US early-stage venture capital firm Greylock Partners has announced that it is expanding its Israeli investment focus, and appointed two new venture partners to support its global initiatives, effective immediately.
Erez Ofer, formerly executive vice president of technology strategy for EMC Corporation, will focus on information storage and management. Ofer will expand Greylock's partnerships with local venture capital firms in Israel, identify IT and software seed investments, and support Greylock's growing base of Israeli portfolio firms.
Yoram Snir, who formerly led Cisco Systems' Israeli, Asia-Pacific, European and China M&A and investment activities, will focus on IT, networking and communications opportunities, and helping portfolio companies establish themselves in global markets from his base in Greylock's San Mateo office.
For the past 40 years, Greylock has funded and helped build several hundred market-leading companies. Greylock has funded companies such as Ascend Communications, Continental Cable, DoubleClick, Internet Security Systems, Legato, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Phone.com (now OpenWave), Tellabs, Trilogy, Red Hat and Sungard.
Since 2001, Greylock has actively sought and funded early-stage Israeli companies and helped them to realize their global potential. To date Greylock has invested in promising Israeli startups such as ClearForest, HyperRoll, Illuminator, Siliquent and Unipier.
"Our Israeli focused team is an integral part of the Greylock partnership, yet brings its own rich experience in meeting the specific challenges and opportunities faced by Israeli entrepreneurs," said Greylock general partner Moshe Mor, who leads the firm's international investing efforts. "Erez Ofer and Yoram Snir both have extensive backgrounds in company building, as well as in investments, acquisitions and strategic VC partnerships in Israel. Their vision and in-depth knowledge of local entrepreneurs will help us capitalize on the many high-quality early-stage opportunities that exist there today."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Monday, January 17, 2005