Sources inform "Globes" that venture capital fund Tamar Technology Ventures, which had planned to raise a second $100 million follow-on fund, decided several months ago to stop fundraising after failing to bring in significant international institutional investors.
Tamar refused to comment on the report.
For several months, the fund was negotiating with Israeli and international investors, but was unable to secure an anchor investor from abroad.
As opposed to other funds, which tried to raise follow-on financing from their prior fund investors, Tamar tried to raise money from a new constellation of partners.
Tamar Technology Ventures general partner Zohar Gilon planned to bring in old pal Yigal Jacoby, who is chairman and CEO of Allot Communications, and founder of Armon Networks, but apparently the foreign investors were not excited about investing in a relatively small fund with a new management.
It is believed that Thomas I. Unterberg, chairman of CE Unterberg Towbin, who invested in the first fund and served as general partner, was supposed to have played a significant role in the second fund.
Tamar's failure in raising a follow-on fund is surprising, given its impressive portfolio. The fund is considered one of the best in Israel today.
Tamar was founded in 1998, and raised $37 million, which was invested in a broad range of areas.
The fund portfolio gave rise to a good number of exits, including from Advanced Vision Technology (AVT) (Neuer Markt:VSJ), which trades in Frankfut; Ceragon Networks (Nasdaq:CRNT); Orckit Communications (Nasdaq:ORCT; TASE:ORCT); and Radvision (Nasdaq:RVSN; TASE:RVSN).
The fund also invested in a number of start-ups that have grown and now, as privately held companies, generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue.
The most outstanding of these are Allot Communications and Ex-Libris, which may go public this year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Sunday, June 19, 2005