Dovi Frances Returns to BGU to Help Shape Israel’s AI Future

22/06/2026

Dovi Frances | Photo: Rami Zarnegar

Dovi Frances has spent the past decade helping build some of Israel's most successful technology companies and guiding them onto the global stage. As founder and managing partner of Group 11, a venture capital firm ranked first in the United States by PREQIN in 2024, he has established himself as one of the leading figures in Israel's innovation ecosystem.

Yet, despite his international success, Frances has never forgotten where his own journey began.

Today, nearly twenty years after graduating from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), he is investing not only in companies, but also in the future of Israeli leadership. Through a growing partnership with the University, Frances is helping advance a vision that seeks to position Israel, and particularly the Negev, at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution.

That vision took a major step forward in November 2025 with the launch of MBAI, a pioneering Master of Business Administration program with certification in Artificial Intelligence. Developed through a collaboration between BGU's Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, The Institute, NVIDIA, and Group 11, MBAI is the first program of its kind in Israel.

For Frances, the initiative is about much more than a new academic degree.

It is a response to what he sees as one of the most significant turning points in modern history.

"Anyone who does not adopt artificial intelligence tools today will simply be left behind," he says. "We are entering a new era. Managers who fail to keep up will become managerial dinosaurs and eventually become extinct just like them."

That conviction is rooted in what he observes across the global business landscape. Through his work with entrepreneurs and technology companies, Frances has witnessed firsthand how artificial intelligence is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace. Marketing and customer service, finance, human resources, healthcare, and energy are all being reshaped by AI-driven technologies.

At the same time, he sees a growing gap in leadership.

"There is a tremendous shortage of managers who understand artificial intelligence as a new language of business," he explains. "The opportunities are enormous, but organizations need leaders who know how to integrate these technologies into strategy and decision-making."

Preparing Leaders for an AI Economy

The MBAI program was designed to address exactly that challenge.

Combining a full MBA degree with professional certification in artificial intelligence, the program equips students with both managerial expertise and practical AI knowledge. Participants study subjects including Business Strategy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data-Based Decision Making, and AI-Powered Marketing and Customer Management.

Students also receive specialized training through The Institute and earn internationally recognized credentials through the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute, giving graduates both strategic understanding and hands-on familiarity with emerging technologies.

Frances believes that combination is what sets the program apart.

"Only fifty students are admitted to each cohort," he notes. "For those who are accepted, it offers a significant advantage in their careers and in the business world. The competition for the future has already begun."

The response has been strong from the outset, reflecting growing awareness among managers and professionals that artificial intelligence is becoming an essential business skill rather than a specialized technological field.

For Frances, the challenge facing organizations today is not simply adopting AI tools but building leadership teams capable of understanding their implications.

The managers who succeed in the coming decade, he argues, will be those who can combine business judgment with technological literacy.

Dovi Frances receiving the David Ben-Gurion Award 2024, pictured with Rector Prof. Chaim Hames and President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz | Photo: Dani Machlis/BGU

Building an AI Ecosystem in the Negev

The MBAI program builds on the foundation established by The Institute, the national artificial intelligence institute that Frances helped establish at BGU a year earlier.

Created as a bridge between academia and industry, The Institute seeks to transform the Negev into a global center for artificial intelligence research, development, and innovation.

Its activities span a wide range of fields, including smart healthcare systems, computational models for forecasting economic trends, intelligent learning platforms, and research into the ethical and societal implications of AI technologies.

The goal is not only to produce research but to create an ecosystem in which academic expertise, industry partnerships, entrepreneurship, and public policy reinforce one another.

"The Institute is an example of how you can continue to make an impact while advancing new initiatives," says Frances.

For him, locating these initiatives in Southern Israel was never incidental.

"Israel's future is not only in Tel Aviv or Herzliya," he says. "It is here, in the south, where people can dream and build without limits. Every child in Beer-Sheva should know that they can be part of Israel's AI revolution. Innovation does not belong only to high-tech; it belongs to all of us."

That belief reflects a broader vision in which technological leadership becomes a national project rather than the preserve of a small geographic or economic elite.

From Beer-Sheva Student to Global Investor

Frances' commitment to the Negev began long before he became one of Israel's most prominent venture capital investors.

During his military service, he spent years in southern Israel and developed a deep affection for the region. His decision to attend Ben-Gurion University came unexpectedly in 2001 when a close friend invited him to StudentFest, the University's end-of-year celebration.

"The students' energy, joy of life, and friendships created an atmosphere that was impossible to ignore," he recalls. "On the way home I told my friend, 'I'm going to study here.' It was the best decision of my life."

