Pitango Venture Capital today announced that it had closed its fourth round at $300 million. Pitango raised the money in under a year.
Pitango's previous investors invested in this fund as well, including $20 million by both California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and HarbourVest Partners. Pitango stated that new investors also participated, including international financial institutions that had not previously invested in Israel.
Pitango co-founder and managing director Nechemia (Chemi) J. Peres said no Israeli institutional investors participated in the round. He added that Pitango closed the fund at $300 million, even though it could have raised significantly more money. He said, "We kept out some new investors, while some existing investors wanted to invest more than we could allow. Demand for the fund was much greater than we wanted. We promised ourselves and our existing investors that the fund would not exceed $300 million, and we met that target."
"Globes": Why are there no Israeli investors?
Peres: "We began the fund raising with our existing investors who asked to invest in the new fund. We then approached new investors. We wanted Israeli investors, and we believe we'll have some in our next funds.
"Another problem is that Israel lacks an organized infrastructure of venture capital institutions like those in Europe and the US. Israel lacks organizations that specialize in institutional investments of this kind, except for a few institutions that have decided to make strategic investments in venture capital. I'm worried that venture capital in Israel is at too early a stage for that."
The Pitango IV fund will focus on Israeli IT, and medical technology and equipment companies.
Pitango has already made one investment with the money raised for its fourth fund, investing in Ness Technologies spin-off dbMotion.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 27, 2004