Benson Oak Sets Up Dedicated Investment Fund for Israeli Market

Prague-headquartered investment banking firm Benson Oak is setting up a dedicated investment fund for the Israeli market, the firm announced Sunday. The fund, which will focus on blockchain and consumer-facing companies, has already raised $25 million with the intention of raising a total of $100 million by the end of the year.

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Benson Oak’s capital comes from private investors, strategic companies, and family offices, and the firm does not partner with institutional investors. The new fund will target seed-stage companies and is expected to announce two portfolio companies in the upcoming days.

The fund is looking for platforms, meaning companies that offer a business strategy, a product and a community, managing partner Robert Cohen said in an interview with Calcalist on Thursday. As an example, he gave Israel-based online gig marketplace Fiverr Int. Ltd. “For me, blockchain and web 3.0 are such domains,” he added.

Benson Oak’s first tech fund, set up in 2003, invested $10 million overall, including in Anti-virus software maker AVG Technologies NV, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange at a company valuation of around $1 billion before being bought by Avast Software in 2016. The firm’s third fund, established in 2012, invested in three Israeli companies: instant video creation startup Slidely, collaborative study platform Spitball, and business lending marketplace Lending Express.