocates capital accordingly across renewable energy, agriculture, food security, circular economy, and digital health.

### What investment stages does Firstime typically target?

The firm targets early-stage companies, primarily at Seed and Startup phases. It does not outline later-stage growth equity or public-market exposure. Firstime complements its early-stage venture equity strategy with a credit arm, Firstime Credit, which can support portfolio companies through blended funding as they scale.

### Which sectors does Firstime explicitly prioritize?

Firstime invests in climate adaptation and accessibility sectors aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its stated areas include AI for renewable energies, IoT and data-driven agriculture, food security, clean and circular economy solutions, net-zero carbon technologies, and affordable digital health. The firm defines itself by these positive thematic constraints rather than negative exclusions.

### How is Firstime related to Firstime Credit?

Firstime Credit operates as an in-house credit vehicle alongside the flagship venture funds. The credit team includes professionals who previously served as Head of Credit at Altshuler Shaham and as Head of Credit Department at Citi Israel. This structure lets the firm provide both equity and credit to climate-tech companies, an unusual blended-capital design for a venture platform.

## Related profiles

- [First Imagine!](https://altss.com/profile/first-imagine)
- [First In Capital](https://altss.com/profile/first-in-capital)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T15:06:42.396Z

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