Israeli Late-Stage Venture Firm Raises $150 Million for a Second Fund

Tel Aviv-based late-stage venture firm Qumra Capital raised $150 million for a second fund, Qumra 2, the firm’s managing partner Erez Shachar said in a phone interview with Calcalist Tuesday. In July, Qumra announced it closed $115 million in commitments for the fund. The new fund will focus on investments in Israel-based technology firms with annual revenues exceeding $10 million, aiming for investments of $10-15 million as part of $20-50 funding rounds, Mr. Shachar said.

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Qumra was founded by Mr. Shachar and Boaz Dinte, former managing partners of Evergreen Venture Partners, together with Sivan Shamri Dahan, who was a principal at Evergreen.

Qumra founders Erez Shachar, Sivan Shamri Dahan and Boaz Dinte. Photo: Ronen Topelberg

Qumra launched a first $100 million fund in 2014. The fund invested in eight startups, including online service marketplace Fiverr, online payments fraud prevention startup Riskified, consumer insights company Signal Analytics, and marketing analytics company Appsflyer.

According to Mr. Shachar, Qumra was the first firm in Israel to focus solely on late-stage companies. Back in 2014, Israeli investment funds leaned heavily towards early-stage companies. Since then, multiple new investment vehicles focused on late-stage investments in Israel-based companies came on the market. According to Tel Aviv-based market research company IVC Research Center Ltd., after totaling $300 million in 2013, annual late-stage investments in Israeli technology companies surged to over $1.5 billion in 2014, $1.6 billion in 2015, and $1.7 billion in 2017.

Israel-based venture firms managing dedicated late-stage funds include Israel Growth Partners (IGP), Pitango Venture Capital, and Jerusalem Venture Partners. U.S.-based venture firms with on ground operations in Israel, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners, are also dominant investors in Israeli growth stage firms.

“In 2014, when we were raising funds, we had to convince limited partners of the potential of late-stage investments in Israel,” Mr. Shachar said. The Israeli late-stage market “didn’t just happen, it happened big time,” he said.