"Globes" has learned that Sequoia Seed Partners Capital Venture Fund has invested $2 million in Israeli start-up AirSlide. The company's value for the capital raising round was not disclosed, but estimates say it stood at $6 million, after money.
Sequoia Seed Partners is joint fund of communications giant Cisco and the international Sequoia fund. The fund invests in Israeli companies and is managed by Haim Sedgar, formerly responsible for investments at Intel International in Israel.
The Sequoia fund is regarded as one of the best and most important in Silicon Valley in the US. The fund specializes in investing at the seed stage, and set up, among others, Cisco and 3Com.
Herzliya-based AirSlide was founded in March 1999 by Stefan Vaknin, formerly of Geo Interactive, and Oren Shmuelevich, formerly of Vocaltec. The company has a staff of ten. Directors include Sedgar and Cisco Israel business development manager Arad Naveh, who sold the company he founded, Class Data, to Cisco International.
AirSlide developed cellular infrastructure equipment, designed for data and voice communications networks of cellular operators. According to Vaknin, the technology affords a 40% saving on communications infrastructure maintenance costs and installation of additional lines and switches. Vaknin says the system accords the cellular operators another revenue channel. It enables information services to be included in existing cellular infrastructure, due to its IP (Internet Protocol) based infrastructure. The system is compatible with all cellular protocols. The product will reach the beta stage within eight months.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on November 29, 1999