Serial investor and former Genesis Partners partner Eden Shochat has teamed up with Benchmark Capital partner Michael Eisenberg to establish a new $100 million venture capital fund, to be called Aleph. Eisenberg will apparently leave Benchmark for the new fund.
Shochat and Eisenberg will mainly invest in Internet and mobile ventures, in line with their responsibilities at Genesis and Benchmark. They are considered good dealmakers and have worked next door to each other at the funds' offices in the Ackerstein Towers in Herzliya. They have held several meetings to move their venture forward, including at Benchmark's new offices on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, where it moved a year ago.
Despite his young age (36), Shochat was named one of the most promising Top 40 Under-40 businesspeople by "Globes" two years ago, and he is well known in the Israeli venture capital and high-tech industries. He is behind several ventures and exits, the most recent of which was the sale of face.com to Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) for tens of millions of dollars. His investments at Genesis include Any.DO, Commerce Sciences Ltd., and daPulse Ltd.
Eisenberg is an old fox in Israeli high tech, serving as a partner at Israel Seed Partners for eight years. During his eight years at Benchmark, he led investments in Conduit Ltd., Seeking Alpha Inc., and Gigya Ltd., and is director at Farmigo Inc., Wix Ltd., and other companies.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 24, 2013
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