New Era Capital closes $120M fund to back post-war Israeli startups
Third fund targets AI-driven early-stage companies in sectors such as cyber, fintech, and mobility.
Israeli venture capital fund New Era Capital Partners has completed a $120 million fundraise, Calcalist has learned. This is the firm’s third fund, following its second and slightly larger $140 million fund raised in 2020, which is now nearly fully invested.
New Era launched operations in 2017 with an initial $60 million fund. Since then, it has invested in more than 35 companies, most notably Eynat Guez’s HR management company Papaya Global, and smart transportation unicorn Optibus.
The new fund will focus on investments in early-stage Israeli startups that already generate initial revenue, with an emphasis on AI-powered solutions in cybersecurity, enterprise software, finance, and smart transportation. The capital was raised from institutional and private investors, both in Israel and abroad.
New Era Capital Partners was founded and is managed by Gidi Argov, Ran Simha, Ziv Conen, and Ayelet Frish. Argov, who heads the fund’s Boston office, served for three decades as CEO of international companies in the U.S. He is also the driving force behind the Argov Program for leadership and diplomacy at Reichman University, named in memory of his father Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to the U.K. whose attempted assassination in 1982 triggered the First Lebanon War.
Ran Simha, who leads the firm’s Israel office, previously served as a technological and economic advisor to former Israeli President Shimon Peres. Ziv Conen spent a decade in Unit 8200 and later became a partner at consulting firm McKinsey in Boston. Ayelet Frish serves as the fund’s head of business development.
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The partners say they believe the war in Israel is nearing its end and that its aftermath will bring regional, economic, and security shifts that will create new opportunities for investment. “Investors see and understand what’s happening below the surface. It’s precisely after periods of crisis that Israeli high-tech tends to thrive. We’re in a period of very attractive valuations on the one hand, and on the other, there’s a deep belief that Israel will emerge stronger, with new regional ties,” the partners told Calcalist in response to the fund’s closing.
