Denver-based investment firm Ibex Investors has announced the closing of its fourth Israel fund, Ibex Israel VC II LP, amounting to $106 million, for investment in early-stage Israeli startups. Besides investing in young Israeli companies, Ibex also invests in listed Israeli companies through its hedge funds. Since the launch of its first Israel-focused fund in 2012, Ibex has made 40 early and growth stage investments in Israeli startups. Among the firm’s portfolio companies are Visionary.ai, Honeycomb, Appwrie, BeamUp, and Weka.
Ibex’s previous fund, also focused on early-stage Israeli startups, was raised in 2020, and amounted to $100 million.
Ibex founder and chief investment officer Justin Borus said, "Doubling down on Israel underscores our commitment to the Israeli ecosystem as a leading market for technology. Despite the ongoing war and challenging global macroeconomics, our LPs recognize the opportunity to make outsized returns precisely from opportunities such as these. Most of the world’s greatest innovations come as a direct result of war and conflict and we believe this time will be no different."
In an interview with "Globes" in 2022, Borus said, "We know that the sexiest and most interesting investments in Israel are in privately-held and public growth technology companies." In the same interview, he said, "We like moving between private and public investments." He also said that following a four-day visit to Israel in 2011, inspired by the book "Start-up Nation" by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, he started to channel the firm’s investments to Israel. "In Israel there was everything I love in small companies - fewer investors are interested, and the potential for profit is greater. In addition, while startups in Silicon Valley developed apps for photographing cats, in Israel the companies solved significant problems."
Commenting on the new fund, Ibex Investors partner Nicole Priel said, "Why Israel? Why now? The answers couldn’t be any more clear. We firmly believe that the Israeli tech entrepreneur possesses an innate sense of drive, creativity, and perseverance required to turn ideas into reality. We maintain our conviction that this is an opportune time to be building ventures and are committed to partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs from inception as they build the leading companies of tomorrow."
Ibex’s Israel team is led by Priel, who focuses on early stage investments, and Gal Gitter, who focuses on growth stage and secondary investments in areas such as cybersecurity, cloud security, fintech, insurtech, and others. The Israel office has recently added Aaron Rinberg as a partner and Alon Cinamon as an associate, bringing it to a total of seven people.
Borus founded Ibex Investors in 2003. The firm currently has some $1 billion under management.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 21, 2024.
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