Israeli venture capital firm Grove Ventures raises $ 185 million fund to support start-ups
Israeli investment firm Grove Ventures said Thursday it has raised a fund of $ 185 million to invest in early stage startups and “outstanding Israeli entrepreneurs.”
The fund, the third from Grove Ventures, will focus on companies working on digitization processes that “will shape the future, advanced computing, cloud infrastructure, data infrastructure and management, tools and software developers, DevOps, AI and automation, the company said.
Grove Ventures has backed companies like Wiliot, a maker of battery-less Bluetooth chips to label consumer products that recently raised $ 200 million, trusted and online security startup ActiveFence, the developer of a platform based on artificial intelligence to proactively discover and report malicious content, and TriEye, a developer of shortwave infrared (SWIR) detection chips that allow drivers to see in inclement weather and at night.
The venture capital firm stressed that the new fund will invest in pre-seed, seed and Series A in Israeli startups, early rounds that have attracted fewer investors in recent years. The majority of investments in Israeli companies over the past few years have shifted mid-term (Series B and C) and later, fueling the growing stability of Israeli unicorns – private companies valued at over $ 1 billion.
Grove Ventures is led by Dov Moran, a seasoned entrepreneur and investor widely known for inventing the USB drive as the founder of M-Systems, which SanDisk acquired for over $ 1.6 billion in 2006. Lior Handelsman, the one of the founders of smart – energy solutions company SolarEdge, currently the only Israeli company listed on the S&P 500 index, Lotan Levkowitz and Renana Ashkenazi, formerly of Applied Materials, serve as general partners.
The team said in a joint statement that they are delighted to “support the next generation of businesses that will propel technological advancements and digitization processes to propel the future of the world.”
“We are living through a difficult and fascinating time in which the world is becoming more digital than ever. We are working to be a home for Israeli founders who are building significant technological innovation and infrastructure and creating game-changing companies, ”they added.