Israeli Defense-Tech Fund Aurelius Capital Accelerates AI and Cyber Investments

Defense technology has moved from the sidelines to a central position in global industry as geopolitical instability, cyber threats, and the need for rapid innovation drive demand for dual-use technologies. Venture capital that once avoided the sector is now pursuing advances in artificial intelligence, autonomy, and space-based systems.

Aurelius Capital is one of the funds that has emerged in this environment. The company was co-founded by Alon Lifshitz and Tomer Jacob along with former officials from U.S. and Israeli security agencies. It came out of stealth in October. The co-founder said the shift toward defense investment began as a personal response to national events.

“It started on October 7,” he told The Jerusalem Report. “From day one, my wife and I started thinking about how to give back. ” Those repeated encounters with reservists who were also engineers and founders led to the decision to launch a fund. The co-founder recalled telling his wife that the pattern was more than anecdotal and that a small fund could serve both a mission for Israel and a broader investment opportunity.

The fund is headquartered in Tel Aviv, New York, and London. Its team draws on decades of experience in intelligence, cyber operations, and defense planning. The co-founder said the background allows the group to quickly assess technologies and their relevance to the defense sector.

Capital plans to direct roughly 70 percent of its capital to Israeli companies and 30 percent to American firms. It has already completed three investments. The first is Outpost, a Los Angeles-based space-tech company co-founded by an Israeli entrepreneur.

The co-founder said the company recognizes that the next logistics frontier is space. With launch costs declining and global shipping under strain, orbital logistics could become a strategic asset. Outpost can manufacture in orbit and deliver anywhere in the world with accuracy of 20 meters within 60 minutes, he said.

The fund targets companies with clear dual-use applications, blending venture capital speed with private equity depth. Its strategy emphasizes flexibility and rapid deployment of technologies from concept to operational use.

The co-founder, who has invested in the Israeli tech market for two decades, said attitudes toward defense investments changed rapidly. “In the past, as an investor, I couldn’t invest in defense. Limited Partners didn’t want me to touch that. But almost overnight, the defense sector opened for innovators,” he said.

He pointed to active conflicts in which superpowers relied on technology beyond traditional firepower. The fund views artificial intelligence as foundational infrastructure rather than an add-on feature. “It’s not AI on the edge, but AI as infrastructure that you build the entire solution around,” the co-founder explained.

The United States and Israel remain the primary target markets. The co-founder noted that even countries with anti-Israel positions purchase Israeli defense products. He believes technology remains central to security cooperation between Israel and the United States and that dual-use innovation can both save lives and create industry.

The company sees Israel positioned at the center of the defense-tech shift because of its battlefield experience and culture of innovation. It aims to support an environment in which small companies can influence global security while helping Israel and its allies maintain technological resilience.