msystems founder and former CEO Dov Moran is not bored. Having sold msystems to SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) six months, ago, he has made a start to his new career as head of an investment group with a first investment of $1.2 million in children's computer products developer Comfy Ware Ltd.. The company plans to use the finance for further overseas expansion and the development of new product lines.
Comfy Ware was founded in early 2003, following the purchase of copyright to the intellectual property of ComfyNet, which operated several years earlier. The company has entered a unique niche in the IT world, using educational tools to develop a keyboard and other computing devices suitable for use by toddlers and children aged 1-5. Comfy Ware has produced an interactive learning system for infants, of which a fourth version complete with keyboard and content selection has just been released. "A form of Playstation for toddlers," is how CEO Shai Shahal describes it.
Moran's connection with children's computer products goes back a long way. He originally intended msystems to focus on a similar line of business - computer products for children. The company's focus was ultimately changed at the last moment, and it became a producer of flash memory, but his interest in the type of products that Comfy Ware is developing has remained. "I'm not going to be some sort of angel and I am not competing with venture capital," Moran told "Globes." "However, it is quite possible that this investment will not be a one-time event. I have also been looking at other things, but this company has something specific, there's a tremendous market here and there's plenty of work to be done." Moran made the investment on behalf of the group he leads, which includes people who have been with him since his days at msystems.
Moran does not plan to get involved in Comfy Ware, beyond sitting on the company board, although he said that he would seek to play a hands-on role in developing the company's future strategy. "I found excellent people at Comfy Ware, and I very much like the way it is being managed. I am therefore confident that together we can make the company and its products a household name in the toddlers' games world."
As for other investments, Moran said that he does not view himself as a standard investor. "One of the factors that interests me in particular is whether the products bring value. I have also invested in biotech (in a company called BioMass Ltd., S.S.), and I am looking to also invest in children's games or in other companies in fields like these."
Comfy Ware has been profitable almost from the outset. The company has a few million dollars in sales a year, most of which are generated by export.
Comfy Ware is headquartered in Ramat Hahayal in Tel Aviv and employs 20 people.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 21, 2007
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