Randi Zuckerberg: “This is a great time to be encouraging people to make their first Seed or angel investment in an Israeli company”

“There is really a huge opportunity right now to take the vibrant community that we have in New York and form strategic partnerships and alliances with the vibrant community in Israel. I'm very proud to be a partner in a venture firm Surround Ventures that invests in Israeli startups and helps them expand in the United States. And I also think this is a great time to be encouraging people to make their first Seed or angel investment in an Israeli company,” said Randi Zuckerberg, CEO of HUG and Zuckerberg Media. Zuckerberg was speaking at the Mind the Tech conference in New York with Guy Franklin, Founder and General Partner of ‘Israeli Mapped in NY’ Ventures.

“I remember about 15 years ago, I led a trip of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, non-Jewish entrepreneurs, to Israel. We covered all of the expenses, but the only rule was that they had to make a small Seed investment in a startup that they met in Israel. And what ended up happening is that those relationships last far longer than the memories of a trip that just fade when you come back to your email and your busy calendar. As soon as you make an investment in a startup, you stay connected to that founder and that company. And so I, I'd like to see a lot more of that happening also,” added Zuckerberg, the former director of market development and spokesperson for Facebook, which was founded by her brother Mark.

“The general market climate is not helpful, but all over the world, cybersecurity is at the top of almost every tech conference and event that we're having,” added Zuckerberg. “And that's a great opportunity for Israeli startups in that space to really be thinking about, what does the cybersecurity warfront look like 5, 10, 15 years from now?”

As someone deeply involved both in technology and arts, including your new startup Hug, how do you see AI impacting creativity, and how can AI disrupt the arts marketplace that you are now building?

“I've always been into art. I've always had one foot in tech and one foot in the arts. After I left Facebook I actually went to perform on Broadway here in New York City. So kind of a weird career path. But one of the things that's always drawn me to the arts is that it seems to be the only place left where we can have very difficult conversations, but performed on stage or in a movie or in a song, it becomes much more accessible to see something that's really intense and difficult and bridges those conversations. I would love to see more incredible stories about Israel that are positive, that are being told in the arts.”

You can watch the full exchange in the video above.