Israel angel investors Founders Group has reaped the rewards of a successful investment in online used car sales platform developer Vroom. The US company whose founders include Israelis Allon Bloch and Elie Wurtman held an IPO on Nasdaq last month at a company valuation of $2.5 billion. Since then Vroom's market cap has more than doubled to $6.3 billion.
Following the offering, the Group has recorded a major profit 'on paper.' Founders Group, like all the other investors, will only be allowed to sell their shares and realize the large profit on their investment, after Vroom has been trading for six months.
Founders Group was established by Omri Lavie, Shalev Hulio (both NSO founders) and Isaac Zack, angel investors with a track record of entrepreneurship in a range of areas, invested in Vroom shortly after the Group was founded. The investment, amounting to just several million dollars, was made as part of Vroom's Series B financing round, in which the company raised $54 million.
Founders Group founding partner Omri Lavie said, "Even though nobody could have predicted the corononavirus pandemic, Vroom's founders were smart enough to create a platform that pushed a traditional sector into the future by identifying a trend before it happened. Now the value of the company speaks for itself. The coronavirus era has changed the way that people do business and many markets have switched, following the crisis, to operating online, including the used car market, which is especially popular in the US."
Founders Group supports and invests in early stage ventures from seed and early stage rounds in the following sectors: cybersecurity, fintech, enterprise software, e-commerce, Internet of Things (IoT), and security. The Group's portfolio currently comprises 30 companies - six of which have been sold while another two held IPOs. The portfolio companies that were sold included cybersecurity startups Kaymera and Cyot, software companies Moovex and Ondigo, and fintech company Rumble.
Founders Group adds value to its portfolio companies by using the strong global network that it has built. The partners act both as investors and advisors. Founders Group has offices in Tel Aviv, New York and Sydney, which provide portfolio companies with international support and access to business partners overseas, in order to help them realize their potential.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 7, 2020
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