Michael Benezra, Managing Partner

Background

Drawing upon his extensive background in foreign policy, innovation, and social impact. His professional journey commenced within the realm of government, where he contributed to policy development at the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Obama Administration.

Transitioning to the international arena, Michael assumed the role of Director of Economic Affairs and Innovation at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on the eastern United States. Here, he worked with Israeli startups to raise valuations, acccess binational research funding, and secure public and private sources of capital - totaling $500 million in for Israeli-founded ventures. Recognizing the profound potential of innovation to tackle societal issues, Michael co-established the GK Fund in 2021, dedicated to empowering BIPOC and women-owned startups.

Michael serves on the Advisory Board of Curio Legacy Technologies, the Brex Consumer Advisory Board, and the AI startup NeaterNotes. He also contributes as a Judge for the MassChallenge U.S. Accelerator Program and the Angel Capital Association Selection Committee. Michael's contributions have earned him recognition on the Boston Business Journal's esteemed "40 Under 40" list in 2021.

Michael holds a Master's in Government from Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington.

Deals and Projects

$250M - Financing from Power Africa for Energy Modernization of Cabo Verde Solar Power Infrastructure on behalf of Energyia Global (Israel).

$23M - Supply Agreement of Moderna mRNA vaccine technology by the Israel Ministry of Health.

$50M - Binational Research and Development (BIRD) Projects between U.S. and Israeli companies to produce go-to-market technologies.

  • MDI Health Technologies of Herzliya and Thermo Fisher Scientific of Waltham to develop a system for providing personalized & precise medication treatments. 

  • Check-Cap of Usfiya and GE Healthcare of Marlborough are working together on an advanced colon-cancer screening system.

  • AEYE Health of Tel Aviv and the University of Massachusetts Medical School to develop a diagnostic screening system for retinal imaging.

  • XRHealth of Tel Aviv and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston are developing a perioperative VR platform designed to distract patients from pain while undergoing medical procedures. 

  • Nazareth-based Senso Medical Labs and Brookline’s Haystack Diagnostics to develop a multi-electrode device to advance electrodiagnostic medicine.

  • GaitBetter of Haifa and Spaulding Rehabilitation Network of Charlestown to develop a motor-cognitive intervention to improve gait and mobility in stroke survivors by adding a virtual reality (VR) experience to treadmill training.

  • Igentify of Haifa and Thermo Fisher Scientific of Waltham to develop Genomic Data Interpretation & Reporting Software Platform for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based Expanded Preconception Carrier Screening Test.

  • Israel Aerospace Industries in Lod and Headwall Photonics in Bolton to develop Precision Agriculture Decision Support System for Large Scale Areas Utilizing Wide Area Hyper-Spectral Imager and Fixed Wing Mobile UAV.

  • Pixellot of Petah Tikva and HockeyTech of Needham to develop a next-generation multi-angle, automatic remote system for ice hockey game production.

  • GrayMatters Health of Haifa and the McLean Hospital Corporation of Belmont to develop personalized self-neuro-modulation therapy for major depression disorder using clinical biomarkers.

Raised Capital and helped scale startups from bootstrapped to IPO, including Alpha Tau Medical (NYSE: DRTS) - Series A Round, Tomorrow.io - Series A Round, VR Health - Pre-Seed, Logz.io - Seed, Stackwell - Pre-Seed, ReWalk - Seed.

Arpit Garg Managing Partner

Background

Prior to joining Erez Capital, Arpit was an investment banker at Drake Star Partners in Los Angeles, a firm with $22B in dealflow volume, where he advised on mergers and acquisitions and private placements with a focus on A.I., Fintech, and Media/Entertainment. He also worked as an investment banker with Beekman Advisors, where he advised companies operating in Real Estate and FIG sectors in over $3B of M&A transaction value. He started his career as an Asset Manager at JPMorgan, overseeing the planning and investment of over $1B of technology portfolio.

Arpit serves on the Investment Committee of the Wharton Impact Investment Partners (WIIP). As an IC board member of WIIP, he mentors Wharton MBA students interested in pursuing careers in the impact investment space on sourcing, due diligence, and presentation of deals to the investment committee. He earned a Master of Science in Finance degree from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Our Team

  • Ceferina Murrell-Benezra

    Partner

    With over a decade dedicated to public service, Ceferina has held key leadership roles, including Director of Legislative Affairs for Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, as well as Chief of Staff for Senator Nick Collins and Senator Linda Dorcena Forry. Ceferina was instrumental in advancing diversity in minority contracting, fostering economic development initiatives, and contributing to the passage of the multi-billion dollar housing bond bill.

    Ceferina also transitioned into the private sector, bridging Boston's diverse communities and large-scale commercial development projects at RISE Construction.

    In 2023, Ceferina was honored, by being named to Boston Business Journal’s prestigious 40 Under 40 list. She also received the Black Excellence on the Hill Award from the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and was recognized as one of Boston’s Most Impactful Black Women.

    Ceferina holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross.

  • Megan Groves

    Partner

    Megan Groves’ professional throughline has been building startups and commercializing new technology: as a founder, growth leader for dozens of venture-backed companies, and as an advisor & angel investor.  

    She is currently the Founder and CEO of Population, a first-of-its-kind connected integrated AI and IoT solution to future-proof buildings against infectious disease and promote better health and better data for occupants.

    Prior to Population, she founded and exited 2 companies including Modular, a growth advisory and acceleration team where she scaled over 20 venture-backed Seed Stage to Series D tech companies and helped several others fundraise or exit.  Megan began mentoring startups at Silicon Valley’s Highway1 and now is an active mentor for Plug & Play Tech Center and Techstars (Hardware/IoT,Barclay's Fin-Tech, Techstars New York). She is also an early investor in a number of AI, robotics, manufacturing, and D2C companies.

    Megan has been published in Forbes, Inc, and Geekwire, and has won both a Gold Stevie Award and a New Product Innovation award from Frost & Sullivan. She has also led research published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and holds a patent on an AI system for commercial buildings to protect occupant health.  

    Megan splits her time between San Francisco and New York, speaks 5 languages, and earned her MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

  • Noah Ente

    Associate

    Prior to Erez, Noah gained experience at AnD Ventures, an early-stage VC firm in Israel. He has also provided business development and marketing services to several accelerator- and venture-backed startups. Noah received his BA in International Studies from the University of Michigan.

Finance Committee

  • Georg Philipp Ettstaller

    Chair

    CEO & Co-Founder | Roket Technologies

    Visiting Lecturer at Columbia University

  • Matthew Person

    SVP of Corporate Development | Green Street

  • Bob Woods

    Former Managing Partner | PwC

  • Pramod Iyengar

    CFO | Veem

  • Enna Weng

    Managing Director | Freedom Capital Markets

  • Abdul Lakhani

    Senior Advisor | AMA Capital Partners

  • Darren Chan

    Director, Defense & National Security | Netskope

  • Julien Breillad

    Deals Professional | PwC

  • Angad Singh Sidhu

    Sr. Vice President | Brookfield Capital Partners

  • Ritesh Chaturbedi

    CEO | Innovon