Meet Israel's Venture Capital Industry
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A MONTHLY REPORT COVERING NEWS AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES JOSEPH MORGENSTERN, PUBLISHER September 1998 Vol. XIV Issue No.8 You are invited to visit us at our website: http://www.ishitech.co.il Meet Israel’s Venture Capital Industry 12000% Growth in 13 Years Due to lack of venture or any other capital on its There are 85 venture capital firms active in home turf Israeli companies in the 70s turned to Israel. Technology venture capital funds have Wall Street to fuel their expansion. At that time raised between 1991-1997 more than $1.5 bil- the short-list of Wall Street companies who lion. raised funds for their activities on Wall Street The Israel venture capital industry was born in included BioTechnology General, Elbit Comput- 1985. At the time it was a remarkable birth yet ers, Electronics Corporation of Israel (ECI), inconspicuous. In retrospect, as some babies Elron Electronics Industries, Elscint, Fibronics, tend to be, it was amazingly small, highly pre- InterPharm, Laser Industries, Optrotech, Scitex cocious but long on hope and full of promise. and IIS Intelligent Information Systems. On Sep- The infant was christened- Athena Venture Part- tember 30, 1984 the total stock market valuation ners. Athena’s managing partner was a past of these companies stood at $780 million. In Commander of Israel’s Air Force Dan 1997 the Israel Ventures Association handbook Tolkowsky. Another partner Fred Adler, was one listed that 22 Israeli public offerings in the US of America’s premier venture capitalists who raised $743 million. had assisted several Israeli companies in raising The first generation of venture capital funds capital on NASDAQ. Glen Tobias, a General began to operate in the late 1980s and this move- Partner at Bear Stearns helped to structure the ment accelerated in 1990s. Local and internation- fund which raised $25 million. Glen Tobias al “money men” were noticing that Israel had wrote to the Israel High-Tech and Investment become second only to the United States with its Report at the time, “Athena Venture Partners l number of start-up companies. The conclusion was reached that there existed a pool of entrepre- In this Issue neurial capabilities and a continuous flow of new Meet Israel’s Venture Capital Industry ideas within Israel. In view of the modest begin- SUPERPOWER nings of the Israeli venture capital industry it is Memco & Platinum Another Blockbuster Deal Lucent to Buy Lannet for $117 mil. mind boggling that as of December 1997 Israeli Point of Sale IPO at Low Pricing technology and private equity funds had raised Israelis on Wall Street: Zoran, BTGC, MedisEl, PEC, Cimatron, ECI Telecom, Teva, $2.1 billion of which $1.2 billion had been Elron Electronis, Indigo, Pharmos, Geotek, NICE, Technomatix, invested and $900 million remained to be invest- Vocaltec Possible Merger: Tadiran+ECI Telecom ed. The explosive boom in startups has attracted the SCIENCE CORNER nucleus of an expanding venture capital industry. Copyright 1998: Israel High-Tech & Investment Report Subscription, Bulk copy and reprint information available on request Editorial Offices: P.O.Box 33633, Tel Aviv 61336, Israel Tel: 972-3-5235279 Fax: 972-3-5227799 E-mail: [email protected] ISR A EL HIG H-TECH & IN V EST MENT REPO RT September 1998 represents an attractive investment opportunity mercialization, and venture capital - the busi- to participate in quality high-technology com- ness development catalyst. panies at the venture capital stage, with an An expression of that support is the Govern- emphasis on such companies based in Israel”. ment of Israel research and development The “high-tech sector” we wrote in our Issue (R&D) budget of $400 mln. The R&D expen- 1, January 1985, “crowned by enthusiasm, diture represents 2.2% of Israel’s Gross engendered by the successes already achieved, Domestic Product, according to data pub- has created an encouraging environment for its lished by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The further rapid growth and expansion. It pro- funding subsidizes the average startup with vides an atmosphere which can nurture the about $150,000a year. dreams of young scientists, investors and On a percentage basis the business sector, pri- entrepreneurs, with the dreams being turned marily high-tech industries accounted for 46% into the realities of tomorrow”. of the total. 