Barak Cohen — Product Executive · Fintech, Payments & AI

In one paragraph

I led product at Israel's leading card issuer (a 70+ organization with direct P&L), at Sodexo's benefits platform in Israel (a 20+ organization, +30% revenue, +65% operational efficiency), and at an ad-tech company through its acquisition. I co-founded a consumer platform that reached 35M+ users. Today, at KBI Investments, I take AI products from concept to production, including an AI concierge that is live in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and I run my own production agents platform.

What I'm known for

Regulated money products at national scale

Israel's first digital-wallet infrastructure; first issuer in Israel with Apple Pay and Google Pay; a public-transit payment platform won by government tender. Daily-banking domains: authorizations, transfers, onboarding, business loans.

Platforms and operations that scale

A three-sided platform of 35K+ employers, 430K+ users and 100K+ merchants: +30% revenue and +65% operational efficiency through process and platform redesign.

Consumer scale, adtech and martech

Co-founded Kamakama.TV, zero to 35M+ users. VP Product of a data-driven ad platform and SDK across 3M+ users, through an acquisition. Built Azuga, an AI martech platform.

AI, hands-on

An AI concierge live in Dubai and Abu Dhabi; ML decisioning in production (Guardis.io); a production agents platform on Claude Code and custom MCP servers, with approval gates and cost control.

Selected work

Isracard

First in Israel: digital wallet, Apple Pay and Google Pay

Challenge: Become the first Israeli issuer with a digital wallet and Apple Pay / Google Pay, inside a regulated organization.
What I did: Led the program as Head of Product, Advanced Solutions, with a 70+ organization (5+ PMs, 7 project managers), across Apple, Google, the card schemes, internal divisions and the regulator. Brought risk, compliance and security in at the definition stage.
Result: First to market in Israel; contributed to business growth and higher market value.

Cibus · Sodexo

Simplify, automate, eliminate

Challenge: A fast-growing benefits ecosystem with heavy operations behind every transaction.
What I did: Led a 20+ product organization through company-wide process and platform redesign with Data, CX and Engineering. Launched a Multi-Benefit pilot (30K+ users) and partnerships with CAL, Haver and Kranot Hashotrim.
Result: +30% revenue and +65% operational efficiency; products drew interest from international Sodexo markets.

KBI Investments

AI that acts, with control

Challenge: Take AI from demo to products people use and pay for.
What I did: Led AI-native ventures from concept to production: an AI concierge for premium travel, AI real-estate matching, Guardis.io and Azuga. Built my own agents platform, where approval gates decide what an agent does alone and when a person steps in.
Result: Concierge live in Dubai and Abu Dhabi; Guardis.io with thousands of users and hundreds paying.

Career

2023 – now

Strategic AI Product Consultant & Builder · KBI Investments

A group of 8+ companies and AI startups across finance, real estate, gaming and insurance. AI concierge (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), AI real-estate matching, Guardis.io, Azuga; external product manager for Funtico (gaming); advisory to a leading Israeli bank (under NDA).

2023 – 2024

Director of Product · Cibus (Sodexo)

20+ product organization; 430K+ users, 35K+ employers, 100K+ merchants; +30% revenue, +65% operational efficiency.

2020 – 2022

Head of Product, Advanced Solutions · Isracard

70+ organization (5+ PMs, 7 project managers) with direct P&L; Israel's first digital wallet and Apple Pay / Google Pay; Ministry of Transportation transit-payment platform (100K+ users).

2018 – 2020

Senior Product Manager · Isracard

Payment and digital-commerce initiatives with Mastercard, American Express and Visa; customer-facing payment experiences.

2015 – 2018

VP Product · SHIFT2M

22+ product organization; location-based ad platform and SDK across 3M+ users; successful acquisition.

2013 – 2015

VP Product & Co-Founder · Kamakama.TV

Consumer digital media platform, from zero to 35M+ users.

Earlier

Senior Product Consultant · Mekorot (via Logon)

About 2.5 years inside Israel's national water company: a large, complex, matrix organization with governance and security constraints.

Alongside

Founder · independent restaurant

Built and ran a hospitality business: operations, customers and cash flow.

How I lead

Discovery before roadmap. I talk to users and frontline teams before committing engineering time.
Gatekeepers in early. Risk, compliance, legal and security join at the business-case stage, so they shape the design instead of blocking the launch.
Value defined before build, measured after. Every initiative has its success metric before it starts.
Real ownership for PMs. Clear areas, clear metrics, a shared method, and room to decide.
Hands-on with AI. I prototype and build with AI tools myself, so I know what is real and what is a demo.

Toolkit

Product strategy & portfolioP&L Payments & digital walletsDaily-banking journeys B2B / B2B2C platformsPartner integrations AI agents · Claude Code · MCPApproval gates & guardrails Adtech & martechLeading 20–70 person orgs

M.A. Communications & Journalism · Bar-Ilan University

B.A. Political Science & Communications · Bar-Ilan University

Hebrew (native) · English (fluent) · Arabic (conversational)

The best way to evaluate me

Thirty minutes, screen shared: the agents platform running, the approval gates, and the product decisions behind them. Not slides.

Email me +972-52-326-7799