As a BGU student, Frances pursued a dual degree in Business Administration and Psychology. Looking back, he credits the University experience with shaping both his professional trajectory and his worldview.

"The interaction with the faculty, the courses, the students, the quiet of the south, and the unique people of Beer-Sheva are things I will never forget," he says. "They enabled me to get to where I am today."

After graduating in 2005, Frances moved to the United States and earned a master's degree from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

He began his professional career at Deutsche Bank in New York, gaining experience in global finance before embarking on the entrepreneurial path that would define his career.

In 2012, he launched an investment fund that would evolve into Group 11 three years later.

Building One of the World's Leading Venture Capital Firms

More than a decade after its founding, Group 11 has become one of the world's most successful venture capital firms.

The fund has invested more than $660 million and manages investments with a fair value exceeding $1.4 billion.

Its achievements have attracted international recognition. In 2024, PREQIN ranked Group 11 as the top-performing venture capital fund in the United States. The HEC Paris-Dow Jones ranking placed it third globally, and in 2025 TIME magazine named it one America's 350 leading venture capital firms.

The portfolio includes seven unicorn companies.

Among them are Navan, which went public on Nasdaq in October 2025 at a valuation of $6.2 billion; Tipalti, valued at $3.8 billion; and Next Insurance, acquired by Munich Re in 2025 for $2.6 billion.

"About 90 percent of our portfolio companies originated in Israel," Frances says.

That success has given him a front-row seat to one of the most significant technological transformations of the modern era, and reinforced his belief that Israel is uniquely positioned to benefit from it.

A Vision for Israel's AI Future

Speaking at a Conference at Israel's Ministry of Finance in Jerusalem in September 2025, Frances outlined what he described as a historic opportunity for the country.

"Israel can lead the global artificial intelligence revolution and become a world AI superpower," he declared.

In presenting his vision, Frances pointed to what he described as Israel's extraordinary concentration of innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological talent.

Although Israel accounts for only a tiny fraction of the world's population, he argued, the country continues to generate an outsized share of global innovation. He noted the presence of approximately 350 international research and development centers in Israel and emphasized the central role of the high-tech sector in the national economy.

He also highlighted Israel's concentration of entrepreneurial talent, noting the country's large number of unicorn companies and its influence within the global technology sector.

To capitalize on those advantages, Frances proposed a series of ambitious national initiatives.

Among them were the creation of a dedicated national artificial intelligence authority, investment in an Israeli supercomputer, expanded access to government data repositories to accelerate AI development, and major reforms to the education system.

The objective, he argued, is not simply to participate in the AI revolution but to lead it.

Giving Back

Frances believes academic institutions must move quickly if they hope to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.

"If you think we have five to ten years to figure out how to integrate artificial intelligence into academic programs, then you are being optimistic," he says. "We have about three years before we are considered outdated and our programs become obsolete."

That sense of urgency has deepened his involvement with BGU.

In 2023, Frances joined the University's Board of Governors, helping launch the partnership that would ultimately lead to the expansion of BGU's artificial intelligence teaching and research initiatives.

"Let's get to work," he urged at the time. "The clock is ticking faster and faster, exponentially faster."

For Frances, however, the collaboration is about more than technology or economic development.

It is also personal.

"When I was appointed the youngest member of the Board of Governors, I said from the stage, 'I hope to give back to this place even half of what I received here,'" he recalls. "And I stand behind every word."

"The Negev, Beer-Sheva, and Ben-Gurion University will always remain a significant part of my life."

The MBAI program may be the clearest expression of that commitment. More than a new degree program, it represents an investment in the next generation of Israeli leadership. These future executives will understand artificial intelligence not merely as a technology, but as a new language of management.

Frances's journey began as a student in Beer-Sheva, took him to the highest ranks of global venture capital, and ultimately brought him back to the Negev as an advocate for Israel's AI future.

His message is clear. The next chapter of Israeli innovation will not emerge solely from the country's center. It can also be written in the Negev, where a new generation of students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders is preparing to help shape the age of artificial intelligence.

Dovi Frances | Photo: Rami Zarnegar Dovi Frances has spent the past decade helping build some of Israel's most successful technology companies and guiding them onto the global stage. As founder and managing partner of Group 11, a venture capital firm ranked first in the United States by PREQIN in 2024, he has established himself as one of the leading figures in Israel's innovation ecosystem. Yet, despite his international success, Frances has never forgotten where his own journey began. Today, nearly twenty years after graduating from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), he is investing not only in companies, but also in the future of Israeli leadership. Through a growing partnership with the University, Frances is helping advance a vision that seeks to position Israel, and particularly the Negev, at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution. That vision took a major step forward in November 2025 with the launch of MBAI, a pioneering

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