YA

Yuval Ariav

Founder & Managing Partner at Symbol · First-check investor · Adj. Professor at Columbia

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District

Work Experience

2021

  • Managing Partner

    2021

    Symbol invests $500k to $3.5M in the first funding round (first SAFE / priced round) of exceptional Israeli entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, building pre-consensus companies. We are a generalist, sector-agnostic fund, investing in B2B, consumer, and enterprise tech startups. We are fortunate to partner early with companies like Sightful, Nilus, Breeze, Jiga, Squire, CardinalOps and WisePal. We’re excited about meeting founders as early as possible and accompanying them throughout ideation, validation, and team building. Post-investment, we strive to provide personalized support to help them get from zero to one.

  • Adjunct Professor

    2017

    I teach Data Driven Dollars, a top-3 course about how data-rich companies transform their data assets into new product lines and revenue streams, and how that impacts modern liberal societies. The course provides an overview of the data revolution that's been taking place in the last two decades, discusses how tech progress is intertwined with data monetization, teaches the basics of modern data operations, and explores the different data monetization models that exist, and how they're shaped and driven by the underlying data sets.

2012

  • Founder, advisor

    2016

    I founded Fundbox, which raised over $100M from top tier funds such as Khosla Ventures, Spark Capital, General Catalyst, and more, and headed its operations center in Tel Aviv, running the company's Product, Engineering, Risk, and Customer Service departments.

  • Founder, CTO

    2012 - 2015

    I founded Fundbox and headed its operations center in Tel Aviv, running the company's Product, Engineering, Risk, and Customer Service departments.

  • Board Member

    2017

    I'm a first check investor and a member of NextSilicon's Board of Directors, I support the company's founders and management team with strategic advice and direction. The company raised $100M from funds such as Playground Global, Third Point, and Aleph.

2018

  • Board Member

    2018

    As the lead first-check investor and a member of FundGuard's Board of Directors, I support the company's founders and management team with strategic advice and direction.

  • Board Member

    2018

    As the lead first check investor and a member of AssuredAllies's Board of Directors, I support the company's founders and management team with strategic advice and direction.

2020

  • First-check investor

    2020

  • Board Member

    2021

    As the lead seed investor and a member of Jiga's Board of Directors, I support the company's founders and management team with strategic advice and direction.

2021

  • Board Member

    2021

    As the lead seed investor and a member of Breeze's Board of Directors, I support the company's founders and management team with strategic advice and direction.

2022

  • Seed Investor

    2022

    I led Squire's pre-lead seed investor on a mission to help older adult lead healthier, more connected, and more independent lives.