Izhar Shay, General Partner, Canaan Partners

Izhar Shay has been head of Canaan Partners’ Israel operations since 2006. Izhar focuses on companies in communications and mobility, software, clean technologies and digital media. He also seeks key investments in medical devices.

Izhar led Canaan’s investments in LiveU, Efficient Finance, EnStorage, Prime Sense and N-trig. Izhar also oversees Canaan’s local involvement in other Israeli companies. Izhar serves on the board of directors of LiveU, Efficient Finance, N-trig and Prime Sense.

With more than 20 years of operational experience as a successful entrepreneur, Izhar was previously Chairman and CEO of V-Secure Technologies, which he grew to a leading position in the intrusion prevention market.

The company was acquired by Radware (RDWR) in December 2005.

Prior to V-Secure, Izhar was CEO and co-founder of Business Layers, a Canaan portfolio company.

Izhar led Business Layers from startup to a dominant player position in the identity management market, until it was acquired by Netegrity (NETE) in December 2003. Izhar was previously VP of Business Development at The BRM Group.

Izhar holds a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel. He was a paratrooper and officer in the Israeli army.

Izhar is involved in various volunteer activities related to the education of young students in Israel. He serves on the board of directors of Snunit, a nonprofit organization, specializing in integrating technology and the Internet into Israel’s elementary schools.

Izhar is also a member of the Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools organization. He writes a weekly column at Globes.