Micha Breakstone, PhD

Micha Breakstone is a serial entrepreneur with a profound impact on the AI and tech startup ecosystem, particularly within Israel. As the Co-Founder and President of Chorus.ai, Micha led the company to become a trailblazer in conversation intelligence, culminating in its acquisition by ZoomInfo for $575 million. Building on this success, he then founded NeuraLight.ai, securing over $30 million in funding within its first year, a testament to his visionary leadership and the innovative potential of the company's AI technologies.

Before these achievements, Micha made his mark by selling his NLP (Natural Language Processing) business unit to Intel in 2014, showcasing his expertise in AI and machine learning early in his career. Further cementing his role as a cornerstone of the Israeli tech community, he founded the Founders Club Tel Aviv, the largest network of its kind in Israel, bringing together over 500 venture-backed founders.

Micha's commitment to nurturing the next generation of tech innovation is evident in his mentoring of over 130 Israeli startups and investments in 32 startups, playing a pivotal role in building several AI Israeli unicorns "from the outside." His broad experience in designing Machine Learning systems is underpinned by a strong academic foundation, holding a Master's in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science.

Micha is currently steering a new venture-backed startup as the Founder and CEO of Somite.ai, aiming to become the OpenAI of stem cell biology. The company is developing AI foundation models to scale the production of human tissues for cell therapies targeting diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and muscular dystrophies. The founding team behind Somite includes Micha, the Head of the Fundamental AI group at MIT, and three Harvard Medical School professors, highlighting a prestigious collaboration at the intersection of AI and medical science.

Through his entrepreneurial ventures, mentorship, and investments, Micha Breakstone has not only advanced the field of AI but has also significantly contributed to the growth and success of the Israeli tech ecosystem and beyond, with his latest venture promising revolutionary advances in healthcare.