Poalim Communications, the communications investment arm of Poalim Investments, yesterday announced a $3 million investment in start-up IP Planet. What is interesting about this investment is the fact that IP Planet's general manager is Erez Gissin.
Two years ago, Gissin headed the Tapuz group, through which Eurocom (70%) and Poalim Communications (30%) attempted to compete in the tender for the third cellular operator. Tapuz lost the tender to Partner, then was enlisted by Partner in April 1998, receiving an allocation of 16.5%. Tapuz's share was diluted to 12.4%, following Partner's IPO on Nasdaq.
Gissin received an option to purchase 0.5% of Tapuz, giving him a tiny fraction of a percentage worth $1 million in Partner, which is traded on Nasdaq at a value of $1.7 billion.
Now Poalim Communications has again invested in Gissin, leading the $8.5 million financing round in start-up IP Planet, which he is managing. The round took place at a value of $33.5 million, after money. Participants included Swiss capital fund ETF; The Fantastic Corporation, which supplies software solutions for multimedia and is traded on a German stock exchange at a value of $1.4 billion; and private European investors.
IP Planet was founded by Eurocom at the beginning of 1999, and set up a technology network in the US and Europe, which it uses to develop advanced IP-based interactive TV applications.
According to Gissin, the money raised will be used to expand IP Planet's development and marketing, which is currently implementing several projects for broadcast stations and TV content providers in Germany.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on July 4, 2000