US bank Chase Manhattan has committed itself to investing $80 million in the Polaris III venture capital fund. Managers of the Polaris group funds Nehemia Peres and Rami Kalish are raising $350-400 million for the group's new fund Polaris III, which will invest in start-ups.
Chase Manhattan, the largest commercial bank in the US, is among the investors in previous Polaris funds, but for much lower amounts. Other investors in the Polaris I and II funds, which together managed $170 million assets, are Deutsche Bank of Germany, Citibank of the US, the Claridge group and Bank Leumi.
The Polaris III fund is raising money after the impressive successes of the two previous funds in the Polaris group. The Polaris II fund collected major earnings from successful investments in BackWeb, AudioCodes, IXTC and RADWare, all of which were issued on Nasdaq, reaching an overall total of more than $1 billion.
Partners in the management company of the Polaris group are Nehemia Peres, Rami Kalish and the Shrem-Fudim-Kelner group. Negotiations were recently held with the Polaris family to consolidate the funds with the Eucalyptus venture capital fund, managed by Israeli investment bank Tamir-Fishman, and US investment bank Hambrecht and Quist, which was acquired by Chase Manhattan.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 7 February, 2000