ACCESS
EXPERIENCE
INTEGRITY

Software-only startups in the US and Israel
Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A

Boston Skyline

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Society is experiencing dramatic disruptions in many markets and geographies. Talented entrepreneurs are nimbler and better suited than incumbents to take advantage of rapidly changing market conditions.

Our founders target emerging opportunities and design their ventures with the rules of new paradigms in mind.

ABOUT

TEAM

Team

JOHN HARTHORNE

Founder & Managing Director

As the Founder and decade-long CEO of MassChallenge, John is obsessed with entrepreneurship and has worked with thousands of startups since 2010. MassChallenge is the most-startup-friendly and largest startup accelerator on the planet and has graduated over 3,000 startups which have cumulatively generated billions of dollars of revenue and have created over 200,000 jobs.

While launching and running MassChallenge, John generated a vast network of new and established founders, corporate partners, investors, and innovation talent. Furthermore, John gained unrivaled experience working to support startups as an advisor and connector, learning which teams, models, and partners create sustainable success most consistently. John left MassChallenge in 2019 to launch Two Lanterns in 2020.

John holds a BA from Bowdoin College, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an Honorary Doctorate from Suffolk University, and certificates for Leadership and Innovation from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

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Partner

MICHAL GILON-YANAI

Michal Gilon-Yanai has been the founder and director of multiple entrepreneurship programs in the US and in Israel. She founded the MBA Innovation & Entrepreneurship track at IDC, directed two programs at MIT’s entrepreneurship center and, most recently, founded and led the Biomedical Entrepreneurship Program at the NYU school of medicine. Through this work, she developed a keen understanding of technology and science commercialization and supported dozens of innovators and entrepreneurs over the course of two decades. Michal began her career at a healthcare IT startup where she filled several roles and served as a member of the company’s management team.

Michal also played a critical role in launching the MassChallenge Israel program, joining its advisory board for several years. She has outstanding access to deal flow, and contributes deep startup experience to Two Lanterns. Michal served in the IDF Intelligence corps, received computer science and law degrees from Tel Aviv University, and earned her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007. She joined Two Lanterns Venture Partners in 2020.

Lily Toto

Associate

Lily Toto is a startup enthusiast with a strong desire to support entrepreneurs. She brings a wealth of experience from her time in strategy consulting at L.E.K. Consulting, where she worked on projects spanning the life sciences, consumer retail, and technology sectors.

In addition, Lily has gained invaluable experience working for various early-stage software startups, where her work spanned marketing, business development, and strategic operations. Her combined experience in consulting and start-ups has given her the ability to understand complex business challenges and identify growth opportunities.

Lily received a BA in Economics and Government from Georgetown University, where she served as the CEO of Georgetown Collegiate Investors, an undergraduate equity investment fund. She joined Two Lanterns Venture Partners as an Associate in 2023.

Advisors

DESH DESHPANDE

Founder Cascade Communications, Sycamore Networks, etc
Serial mentor, investor, philanthropist
Life-member of the MIT Corporation
Founding Board Member, MassChallenge
PhD Queens University
B.Tech. IIT Madras

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ZOHAR GILON

Israeli Super Angel with extensive experience as an investor (over 200 investments) and investment advisor
Transaction manager for some of Israel’s most recognized exits, managing each from inception to exit
Pivotal advisor for creation of MassChallenge Israel
MBA Tel Aviv University
BS EE/CS Technion University

PETER PARKER

Managing General Partner at Mission BioCapital
Founder and Director, LabCentral
Life Sciences Champion, MassChallenge
President and CEO, Cequent Pharmaceuticals
General Partner Ampersand Capital Partners
BS, MS Columbia University

SATISH TADIKONDA

Executive Fellow in Entrepreneurship at
the Rock Center, Harvard Business School
Executive Partner of Blue Cloud Ventures,
a growth equity fund based in NYC
Entrepreneur in life science and healthcare
Active early-stage investor; member of
TiE Angels, TBD Angels, and Sky Ventures
PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a focus on medical imaging

PORTFOLIO

Portfolio

The DriveU.auto Teleoperation Connectivity Platform enables safe teleoperation of robots and autonomous vehicles using cellular bonding and dynamic encoding. The platform is already deployed and in use on public roads, across multiple use cases, including delivery robots, autonomous trucks, shuttles, robotaxis and more.

