Ex-NBA athlete Omri Casspi launches $60M fund targeting cybersecurity, cloud infra and AI

Former NBA athlete Omri Casspi has raised $60 million for his latest venture fund, Swish Ventures, which will invest in early-stage cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI startups. The fund plans to back 10 companies, and will invest $5 million to $7 million per deal.

Swish Ventures is Casspi’s second fund following the launch of Sheva Capital, a $50 million fund, in 2022. Casspi said he manages Sheva’s portfolio now that its investment period has concluded. “I’m fully hands-on continuing the growth of our companies, but we will not be raising another fund under Sheva,” Casspi told TechCrunch, explaining his role in overseeing both funds.

Several founders who were backed by Sheva are now investors in Swish Ventures, including EON founder Ophir Ehrlich, Upwind’s founder Amiram Shachar, and PointFive’s co-founders Gal Ben-David and Alon Arvatz. They join other institutional investors; Sequoia Capital is an anchor investor in the fund.

Casspi says Swish Ventures will follow a similar thesis to Sheva’s, focusing on seed investments in “startups led by seasoned entrepreneurs who have the potential to build market-defining companies.” However, Swish Ventures is narrowing its focus to cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI — a shift from Sheva’s broader remit, which included fintech and web3 alongside cybersecurity startups.

The move reflects investors’ increasing interest in cybersecurity and AI, particularly in Israel and the U.S., where Casspi has concentrated his investments. 

Israel, in particular, is known for its strength in cybersecurity — the sector brought in more than half of the venture capital raised by Israeli startups in the first six months of 2024, according to Startup Nation Central. Casspi has invested his own money in Wiz, while Eon is a Sheva portfolio company.

Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA and the former captain of Israel’s national basketball team, is just one of several athletes who are now venture capitalists. Just last week, Giannis Antetokoumpo became the latest sports figure to enter the venture capital world. Serena Williams notably runs Serena Ventures, Kevin Durant has 35V, Stephen Curry has Penny Jar Capital, and Andre Iguodala owns Mosaic General Partnership.

Casspi claims his firms have about $125 million in assets under management. Other startups in Sheva’s portfolio include Upwind, which reached a valuation of about $900 million, and PointFive, whose founders previously sold a company to Rapid7 and raised $36 million.

Swish is also adding Dana Alexandrovich as an operating partner. Before her current role, Alexander was the COO of Microsoft in Israel from 2021, leading sales operations across the Middle East and Africa.