CYVERSE CAPITAL IS A ZURICH-BASED INVESTOR GROUP, WHICH FOCUSES ON PRIVATE, EARLY-STAGE CYBER-SECURITY INVESTMENTS.
CYVERSE CAPITAL IS A ZURICH-BASED INVESTOR GROUP, WHICH FOCUSES ON PRIVATE, EARLY-STAGE CYBER-SECURITY INVESTMENTS.
Advisory Board
Thomas Heuckeroth
Cyber-Security Defense Strategist
Thomas has over two decades of leadership experience in information technologies, cyber-security, strategy and risk management. Thomas has been accumulating a variety of his experiences in pharmaceutical and banking industries, before joining the Emirate Group in 2016. He became the Vice President and Head of Cyber Security of the Emirates Group, mainly overseeing Emirates Airline, dnata and group services. Furthermore, Thomas has acted as a cyber-security advisor to several start-ups as well as a trusted advisor in transport & aviation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in matter of cyber-security. Thomas is still active as a Cyber Security Defense specialist for a leading E-Commerce platform and hold several Board positions.
Thomas sees himself not like a traditional CISO but considers himself as pragmatic in implementing cyber security for IT, OT and IOT. It’s important for him considering a strategy that is sustainable and adaptable to emerging IT & OT cyber security needs. As a Corporate IT/Cyber Security specialist with substantial regulatory experience, he is dedicated ensuring balanced IT risk versus IT compliance needs.
Management
Shira Kaplan
Founder
Shira is the Founder & CEO of Cyverse AG, a Zurich-based cyber-security firm which provides state-of-the-art cyber-security solutions made in Israel to global and local corporations in Europe. Shira’s technological training dates back to her military service in the Israeli 8200 Elite Technology Unit of the Intelligence, where she was an Intelligence Analyst. She has held business management positions at publicly-traded companies including Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) and Bank Julius Baer & Co. in Zurich (SIX: BAER).
Shira is an alumna of Harvard University (B.A.), where she studied Government and Chinese, and was a Davis Scholar. She holds an MBA from St. Gallen HSG University in Switzerland, where she wrote her thesis on Swiss Venture Capital Investments in Israeli Cyber-Security Startups, and where she was awarded the “Women in Business” Scholarship.
In 2017, Shira was selected as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2018, she was selected by the Israeli financial magazine Globes as one of "40 Israeli Business Leaders under 40". In 2020 she was selected as a Digital Shaper by the BILANZ for her contribution to the Swiss cyber-security infrastructue. Shira is also an Advisory Board Member at the Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM). She is an active Board Member at the Weizmann Young European Network (WYEN).
Shira has won several other awards, including the “Seeds of Peace” scholarship, the Goldman fellowship and the Milken Fellowship. She has been featured in the Financial Times, the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Bilanz and other newspapers.
She is an active angel investor in selected Israeli tech & cyber-security startups.
Itay Shlomo
Advisor
Itay is a senior corporate finance Executive. Having launched his career as Manager at KPMG Israel and Senior Manager at KPMG AG in Zurich, Switzerland, he consulted C-level executives across Israel and Europe on multi-billion dollar M&A deals, primarily in the fields of pharmaceuticals, commodity trading and insurance. Among his clients were Roche, Ferring, Wockhardt Bio, Zurich, Swiss Re, Trafigura, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, SIKA, Sulzer and ABB.
Thereafter, Itay joined Israel’s largest Swiss bank, Poalim Switzerland, as Head of the Credit of its head office in Zurich, where he oversaw the Bank's USD 1.5 billion credit lending portfolio.
Later, Itay joined the turnaround of Gategroup Holding, a 43,000 employee Swiss multinational company with USD 4.8 billion in revenues, as Director for Investments & Projects. He was promoted to Global Head for M&A and Investments at Gategroup, and prepared the company for a USD 2 billion IPO and a landmark acquisition, further consolidating the industry.
Itay holds a B.A. from Tel Aviv University in Accounting and East Asian Studies (cum laude), an MBA in Finance from Tel Aviv University (magna cum laude), and a Program in Leadership Development (PLD) from St. Gallen University in Switzerland and ESADE in Spain. He is a certified accountant (CPA) in Israel.
Blanka Megyeri
Business & Operations
Blanka is in charge of Business and Operations at Cyverse Capital. She holds an MSc in Corporate and Business Development, and a Bachelor in Business Administration from Bern, Switzerland. Previously, she worked in Controlling, Sales and Innovation positions at companies such as Novartis, IWB, and Brandmind. She speaks fluent English, German, Swiss-German and Hungarian.
Olivier Clivaz
Analyst
Olivier is our Analyst at Cyverse Capital. He holds a bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, and is also an alumnus of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Previously, he worked in the Audit department at Ernst and Young (EY) in Zürich before joining Cyverse AG and Cyverse Capital AG. Olivier holds a bilingual Matura (German/French) and speaks fluently English, German, Swiss-German and French.
