i3 Partners

Eran Wagner, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at i3 Partners is a seasoned investor and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in deep technology ventures emerging from Israeli research. He has built and scaled hi-tech businesses from the ground up, driving team building, fundraising, product definition, and go-to-market strategies—all the way through to successful exits. His expertise and strategic vision make him a recognized leader in Israel’s investment landscape.

Before co-founding i3 Partners, Eran was a General Partner at Gemini Israel Ventures, where he led investments in Moovit (acquired by Intel), WalkMe (acquired by SAP), and Weka. He also served on the boards of multiple portfolio companies, including Totango (acquired by SAP), WatchDox (acquired by BlackBerry), Cloudshare, ConteXtream (acquired by HP), and Implisit (acquired by Salesforce).

A serial inventor with multiple patents, Eran has co-founded several companies, including Xpert and XACCT. He is also the founder of industry-leading initiatives such as Silicon Valley-based IEFF, the LA-based Israel Conference, and Tel Aviv’s IoT Israel Summit. In addition, he is an active fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative and serves on the board of Technoda, supporting science, technology and healthcare education for children.

Beyond his investment work, Eran is committed to fostering entrepreneurship. As an adjunct professor at Reichman University, he mentors aspiring founders, sharing insights from his extensive experience. He holds a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University.

"The temptation, often driven by investors, to grow rapidly and acquire customers too soon can derail a company. Instead, the focus should be on making the product indispensable and delivering real value that multiplies over time."

At i3 Partners, he focuses on investing in super early-stage deep tech startups—pre-seed and seed-stage ventures with the potential to disrupt significant markets. He looks for exceptional teams with deep domain expertise, strong intellectual property protections such as patents, and transformative technologies capable of making a lasting impact.

What challenges did you face while establishing i3 Partners, and how did you overcome them?

Ultimately, the startup ecosystem we operate in is highly competitive, with a constant stream of new ideas and companies. Each year, we evaluate between 200 and 400 startups, and our biggest challenge is efficiently identifying which ones are not the right fit for our fund so we can say no quickly without wasting anyone’s time. For those who are a good fit, we focus on conducting due diligence in a way that is both thorough and efficient, ensuring that the process itself adds value to the startup, regardless of our final decision. This approach fosters strong relationships with entrepreneurs who appreciate the interaction regardless of the outcome. We respect and learn from them, and we aim to add value whether we invest or not.

Can you share a key initiative you led at i3 Equity Partners and how it made an impact?

One company within our portfolio is Tulu, which operates in the consumer space. Tulu specializes in creating micro-rental retail points within large residential buildings, allowing residents to rent essential equipment for daily use conveniently. Whether a scooter for commuting, a vacuum cleaner for cleaning, or an entertainment device like a TV projector or PlayStation, Tulu ensures easy access to items.

Leveraging advanced technology, Tulu stays closely connected to consumers, analyzing usage patterns to predict their needs and optimize the value it delivers. This benefits residents and building management companies by providing a valuable amenity and manufacturers by offering insights to improve their products.

Founded around five years ago, Tulu has expanded to over 300 buildings across Western Europe and the U.S., serving nearly 150,000 users in close to 50 cities. Over the past 12 months, the company has doubled its growth across all key metrics and continues to scale rapidly.

Could you share any new technology or approach emerging in the startup ecosystem that excites you and explain what aspects of it are particularly inspiring?

The defining revolution of this decade is undoubtedly AI—how it can enhance people’s lives and optimize businesses. One of my recent investments, Hedgify, is a great example of this transformation. Hedgify helps manufacturers hedge against commodity price fluctuations, stabilizing their P&L by mitigating financial risk.

For industries reliant on raw materials—whether a cookie manufacturer dependent on sugar, palm oil, and wheat or a construction firm using aluminum—price volatility can create significant financial uncertainty. Typically, companies sell their products at fixed prices while the cost of their inputs fluctuates. Financial institutions take on this risk, earning profits at times and facing losses at others while ultimately providing businesses with financial stability.

While large corporations like Cargill and Nestlé have long employed these hedging strategies, many mid-sized companies, even those generating billions in revenue, have not adopted them—primarily because traditional hedging requires complex, manual analysis. This is where AI comes in. Hedgify leverages advanced AI-driven models to automate and optimize the hedging process, enabling businesses to stabilize their P&L and improve top and bottom-line performance.

What key advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in the startup ecosystem?

There’s no single piece of advice that guarantees success—building a startup is a complex and risky journey. However, one key lesson I emphasize, both in my own experience and with the companies I fund, is the importance of achieving strong product-market fit before scaling.

The temptation, often driven by investors, to grow rapidly and acquire customers too soon can derail a company. Instead, the focus should be on making the product indispensable and delivering real value that multiplies over time. Whether through network effects or other growth drivers, disciplined, well-timed scaling significantly increases the chances of long-term success.