Israel Seed Partners has announced that it has finished raising $40 million for its third venture capital fund, called ISLP III, with an impressive line-up of clients.
The new fund is a real leap in status for Israel Seed in that its first efforts were relatively small for the industry, and funded mainly by private investors.
The new fund is big, and boasts a list of renowned investors and institutionals, including BT Alex Brown, the Nomura investment bank, the Wilson Sonsini legal office, Silicon Valley Bank, and the drug giant Wellcome (in partnership with Glaxo). The cream of the local crop is invested too: Clal Electronics and Clal Industries, to name two. The list of private investors includes Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, Netscape founder Mark Anderson and others. One special characteristic of ISP's funds is that they target companies in their "seed" stage, which is the most dangerous for investors - it is often too early to even assess whether the company stands a chance of success.
Most VC funds enter start-ups at a later stage.ISP had previously established two venture capital funds, one worth $7 million, the other worth $11 million. Both are at full investment with no less than 18 major corporate contributors, including corporate giants such as Compugene Software, FoxCom, and Dealtime.com.