Clarity Honored by Goldman Sachs for Entrepreneurship

October 18, 2023

Michael Matias, Co-Founder and CEO of Clarity, Among the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs at 2023 Builders and Innovators Summit

New York, NY October 18, 2023 - Today, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is recognizing Michael Matias, CEO and Co-Founder of Clarity, as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2023 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.

Goldman Sachs selected Michael Matias from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event. Michael Matias (27) co-founded Clarity along with Gil Avriel and Natalie Fridman at the end of 2022, out of a deep concern for the threats that Deepfakes pose to society. Their solution is integrating with leading media publishers and governments globally and are now expanding their offerings to the general enterprise ecosystem. 

Michael Matias
Co-Founder and CEO of Clarity

“We’re delighted to recognize Michael Matias as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs of 2023,” said David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. “Like everyone in this year’s class, Matias has been a visionary in their field, pushing forward innovation and redefining markets. We are excited to harness Goldman’s convening power to bring together these dynamic leaders and hear their insights.”

David Solomon
Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs

In addition to honoring the most exceptional entrepreneurs, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars.

About Clarity

Clarity is an AI startup leading the fight against deepfakes and AI-based media attacks. They are enabling leading news publishers, governments and enterprises to interact with digital media in an AI-Safe environment, securing themselves from the threats of deepfakes.

About Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.

Founding Team

Michael Matias, CEO
Michael served as an Officer (was first-in-class) at 8200 (received the Cyber Excellence Award for 2019) and founded two AI teams that received the National Defense Prize. Michael then studied AI at Stanford University and led AI teams at Hippo Insurance. He is an angel investor in more than 70 deep-tech startups, and was on the investment team for multiple VCs, including Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors. He is the founder and host of a technology leadership podcast (20MinuteLeaders) with 1000+ episodes and authored 150+ articles in a leading Israeli financial newspaper.
Natalie Fridman, CTO
Natalie has over 10 years of management experience in AI and research, with expertise in collective intelligence, deep learning, and modeling autonomous agents. Natalie was previously the Senior VP of R&D (from inception to IPO) at ImageSat International and has a Ph.D. in AI and Collective Intelligence. She has published over 25 papers, was a leading computer science lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and has multiple patents in AI algorithms.
Gil Avriel, CSO and COO
Gil is a former Senior Executive in the Israel’s National Security Council, Office of the Prime Ministers. (14 years). Advised 8 National Security Advisers and 4 Prime Ministers on strategic national security issues while serving as the Legal Advisor to the NSC. Led complex multi-party negotiations on behalf of the Israeli government on complex national security issues. Served in the 8200 intelligence corps. Graduated from Harvard Kennedy School and Georgetown Law School (first-in-class).
About Clarity
Clarity is an AI cybersecurity startup with a mission of protecting against deepfakes and new social engineering and phishing attack vectors of Generative AI. Founded by AI and cyber experts from 8200, Stanford University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, and Israel’s National Security Council, Clarity is advised and backed by global leaders in the AI and cyber industries.
About Walden Catalyst Ventures
Walden Catalyst is a venture capital firm helping early-stage companies in the U.S., Europe, and Israel build the next generation of category-defining businesses in deep tech. The firm is led by Young Sohn and Lip-Bu Tan, deep-tech industry pioneers who between them have invested in more than 600 startups across the globe, of which 136 have gone on to IPO. Walden Catalyst’s inaugural fund has announced a closing at over $550 million and is focused on early stage deep-tech investments and their team of innovators and entrepreneurs are passionate about disruptive technologies and committed to excellence. For startups, this translates into unparalleled access to operational expertise, global reach, and a network of industry captains eager to help build and scale the companies of the future. Visit our website here: https://waldencatalyst.com/
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 145 IPOs and 300 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio has included Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has $20 billion of assets under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Hong Kong, Boston, and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio).
“I’m honored to have been chosen to stand amongst some of the most inspiring and motivating entrepreneurs in the industry. This is an exciting time for Clarity, and we’re all laser-focused towards our mission of immunizing the world from deepfakes,” said Michael Matias, CEO and Co-Founder of Clarity.