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Already a leader in the Israeli venture capital fund market, the Polaris Venture Capital Fund is positioning itself to become a major player in the global venture capital scene.
The fund has already invested in a number of S start-up companies, and has appointed two Silicon Valley-based managing directors, Bruce Crocker and Rami Beracha. It has also begun to explore European markets, looking for investment opportunities and partnerships with strategic investors and other venture capital funds.
"In the next five years I see Polaris broadening its presence in the US, Europe and the Asian Pacific area, and investing jointly with multinational investment groups," said Polaris co-managing director and founder, Chemi Peres.
"Most of the investment will be in companies that have some Israeli nexus or are complementary to companies in our existing portfolio," explained Rami Kalish, also a co-managing director and founder of Polaris. "This is a policy we are already implementing in the US."
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"Today we are the largest venture capital fund in Israel in terms of the amount of money handled and professionals employed," said Kalish.
There are over 60 companies in the Polaris-Eucalyptus portfolios, most of them in communications and Internet infrastructure. The fund invests in seed and later stage companies, and follows them closely until their exit.
Successful investments include now-public companies such as CardGuard, BackWeb, ITXC, Radware, AudioCodes and VocalTec. Other privately held companies like Mercado, Chromatis, Mysticom, RichFX, Surf and CTI2 have not reached IPO stage yet, "but look promising," said Kalish.
Much of its success derives from the fund’s strong management team and seven managing partners. "All the members of the management team have had international executive experience in operational companies outside Israel. This has added very much to the company’s strength," said Mankovski. "There is a lot of venture capital in Israel today, but the money must be invested wisely."
The company also provides a full roster of services to its portfolio companies through its team of over 20 professionals. "We have dedicated professionals in marketing, communications, business development, human resources and organizational consulting," said Kalish.
Over the next five to ten years, Peres expects the fund to increase its investment in the biotechnology and medical equipment fields. "Today there is a convergence between information technologies (IT) and communications. In the coming years, there will be a convergence of IT with biotechnology and medical equipment. IT is essential to every field, and Polaris funds invest in IT convergences," he said.
The Polaris Venture Capital Fund foresees continued growth and global access as distances become less relevant and technologies converge.