Decart
Israeli generative-AI company in Tel Aviv building real-time video and "world" models and AI inference software; founded in 2023 by two Unit 8200 veterans
| Decart
| |
|---|---|
| Logo |  Decart logo |
| Type | Private company |
| Founded | 2023 |
| Founder(s) | Dean Leitersdorf, Moshe Shalev |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel; research and development centre in San Francisco |
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Services | DOS inference and training stack; Lucy real-time video model; Oasis "world model" |
| Homepage | decart.ai |
Decart is an Israeli artificial-intelligence (AI) company based in Tel Aviv that develops real-time video-generation models, a "world model" and software that cuts the cost of running AI models.[1][2] It was founded in late 2023 by Dean Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev, both veterans of Unit 8200, who met while serving in the unit's reserves.[3][1] In May 2026 it raised $300 million at a valuation of about $4 billion, and in October 2026 The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was in talks to buy it for about $7 billion.[4]
History
According to Ctech, Decart was set up in late 2023 after its founders left military service, and achieved early profitability with paying enterprise customers. In October 2024 it raised $21 million in a seed round led by Sequoia Capital, with Oren Zeev, one of its first investors, taking part.[3] In August 2025 Ctech reported that it had raised $100 million at a $3.1 billion valuation, had 60 employees and was opening a research centre in San Francisco led by Kfir Aberman, formerly of Snap and Google.[1]
2026 funding and sale talks
On 18 May 2026 Decart announced a $300 million round led by Radical Ventures, with Nvidia, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, Adobe Ventures, Toyota Ventures and eBay Ventures as new investors alongside Sequoia Capital, Benchmark and Zeev Ventures. It said that Amazon was one of its "strategic customers".[2] Ctech put the valuation at about $4 billion and the company's total funding at about $450 million.[4]
Ctech reported in October 2026 that Nvidia had first pursued an acquisition, that Anthropic had then emerged as the preferred bidder in August 2026 but abandoned the deal in September after due diligence, and that, according to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon was in talks to buy Decart for about $7 billion.[4]
Founders and military service
- Dean Leitersdorf, co-founder and chief executive: Ctech described him as "also a veteran of Unit 8200" who "completed his doctoral studies in computer science at the Technion by the age of 23 while still in military service" (Unit 8200).[3]
- Moshe Shalev, co-founder and chief product officer: according to Ctech, he "previously held key technological positions within the Intelligence Division, including in Unit 8200" (Intelligence Corps).[3] A later Ctech profile called him "a former cyber operator who grew up in Israel's ultra-Orthodox community" and said the two "met while serving in the reserves of Unit 8200".[1]
Ctech quoted Leitersdorf as saying: "We're not building a startup. We're building a before-and-after company. Like the iPhone. Like Google Search. Like the State of Israel."[1]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ctech, From stealth to $3.1 billion in less than a year Ctech, 7 August 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Decart, Decart Raises $300M: Tech Leaders Back the Company as Both Customers and Investors Decart, 18 May 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Meir Orbach, Sequoia-backed Decart raises $21M in Seed funding to pioneer scalable, cost-efficient GenAI Ctech, 31 October 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sophie Shulman and Golan Hazani, Amazon emerges as potential buyer of Israeli AI startup Decart at $7 billion Ctech, 12 October 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.