Yadin B. Kaufmann is an Israeli-American technology investor, social entrepreneur and writer. Kaufmann has played a key role in Israel's venture capital scene since the “Startup Nation’s” tech boom began in the 1980s and, more recently, has been involved in efforts to create a Palestiniantech industry. Kaufmann co-founded two venture capital firms: Veritas Venture Partners, an Israel-based fund investing in early-stage tech startups, and Sadara Ventures, the first venture capital fund to target Palestinian tech companies. He also founded two non-profit organizations: Tmura, an Israeli fund that connects the high-tech community to philanthropy in Israel, and the Palestinian Internship Program, which arranges work opportunities for young Palestinian professionals at Israel-based tech and finance companies. In 2011, Israeli financial magazine, The Marker, named Kaufmann to its list of the 100 most influential people in the Israeli economy. In 2017, Foreign Policy magazine named Kaufmann one of its “Global Thinkers”, a list of "the world's pre-eminent thought leaders and public intellectuals."
In 1987, Kaufmann joined Athena Venture Partners, Israel's first venture capital fund, just as the “Start-Up Nation” was beginning to develop. In 1990, Kaufmann co-founded, with Gideon Tolkowsky, Veritas Venture Partners, an early-stage investor in Israeli technology-based companies. Athena and Veritas led seed-stage financing rounds in numerous Israeli companies, including Mercury Interactive Corp. ; Electronics for Imaging, Gilat Satellite Networks, Class Data Systems, M-Systems, ESC Medical Systems, and others.
In 2002, Kaufmann founded “Tmura - The Israeli Public Service Venture Fund.” Tmura receives donations of equity from Israeli and Israel-related high-tech companies and, upon a liquidity event such as an acquisition or initial public offering, allocates the proceeds to education- and youth-related charities in Israel. Tmura has received options donations from more than 500 companies and has raised over $16.5 million for the causes that it supports.
The Palestinian Internship Program
In 2014, Kaufmann founded the Palestinian Internship Program , a US-registered non-profit that arranges work experiences and other professional development activities for highly talented Palestinian graduates from the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the Israeli high-tech sector. As of early 2018, PIP has enabled 40 young Palestinian professionals to work at 25 Israel-based companies including Intel, HP Indigo and Thomson Reuters, as well as a number of startups and VC funds.
In 1978, Kaufmann and his then-girlfriend, Lori Banov Kaufmann wrote Summer ’79 in France. Kaufmann then wrote Boston Ice Cream Lover’s Guide, which was published by Addison-Wesley in 1985. In 2004, Kaufmann co-founded to publish a series of books that help people through life’s biggest challenges, based on advice and entertaining experiences collected from hundreds of people across the US who have "been there, done that". Their best-selling bookHow to Survive Your Freshman Year is in its 5th edition. Kaufmann has written op-ed articles about his professional activities, especially relating to the role Israel can play in promoting Palestinian private sector technology-related enterprise. In 2017, he wrote a feature article in Foreign Affairs entitled, “Start-Up Palestine: How to Spark a West Bank Tech Boom.” He has also published articles in the Times of Israel and Haaretz. When studying a J.D. at Harvard Law School, Kaufmann was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He has spoken at forums including TEDx Rome, StartupGrind Ramallah, Seeds of Peace, American Israel Public Affairs Committee and DLD Tel Aviv.
