A group of Israeli entrepreneurs, including Amir Fishelov and Yoav Galin, two of the founders of SolarEdge, are establishing a new fund to invest in energy and infrastructure companies. The fund, called Square One Labs, will back ventures in energy, industrial technologies, and robotics in Israel.
Additional founders include Jonathan Bik, with Mike Cheifetz later joining as a partner. The group has raised $30 million from a range of investors, including the Israel Innovation Authority, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures (Doral’s innovation arm), Bazan, Afcon, Elements VC (a venture fund for energy and climate technologies backed by Enlight), RAD, and others.
Square One Labs will operate through two investment models: a venture capital fund that supports early-stage companies, and a Build program designed to nurture new startups from the idea stage through team formation, technology development, and company establishment. The goal is to enable entrepreneurs to spin out as independent ventures once their foundations are in place.
In April, the Build program secured budgets from the Innovation Authority under a new investment model that pairs public money with private capital. The program is eligible for cumulative grants of up to 40 million shekels from the Innovation Authority, contingent on raising at least 120 million shekels from the private market, alongside other conditions.
The launch comes amid a surge in electricity demand worldwide, driven by electrification across everyday activities, the growing adoption of electric vehicles, and, most recently, the rapid expansion of AI-driven server farms. A Moody’s report from August 2024 estimated that electricity demand for server farms would double by 2028. The report projected total investment in server farms worldwide at $2.2 trillion between 2024 and 2028, averaging $443 billion per year.
“Artificial intelligence has transformed energy from a hidden engine into a basic requirement,” said Amir Fishelov, founder and managing partner of Square One Labs. “Without available, cheap, and efficient electricity, the revolution simply does not happen.”