Serial Entrepreneur Avinoam Rubinstein Joins NetZero Tech Ventures to Expand AI Energy Tech Investments
NetZero Tech Ventures has appointed veteran entrepreneur Avinoam Rubinstein as a Venture Partner, marking the fund's strategic expansion into the emerging Energy Tech for AI sector. This new investment category focuses on addressing energy, cooling, and infrastructure challenges driven by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence technologies. Rubinstein will deepen the fund's involvement in critical areas such as energy production and storage, thermal management, and hardware and computing infrastructure supporting AI data centers.
Founded in 2021, NetZero Tech Ventures is a leading Israeli fund specializing in climate and deep-tech investments. Its partners and investors include TotalEnergies, Eren Group, Benhamou Global Ventures, DelekUS, Other Sources Energy Group, IP Innovative Power, The Blue Minds Company, and the Israel Innovation Authority. The fund's management team features CEO Shmuel Kadmi, CTO Dr. Gideon Friedman (former Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Energy), CFO Inbal Tal, and VP of Business Development Yael Weiss Zilberman. Its portfolio includes companies like Chiral Energies and SolidT, which focus on Energy for AI solutions, alongside others such as GreenTidio, PyroH2, Starstone, and Timna Elements.
NetZero Labs, the fund’s R&D arm, operates near the National Energy Storage Institute and collaborates with Bar-Ilan University to provide portfolio companies access to advanced prototyping and development infrastructure. Rubinstein brings extensive entrepreneurial and managerial experience, having served as CEO of Carrar Technologies and advisor to ZutaCore, a data center cooling solutions company. He previously founded Atrica, a pioneer in Carrier Ethernet solutions that raised over $200 million before being acquired by Nokia Siemens Networks. Rubinstein also held senior roles at 3Com and co-founded AI-based media-tech company my6sense and early Israeli tech exit NiceCom.
Shmuel Kadmi highlighted the unprecedented demand AI creates for new energy technologies and called Rubinstein's combined expertise in AI, enterprise infrastructure, and thermal management ideal for leading NetZero’s strategic growth in this sector. Rubinstein emphasized AI’s transformative impact on the global energy landscape and expressed enthusiasm for working with portfolio entrepreneurs to develop technologies that will power the future AI infrastructure while accelerating the transition to sustainable energy.
