First the disclaimer, then afterwards the superlatives: Yigal Erlich may not come from one of Israel’s most successful VC funds. Yozma, which manages $170 million in funds, hasn’t any remarkable transactions and is certainly not in the top ten percent of funds in Israel.
But without Yigal Erlich, it’s reasonable to assume that this series wouldn’t have been written at all, because there wouldn’t be anything to write about. The activity that Erlich initiated at the end of 1992 while serving as Chief Scientist at the Industry and Trade Ministry gave birth to ten entrepreneurial funds. The firms behind these funds are today considered the lions of the Israeli VC industry: Since that time, Pitango (formerly Polaris originating in Israel) succeeded in raising $625 million, JVP has already raised $585 million, Star is getting close to $1 billion, Concord is expected to reach $400 million, and Gemini has raised $310 million.
Erlich sired all of this, as well as founding the Israel Venture Association, lobbies the Ministry of Finance in matters involving taxes and foreign investors in the funds (albeit with limited success). Also, it was Erlich who established the government incubator program, which has been slightly less successful than Yozma.
Today, Erlich is considered a mentor in the eyes of many governments all over the world interested in trying to develop their local VC industries. Erlich’s Yozma pushed Israel into second place in the world in all VC-related “judging categories”: per capita scope, professionalism, and sophistication. In addition, Erlich has had a part in countless Israeli successes, and dozens of Israeli companies traded on the Nasdaq and in Europe owe part of their success to him, as do many VC figures featured in this series.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on September 16, 2001.