Israeli venture capital funds are taking advantage of the boom in the local high-tech industry. It was reported today that a new fund, TLV Partners, initiated by Rona Segev and Eitan Bek, is expected to raise $100 million. The fund has submitted documents to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Segev and Bek, old warhorses in the local venture capital scene, resigned from Pitango Venture Capital less than a year ago.
Segev founded a computer games startup in 1994, which she sold in 1997. She joined the BRM Capital fund in 1998, after which she became a partner in Evergreen Venture Partners, and was a partner in Pitango from 2005 until she resigned. Over her career, Segev has served on the board of directors of Skycure, Varonis Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNS), and Evolven. She was a partner in the exits of Traiana (acquired by ICAP for $250 million), Worklight (sold to IMB for $70 million), and others. In a past "Globes" interview, Segev said, "I believe that for our industry to have a future, we have to strive to build large companies with activity centers in Israel. Up until now, almost every company I was involved in was acquired. I would be glad to be part of building a major public company that would remain independent in the long term"
Bek was responsible in Pitango for the mobile, bid data, and Internet of Things (IOT) sectors. He led Pitango's investment in Check, sold to Intuit for $360 million. He was appointed a partner in Pitango in 2007. Beck also led the investment in VideoSurf, sold to Microsoft for $80-100 million. He has also worked at Lehman Brothers, and has been a director in Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT).
At the end of last week, it was learned that Eric Benhamou had raised $72 million for a new fund, BGV II, which will focus on investments in organizational software companies. A year ago, "Globes" revealed that Benhamou's fund would invest tens of millions of dollars in Israel - at least a third of the amount raised.
Benhamou's fund operates in Silicon Valley, but it has an office in Israel led by Dr. Barak Ben-Avinoam. In a previous "Globes" interview, Ben-Avinoam said that the fund would invest in the early rounds of companies. He added that the fund did not charge management fees, "because in our business, the management fees model had lost its credibility, and we work only on the basis of success."
Benhamou is considered a prominent entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. He does not live in Israel, but keeps an apartment in Tel Aviv, and visits Israel frequently. He was born in Algeria, grew up in France, studied at Stanford University, and founded a company that merged with 3COM. He was later appointed CEO of the merged company, until it was sold to HP two years ago for an estimated $2.7 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 12, 2015
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