# Yuval Ben-Itzhak

> Yuval Ben-Itzhak is an Israeli technology entrepreneur and Prague-based investor at Evolution Equity Partners. He co-founded web application security company KaVaDo, held CTO roles at Finjan, AVG Technologies and Outbrain, led Socialbakers through its 2020 acquisition by Astute, and became Emplifi’s founding president and chief of strategy. His public writing covers software pricing, founder-investor relationships and AI engineering.

- **Role:** General Partner at Evolution Equity Partners
- **Organizations:** Evolution Equity Partners, Emplifi, Socialbakers, Outbrain, AVG Technologies, Finjan, KaVaDo, Ness Technologies, Intel
- **Nationality:** Israeli
- **Education:** BSc in Information Systems and Engineering, cum laude, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- **Known for:** Inventor on 26 granted U.S. patents, according to Evolution Equity Partners., Co-founded KaVaDo, acquired by Protegrity in 2004., Part of AVG’s leadership team for its 2012 NYSE IPO.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Co-founded KaVaDo, a web application security company, and served as CTO.
- **2004** — KaVaDo acquired by Protegrity; named among InfoWorld’s Top 25 CTOs.
- **2005–2009** — CTO at Finjan.
- **2007** — Included in Computerworld’s 40 Innovative IT People to Watch, Under the Age of 40.
- **2009–2010** — Senior vice president of engineering at AVG Technologies.
- **2010–2015** — CTO at AVG Technologies; part of the leadership team during its 2012 NYSE IPO.
- **2015–2017** — CTO at Outbrain.
- **2017** — Became CEO of Socialbakers; received GeekTime’s CTO of the Year award.
- **2020** — Led Socialbakers through its acquisition by Astute.
- **2021** — Became founding president and chief of strategy at Emplifi following the combined business’s rebranding.
- **2022** — Joined Evolution Equity Partners as a venture partner.
- **2023** — Appointed general partner at Evolution Equity Partners and to lead its Centers of Excellence for Cybersecurity Growth Companies.

## Achievements

- Inventor on 26 granted U.S. patents, according to Evolution Equity Partners.
- Co-founded KaVaDo, acquired by Protegrity in 2004.
- Part of AVG’s leadership team for its 2012 NYSE IPO.
- Led Socialbakers through its 2020 acquisition.
- InfoWorld Top 25 CTO recognition in 2004.
- Computerworld 40 Under 40 recognition in 2007.
- GeekTime CTO of the Year in 2017.
- Reported a 48% increase in SaaS average sales price following a pricing and packaging project in a January 2022 essay.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Published a first-person essay about reducing AI agent token costs through context management, summarization and caching.
- **2026-01** — Coverage of a TLV Cyber Week panel reported his emphasis on runtime security as AI accelerates attacks.
- **2025-03** — Published an essay encouraging founders to ask investors directly what they are doing wrong.
- **2024-03** — Commented on Sweet Security’s $33 million Series A led by Evolution Equity Partners.

## Links

- Website: https://evolutionequity.com/team/yuval-ben-itzhak/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuval-ben-itzhak

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yuval-ben-itzhak
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-20