JVP closes fund at $400m

Jerusalem Venture Partners, which this summer announced the first closing on its fourth fund at $350 million, closed the fund at $400 million in early November. The fund has already invested in seven companies. The mix of investment may differ slightly on previous funds thanks to current market conditions meaning there is paucity of B and C round funding available, which means there are a lot of later stage investment opportunities are coming to the market at early stage pricing. Consequently, Jerusalem Venture Partners is investing in some B and C rounds. The firm’s previous funds made 90 per cent of their investments in the seed stage.

JVP IV has attracted both new and original investors and its limited partners include a global network of strategic partners, institutional investors and financial institutions such as France Telecom, Infineon, Boeing, Nortel Networks, Reuters, Flag Venture Partners, Merrill Lynch Ventures and AXA – as reported in evcj September 2001 issue p27. The most recent additions include the fund-of-funds businesses of HarbourVest and Adveq and Technion, Israel’s technical university.

Erel Margalit, founder and managing partner of Jerusalem Venture Partners, is moving from the firm’s Jerusalem to New York office. He expects next year’s investments to concentrate on those areas that will help drive the technology rebound. Jerusalem Venture Partners invests in early stage communications and enterprise software companies.

This latest fund raising represents a significant increase for Jerusalem Venture Partners III, which was closed in December 1999 at $160 million. In late 1998 the firm’s second fund, at $75 million, raised twice its original target.