Investing in Israeli Cybersecurity, Intelligence and Physical Security TechnologiesAWZ Ventures describes itself as "a Canadian private investment company that invests in Israeli cybersecurity, intelligence and physical security technologies." Its head office is located in Toronto. According to its website, its management team and advisors "include successful venture capital professionals, former directors and senior executives from Israeli and global security and intelligence agencies (Mossad, Israeli Security Agency (ISA), U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), British Military Intelligence Section 5 (MI5), Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)), and industry experts from our portfolio companies' targeted sectors." Former Canadian Conservative Party prime minister Stephen Harper joined the company in 2019 and is one of its partners and President of its Advisory Committee. AWZ's founder and managing partner, Yaron Ashkenazi, was employed for a decade with the VIP Protection Division of the ISA, leading teams that protected several Israeli prime ministers. Edward Sonshine, founding partner of AWZ and chairman of the board, is the founder of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns the high rise office building it is housed in. Other notables who make up AWZ's Security & Intelligence Advisory Committee include: Stockwell Day, former Conservative Public Safety minister; Richard Fadden, former director of CSIS; R. James Woolsey, former CIA director; Oliver "Buck" Revell, former FBI Associate Deputy Director; Stella Rimington, former MI5 Director General; Haim Tomer, former head of Mossad Intelligence Division, Mossad Counter-Terrorism Division and Mossad International Division; Gary Barnea, former Deputy Director of Mossad Special Operations Division; Lt. Gen. (Ret) Michael Day, former CAF Special Operations Forces Commander. According to its website, the company manages $130 million and has invested in 17 companies, all of which, according to Richard Fadden, have been Israeli so far. Interviewed by CBC, Fadden also commented: "A lot of this technology is useful in fighting terrorism and that was my main interest". He also added: "Some of the technology that has been developed helps develop a sense of what's going on, on the one level on social media, so you can accumulate information. But mostly it's defensive." The same CBC article also notes: "The Israeli cyber-tech sector continues to grow at a record pace despite the pandemic, according to the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD). The Israeli government agency said the sector raised $2.9 billion in 2020 — an increase of more than 70 per cent over the same period in the previous year. "The sum of investments in such technology in Israel has reached 31 per cent of the value of such investments worldwide, according to INCD." (Sources: CBC, AWZ Ventures)
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