Decart, a Tel Aviv-based artificial intelligence startup, has raised $100 million in its third funding round in less than a year, the company announced Thursday, pushing total investment to $153 million and valuing the firm at $3.1 billion.
Founded in late 2023 by Dr. Dean Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev—both veterans of Israel’s elite military intelligence Unit 8200—Decart has become Israel’s first AI-focused unicorn. The company specializes in real-time video generation using artificial intelligence, positioning itself at the forefront of creative applications in gaming, media, and consumer technology.
The latest round drew participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Zeev Ventures, along with new backers including Aleph VC and several prominent angel investors.
“The early investors saw returns of 1,000 times their investment,” CEO Leitersdorf told Ynet. “We believe the next ones could see 10,000 times.”
Decart’s proprietary technology allows users to generate interactive video content via streaming in real time—capabilities not yet available from other AI companies, which typically produce only a few seconds of video. Its first model, Oasis, caught the attention of Elon Musk for its ability to create a playable video game on the fly. A second model, Mirage, can alter and generate video content from any source, drawing praise from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Leitersdorf said the company is already generating millions in revenue and is nearing profitability, having used less than $10 million of its total funding to date.
“There’s enormous demand for Mirage,” he said. “It’s the first time AI can really be used in gaming. Since GPT launched, nothing changed in gaming—until now.”
While Decart sees potential in enterprise sectors such as real estate marketing, entertainment venues, and cloud services, Leitersdorf said the company is primarily focused on the consumer market, which he described as a “trillion-dollar space.”
He added that Decart is working with major tech companies but declined to name them. “At the end of the day, what matters is that people use Decart.”
The company plans to release Mirage-based experiences in versions that mimic FaceTime, Zoom, YouTube, VR environments, and more. Leitersdorf said Decart aims to “replace, not integrate with” existing platforms.
“What replaces TikTok, YouTube, FaceTime, Snapchat, Netflix, and gaming will dominate this world,” he said. “That’s going to be us.”
In the past year, Decart has grown from 15 to more than 60 employees, with offices in northern Israel, San Francisco, and New York. The new funding will support further research and development, infrastructure expansion, and aggressive hiring.
The company’s initial revenue came from licensing its GPU optimization technology to AI labs and cloud providers. That same tech underpins Decart’s video models, allowing it to slash production costs from hundreds—or even thousands—of dollars per video to less than 25 cents.
Demand is also rising for the company’s API, expected to launch soon and become another major source of growth.
Decart’s engineering team includes former members of Israeli tech units with expertise in low-level programming, high-performance computing, and chip optimization. This blend of deep technical skill and product vision has allowed the company to scale rapidly.
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“Decart is one of the most impressive AI investments we’ve seen,” said Sean Maguire, partner at Sequoia Capital. “They’re solving a very hard technical problem with speed and precision.”
Benchmark’s Victor Lazarte said the company has turned its breakthroughs into affordable, practical tools. “They’re unlocking a whole new world of creativity and applications.”
Oren Zeev, founder of Zeev Ventures, said the company has already exceeded its ambitious founding vision.