Hertzliya, Israel-based Carmel Ventures has announced the launch of Carmel Ventures III with commitments of USD235m and Shlomo Dovrat, Avi Zeevi, Rina Shainski and Ori Bendori as general p
Hertzliya, Israel-based Carmel Ventures has announced the launch of Carmel Ventures III with commitments of USD235m and Shlomo Dovrat, Avi Zeevi, Rina Shainski and Ori Bendori as general partners.
Carmel Ventures III will follow the firm’s established investment strategy of focusing on seed and early stage IT investments, continuing to invest in and support potential category leaders in various fields including software, internet, semiconductors, communications, mobile and wireless, and storage.
Repeat investors with Carmel include institutions such as JP Morgan, Horsley Bridge, CalPERS, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, Partners Group, LGT Capital Partners, VPartners, NY State/Hamilton Lane, Goldman Sachs, Pomona Capital, Vintage Venture Partners, Wilshire, HRJ Capital, Bonora and Siemens Venture Capital. New investors include HarbourVest, Flag Private Equity, Portfolio Advisors and Knightsbridge.
‘We are pleased and appreciative of the strong support we received from such a high quality investors group,’ say Carmel co-founders Dovrat and Zeevi. ‘The strong support enabled an expeditious process and allowed us to continue and work with current and future portfolio investments.
‘We are committed to applying our investment strategy consistently and continuing our work with leading entrepreneurs to help them build global category leaders and generate long-term capital gains for our investors and for the entrepreneurs.’
Kathryn Abbott, managing partner of Horsley Bridge, says: ‘We are very pleased to continue our support of the Carmel Ventures team in this new fund. The team’s operating experience and international networks, combined with their goal of transforming Israeli technology into global companies, are key ingredients in the formula of successful venture capital investing.’
Thomas Kristensen of LGT Capital Partners adds: ‘We remain committed to Israeli venture capital. As evidenced by the top quartile performance, Carmel’s hands-on approach and deep networks position the team very well in the market.’
Founded in 2000 by former entrepreneurs and executives from Israel’s software and communications industries, Carmel Ventures has more than USD600m under management in funds focused on IT investments. The firm is an affiliate of Viola Partners, a private equity investment group with more than USD1.5bn invested in technology-based growth opportunities in Israel.