Two Lanterns invested alongside renowned Israeli tech investors including Zohar Zisapel, Kaedan Capital and Yigal Jacoby, later joined by Proeza Ventures and Ascend Capital Partners

StrongArm Technologies (SAT) is an Industry 4.0 platform that delivers a technology solution to keep industrial workers protected and productive, and has reduced injuries by over 40% YoY for major enterprises including Walmart and Toyota. The solution includes a wearable device with multiple sensors (including COVID-related functionality via worker proximity), a smart dock with a touch-screen that delivers customized micro-training, and a software platform that shares actionable insights with management.

Co-Investors include 3M, Sony, and Tekfen Ventures.

Lex is creating a securities marketplace for fractionalized commercial real estate investments. LEX sources investment opportunities in Core and Core+ assets, and structures and prices them for an offering using the RegA Tier 2 exemption. LEX then facilitates secondary trading on an Alternative Trading System using NASDAQ technology.

Co-Investors include Greycroft, Thor Equities, and Ric Clark (Chair of Brookfield Properties)

ShipIn delivers visibility, productivity and safety to maritime transport, the backbone of global trade. ShipIn provides ship owners and managers with advanced fleet management solutions, improving operations and financial performance across global fleets. The maritime industry is embarking on an extensive digital transformation. ShipInSystems is at the forefront of smart shipping development, posed to deliver significant value to industry stakeholders.

Founder and CEO, Osher Perry, is a former winner of MassChallenge Boston.

Akooda is developing an AI platform to help distributed teams understand and optimize how they communicate with each other to improve performance and productivity. Akooda is led by Yuval Gonczarowski, formerly CTO at ClimaCell ($100m+ in funding), McKinsey, Apple, Intel, and 8200-IDF.

Core team members hail from Microsoft, Harvard Business School and prominent startups.

Loora is developing an affordable and always available AI language tutor. Necessary technology leaps to enable AI-powered conversation have only just occurred. Loora will offer an AI tutor that is always available and 10x more affordable than a human tutor.

Founders graduated from the IDF special forces elite unit and have deep educational and business experience with machine learning and NLP.

Secure AI Labs, Inc. (“SAIL”) provides a digital rights management solution for hospitals to manage and audit access to patient data in a secure manner. SAIL’s technology enables hospitals to maintain control of research collaborations to fully protect the privacy of their patients and the security of their patient records.

Core team and advisors hail from the MIT Media Lab, MIT CSAIL, MIT IDSS, and the Broad Institute.

As the solution for navigating mortality, Cake uses data to match consumers with the right products for their end-of-life needs. Cake is the first stop for consumers and is the largest in the industry, on track to dominate an overlooked trillion-dollar industry. Founders are graduates of MIT and Harvard and have deep experience in healthcare and digital marketing. The CMO was an early employee at TripAdvisor.

Co-Investors include Pillar and Launch Capital.

TheXPlace is a Marketplace for the $217B Video Games industry, connecting Game Development Companies with the talent to get the next “hit” produced, and connecting video gaming professionals (soloists, contracting companies, studios and agencies) with work. Founder is Technion & MIT grad with 20+ years' experience and extensive contacts in the gaming industry.

Co-Investors include Angel Ventures & the Hustle Fund.

Knox is the first automated wealth advisor and management company for property investors delivering superior investment outcomes end-to-end – from payments to banking, leasing to insurance, financing to tax, vacancy avoidance to maintenance. Knox is democratizing access to preferred rates of return via the $1.25T/yr residential investment property market. Founder sold prior real estate startup to Private Equity firm.

Co-Investors include G20, Pillar, TBD Angels, and Greycroft.