Marianna Tessel
About Marianna Tessel
Marianna Tessel was born in Israel and holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Technion. She began her career as a Captain in the Israeli military, working as an engineer in computer center R&D. She later held engineering leadership roles at General Magic, Ariba and VMware.
At Docker she served as senior vice president of engineering and then executive vice president of strategic development. She joined Intuit in 2017 to lead product development for the Small Business and Self-Employed Group, which includes QuickBooks. She became Intuit's Chief Technology Officer in January 2019. Intuit says she oversaw GenOS, its generative AI operating system.
In September 2023 she moved to general manager of Intuit's Small Business and Self-Employed Group, and Alex Balazs succeeded her as CTO. Press coverage in 2024 and 2026 describes her as a former Intuit CTO. Cisco appointed her to its board of directors in March 2021.
Public records show a small number of angel investments, mostly in developer and infrastructure software. Company announcements and press list her as an angel in Mondoo, Momento and Arato. PitchBook dates her Mondoo investment to October 2021 and her Momento investments to November 2022 and July 2024. Crunchbase and Tracxn each list two portfolio companies. Check sizes and ownership stakes are not public.
Her most recent disclosed AI investment is the $10M seed round in Arato, announced on 29 June 2026. TLV Partners led the round. Jibe Ventures and Raghu Raghuram of Andreessen Horowitz, formerly CEO of VMware, also participated. Arato is an Israeli company building a platform that tests AI systems by simulating user interactions. Its founders previously built Stoke, which Fiverr acquired in 2021. Her amount in the round was not disclosed.
Her disclosed investments are in security, real-time data infrastructure and AI quality assurance. They cover seed and early-stage rounds, and the companies are developer-facing or enterprise software businesses. The companies are in the US and Israel. She has not published a check size range or an investment thesis that we could find. PitchBook lists her as an active angel investor.
- Arato: Israeli platform that tests enterprise AI systems with simulated users. She took part in the $10M seed round announced in June 2026.
- Momento: Real-time data infrastructure platform for developers. She was an angel in the 2022 seed round and the $15M Series A led by Bain Capital Ventures in July 2024.
- Mondoo: Security company that lists her as an angel investor. PitchBook dates her investment to October 2021.
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/482127-67
- crunchbase.com/person/marianna-tessel
- tracxn.com/d/people/marianna-tessel/__RHZ-yZzy8b13sOOhlBEcruz1lg5JS9Et
- investors.intuit.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/49/intuit-names
- newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2021/m03/cisco-corporate-ne-6
- wbcollaborative.org/women_leaders_tech/marianna-tessel
- thekeyexecutives.com/2022/11/17/intuits-marianna-tessel-trailblazed-pa
- calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjsft0j7me
Investing activity
Marianna Tessel appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $10M. The most recent is Arato (Seed, $10M, Jun 2026).
Marianna Tessel most often invests alongside TLV Partners, Jibe Ventures and Raghu Raghuram, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Marianna Tessel
Is Marianna Tessel an angel investor in AI startups?
Yes. She took part in Arato's $10M seed round in June 2026. Arato builds tools for testing AI systems.
What check size does Marianna Tessel write?
She has not disclosed a check size and none of the sources we found gives one. Public records do not show how much she put into any round.
What stage does Marianna Tessel invest in?
Her disclosed investments are seed and early-stage rounds, including the Momento seed and Series A and the Arato seed.
What sectors does Marianna Tessel back?
The companies we could verify are in security, real-time data infrastructure and AI testing. All three sell software to developers or enterprises.
What is Marianna Tessel's background?
She was Intuit's CTO from 2019 to 2023, then general manager of its Small Business and Self-Employed Group. Earlier she was an executive at Docker and an engineering leader at General Magic, Ariba and VMware. She has served on Cisco's board since 2021.
How can founders contact Marianna Tessel?
Her public LinkedIn profile is the only verified channel we found. We did not find a personal website or an X account.
Is Marianna Tessel an angel investor?
Yes. Marianna Tessel invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Marianna Tessel invested in?
Marianna Tessel's AI investments include Arato. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Marianna Tessel invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Marianna Tessel has invested at Seed, with a median round of $10M.
Who does Marianna Tessel co-invest with?
Marianna Tessel's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are TLV Partners (1 deal), Jibe Ventures (1 deal) and Raghu Raghuram (1 deal).