Celebrity chef Assaf Granit, known for high-profile corporate catering deals with major tech firms, is expanding into one of Israel’s fastest-growing sectors.
Granit, owner of the famed Machneyuda culinary group, is joining venture capital firm IL Ventures as a strategic adviser, Calcalist has learned. The firm focuses on deep-tech investments and is currently raising $100 million for its second fund.
Granit and IL Ventures partners Elad Frenkel and Yoni Heilbronn plan to invest in technologies aimed at reinventing the hospitality, dining and hotel industries, sectors that have seen relatively little technological disruption.
These sectors are currently grappling with chronic labor shortages and are seeking innovative solutions, including robotics, to help address staffing challenges. “The labor shortage in this field, like in many others, is real," Granit said in a recent interview with Calcalist. "It is going to change soon, and due to the AI revolution, many people will have to return to a labor market that relies on creativity and hands‑on work. Right now, the situation in Israel is no different from the rest of the world; it’s hard to find waitstaff, bartenders and chefs.”
The connection between the IL Ventures team and Granit happened by chance through collaborative work with Verstill, one of the firm’s portfolio companies. Verstill has developed technology to streamline the production of alcoholic beverages, aiming to shorten aging time and allow more precise control over flavor profiles. The Israeli company already works with brewers and wineries, hotel chains and chef restaurants, caught Granit’s attention, given his entrepreneurial interests alongside his culinary career.
Heilbronn and Frenkel are now concluding investments from their first fund, which managed $30 million, and are raising the larger second fund, expected to reach $100 million. IL Ventures invests in deep-tech fields such as robotics, logistics, digital transformation powered by AI and supply chain technology. The firm focuses on the earliest stages of startups, typically seed rounds, with an emphasis on companies bringing new technologies into traditional industries.
Since its founding 4 years ago, the fund’s portfolio has expanded beyond Verstill to include companies like CaPow, which raised $15 million from Toyota last year and is developing a wireless charging solution for mobile robots; CYBORD, which uses AI to detect defects in electronic components, and Pickommerce, which has developed an autonomous picking and packing robot designed for e-commerce.