Ami Dror

Ami Dror (born March 5, 1973, in Ashkelon, Israel) is an Israeli serial entrepreneur, investor, educator, and social activist. The son of a Romanian Holocaust survivor, he grew up in a religious family, was active in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and holds a degree in computer engineering from Israel's Open University. Before his business career, Dror served as a tank commander in the Israel Defense Forces' Armored Corps and then in the Shin Bet's Personal Security Unit following the 1995 Rabin assassination, providing close protection for leaders including Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak. He subsequently worked for Israel's Foreign Ministry (2000–2003), with postings in Dublin and Marseille.

Dror's first major venture was XpanD 3D (co-founded around 2005), which he built into a global leader in 3D cinema technology — the company's eyewear and projection technology was used for James Cameron's *Avatar* in 2009. Alongside XpanD he contributed to innovations in 3D television and to Amblyz, an electronic-glasses treatment for childhood amblyopia ("lazy eye"). In 2016 he founded LeapLearner in Shanghai, a K-12 computer-science / coding-education software platform, for which he was named one of China's top entrepreneurs (Yicai Brilliant Prize, 2018). In 2022 he launched BriBooks, a platform that lets children write, publish, and sell their own books, now operating across 30-plus countries.

In 2014 Dror co-founded Zaitoun Ventures ("zaitoun" means *olive*, a symbol of peace) together with Forsan Hussein, a Muslim Arab-Israeli entrepreneur and former CEO of the Jerusalem YMCA. The firm is a values-driven, hybrid investment company and "startup factory" that builds and backs Israeli companies founded by mixed Jewish-Arab teams or with deliberately diverse staffing. Dror is also a member of the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship (2014), has lectured on leadership at Harvard and Aspen, served as a Cannes Lions innovation-category judge, and is involved in Space for Humanity and other social-impact initiatives.

• Invests at the seed / early stage in Israeli startups, typically as a hybrid angel/venture builder rather than a traditional fund.
• Core thesis: diversity drives better business outcomes. Zaitoun preferentially backs companies co-founded by Jews and Arabs, or whose human capital is as diverse as possible.
• Enforces a signature "30in3" rule — within three years of investment, portfolio companies must strive to reach ~30% diversification in their human capital.
• Sector-agnostic / disruptive technology focus, having backed medical devices, neurotech, speech tech, semiconductors, and entertainment/media companies.
• Combines capital with hands-on company building — Zaitoun describes itself as a "startup factory," not just a check-writer.
• In its early years the firm reported raising ~$5M and deploying roughly $17–19M into Israeli startups, with ambitions to scale deployment significantly.