One of the investors in Israeli payroll platform Papaya Global has criticized the post this morning that the company intends transferring all its bank deposits overseas as an act of protest against government reforms.
Group 11 founding partner Dovi Frances, who has invested in Papaya Global but does not sit on the board, wrote, "It's true that a CEO has the full right to manage the company's money in whatever bank they feel is correct, and the board in most cases is not required to get involved in this decision. But this does not mean it is possible to use the bank account as a bargaining attack tool or as a political statement."
I personally am full of professional appreciation for Eynat (Papaya CEO Eynat Guez) and fully appreciate her personal desire to express her political position. But I really do not support this move. In my opinion this is not the way to express a personal political position, in my opinion it only leads to the continuation of the division in the people. The role of the high-tech industry, which is mostly not part of this, is to bridge between everyone and give a tremendous opportunity for financial well-being to anyone who wants it."
This is the first statement by an investor in Papaya Global, after all the other entrepreneurs and investors around the company have remained silent. Group 11 owns 3% of Papaya shares. "Without mixing myself and Group 11 up with politics and populism, and because I'm alert to the situation anyway, I will refer to the substance of the matter and not to the speaker," Frances wrote.
As venture capital investors, we are responsible for funds of institutional and private investors. The largest insurance and pension companies in Israel and the world are invested in Group 11, and they manage the funds of the investors in all of them from all ends of the political spectrum, of all genders and all shades. My job is to invest the money in great category-defining software companies. There are plenty of them in Israel and believe me there will be many more that will be born in the coming years. I know - I am invested in many of them and usually as the largest investor in the company. "Sometimes venture capital investors and company managers forget who owns the house, so I want to remind all of us - our landlord is the private person, the owner of the pension policy. It's their money, not mine, not Group 11's, not the pension fund's and not the portfolio company's."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 26, 2023.
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