37% was allocated for R&D in the At the same time there began a continuing and country’s universities, 10% for government harmonious interaction between the Israeli and 7% for non-profit organizations. Government and hi-tech entrepreneurship. It The recent resounding and high profile acqui- undoubtedly accelerated the successful devel- sitions of Israeli high-technology companies opment of all stages of the “smart” industries, by America OnLine and Platinum and will including academic, R&D, transition to com- undoubtedly add to the impetus to launch a The Bottom Line * 2,500 Hi-tech Start-ups currently active in Israel * Over 80 Venture Capital Funds managing about $3 bln. dedicated exclusively to hi-tech investments - representing more per capita than any other country or continent on the globe * Massive presence in Israel of American Investment Banks specializing in hi-tech *More companies on NASDAQ, the chief exit for venture capital funds, than any other country outside of North America Israel Venture Association You are invited to visit us at our website: 2 http://www.ishitech.co.il September 1998 ISR A EL HIG H-TECH & IN V EST MENT REPO RT second generation of venture capital funds the major trends evident in Israeli venture with capital of $100 million, or more. capital. “There is tendency to address ‘earlier The business press now regularly quotes heads stage’ enterprises that require more manage- of venture capital management companies. ment attention. More venture capital funds are Many of these, if not household names, have creating internal structures which can provide become prominent due to their ability to spot management assistance along with capital. “a good deal’. Giza, Veritas, Evergreen, Another trend is the growth in size of individ- Dovrat/Schrem, Clal Venture, Challenger, ual funds who can provide funding at later Comverse, Apax-Leumi, Jerusalem Venture, stages when greater sums are generally Kardan, Marathon, Medica Ventures, Neurone, required,” Mr. Manor points out. Medmax, Mofet, Ofer, Shirat, Rennaissance Just as Israeli companies look to attracting and Walden have shown that they have the foreign strategic partners so foreign financial ability to attract foreign capital and and invest groups seek suitable Israeli partners with SUPERPOWER Israel is rightfully acknowledged as a superpower in the field of Internet software. Compa- nies such as Unique, with its super technology to compress a movie so that it can be seen on a computer screen; CheckPoint with a world leading market share of Internet protection from unauthorized intrusion and most recently Mirabilis with its friendly ability for Inter- net users to communicate with each other when online are among visible examples. The Internet culture among young Israelis is widespread and mushrooming. It begins at birth and gets its greatest impetus during the period of army service. Comfy produced a keyboard which allows toddlers to connect and activate games on the Internet. In due course Israelis undergo a compulsory three year period of army service. Shortly after entering the army they find out that Israeli Defense Forces select the most talented among them and train them electronics and software at the most advanced technical levels. By the time they complete service they are “well cooked” and ready to apply their expertise to civilian pursuits. Com- puter software programming, the application of algorithms to compress text, data and data encryption skills and telecommunications know-how are useful skills to bring to a job and invaluable for entrepreneurs who decide to strike out on their own. The lightning like appearance of Israel as a superpower on the international Internet soft- ware scene should not be misconstrued as a passing phenomenom it in the expanding sea of the universe of whom to co-invest in high-tech investments. Israeli high-tech. What gave credence to these Israel’s Clal Group recently announced that activities were the outlandishly bountiful together with the French Banque Nationale de rewards garnered from venture capital backed Paris and Rind Butler Group of the US it has companies such as ESC Medical, Gilat Satel- established the “Omega” Capital Venture lite, Mirabilis and most recently Memco. Fund, amounting to $100 million. The fund The Israel High-Tech & Investment Report will invest in Israeli high tech companies, with asked Eliezer Manor, the Executive Director the cooperation of US and French companies. of the Israeli Venture Association to pinpoint Clal is to make connections with Israeli com- 3 You are invited to visit us at our website: http://www.ishitech.co.il ISR A EL HIG H-TEC H & IN V EST MENT REPO R T September 1998 panies, and experts from technological and the company had sales of $.25.3 million. Rev- financial fields. Hillel Milo, who founded the enues for the six months ended June 30, 1998, Clal Capital Venture Fund in 1995, has been were $.65.6 million, a 42 percent increase over appointed the fund’s CEO. the first half of 1997, when the Gilat had sales The Zisapel brothers founders of the RAD of$.46.3 million. Operating income was $10.3 Group of companies, a group of companies million, compared with $6.3 million for the specializing in electronics and computer com- first six months of 1997, while net income was munication with a turnover in excess of $500 $9.3million ($.0.81 per share), compared with million, are forming the RAD Ventures Fund $ 6.9 million ($.0.61 per share) for the same which aims to raise $100 million from local period last year.