Pitango
{{Short description|Israeli venture capital fund}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Pitango VC
| logo =
| image = Akershtein Towers.JPG
| image_size = 270px
| image_caption = Pitango offices at Akershtein Towers, Herzliya
| type = Private
| genre =
| foundation = {{start date and age|1993}}
| founder = Rami Kalish and Chemi Peres
| location_city = Herzliya
| location_country = Israel
| location =
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| industry = Venture capital
| products =
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| operating_income =
| aum = USD $2.8 billion
| num_employees = ~40
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| homepage = {{URL|http://www.pitango.com/}}
| footnotes =
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Pitango VC, established in 1993, is Israel’s largest and longest standing venture capital fund with over $3 billion USD under management as of 2025, with a recent vintage in 2020 of $750M USD making it the largest venture group in Israel.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} Pitango VC invests through three dedicated funds, Pitango First (early-stage investments), Pitango HealthTech (HealthTech investments), and Pitango Growth (growth investments). Pitango invests in startups around the world, in domains such as Vertical SaaS, Digital Health, Deep Tech, FinTech & InsureTech, Devops, Generative AI, Web3, and FoodTech.
With two offices in Israel (Herzliya and Sarona), Pitango currently manages several venture funds totaling over $3 billion in committed capital. It has invested in more than 250 companies with its investors including Time Warner, Citigroup, Eastman Kodak, Deutsche Bank and HarbourVest Partners.
History
The fund was founded as Polaris Venture Capital in 1993 by Rami Kalish, as part of a government initiative named the Yozma program ("Initiative" in Hebrew); which offered attractive tax incentives to any foreign venture-capital investments in Israel and offered to double any investment with funds from the government.{{Citation
| title = Silicon Israel — How market capitalism saved the Jewish state
| url = http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_3_jewish-capitalism.html
| author = Gilder, George
| journal = City Journal -Summer 2009
| volume = 19
| issue = 3
| accessdate = 2009-11-11
}}
In 1996, Kalish was joined by Chemi Peres, son of former Israeli president Shimon Peres, to create Polaris Fund II, which raised more than $100 million. Polaris II invested in 35 high-tech companies. Some were partially funded by another Israeli VC firm, Eucalyptus Ventures. When the investments proved successful, Polaris II and Eucalyptus merged into Fund III in early 2000.[http://www.israel21c.org/chemi-peres-startups-are-not-for-pessimists/ Chemi Peres: ‘Startups are not for pessimists’], Ruthie Blum; ISRAEL21c, October 8, 2013
In 2001, Polaris Venture Capital changed its name to Pitango Venture Capital, to avoid confusion with Boston based Polaris Venture Partners. Although the Boston firm was founded in 1996, which was after Pitango was founded, the Israeli firm decided to change its name. Pitango takes its name from the semi-wild Surinam Cherry that grows in Israel.[http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2001/07/09/daily19.html Israel's Polaris changes name to avoid confusion with Polaris Ventures]; Boston Business Journal, Jul 11, 2001
Pitango Venture Capital Fund IV followed in 2004, and in 2007, Pitango V.{{cn|date=November 2019}}
In 2010, with the support of the Israeli government, Pitango established the first fund in the country focused on investment in the Arab-Israeli sector, called Al-Bawader (Arabic for “early signs”).[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-26/what-its-like-to-run-an-arab-tech-startup-in-israel The Startups of Nazareth], Drake Bennett, Bloomberg Businessweek, November 26, 2014
Notable companies
{{unsourced|section|date=April 2019}}
{{colbegin}}
- AppsFlyer{{cite web |last1=Ha |first1=Anthony |title=AppsFlyer raises $210M for ad attribution and more |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/21/appsflyer-raises-210m-for-ad-attribution-and-more/ |website=TechCrunch |date=21 January 2020 |access-date=28 May 2021}}
- Duda
- EarlySense{{cite web |last1=Orbach |first1=Meir |title=Earlysense sells its intellectual property rights for $30 million |url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3890837,00.html |website=CTECH - www.calcalistech.com |access-date=28 May 2021 |date=2021-02-01}}
- eToro{{cite web |last1=Orbach |first1=Meir |title= eToro joins Israeli unicorn club by tripling valuation in two years to reach $2.5 billion|url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3879974,00.html |website=CTECH - www.calcalistech.com |access-date=24 July 2021 |date=2020-12-08}}
- Evolven
- Formlabs
- Graphcore{{Cite web|url=https://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/11110470-graphcore-secures-lead-global-ai-chip-race-with-200-million-new-capital-from-bmw-microsoft-and-leading-financial-investors|title=Graphcore Secures Lead in Global AI Chip Race With $200 Million in New Capital From BMW, Microsoft and Leading Financial Investors|website=wallstreet-online|date=18 December 2018 |access-date=2019-09-12}}
- Kaminario
- mySupermarket
- Radwin
- Riskified
- Silk platform{{Cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2021/07/07/database-optimization-startup-silk-raises-55m/|title=Database optimization startup Silk raises $55M|website=VentureBeat|date=7 July 2021 |access-date=2021-07-07}}
- Taboola
- Varonis Systems
- Via Transportation, Inc.
- Zerto{{cite web |title= Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquires cloud data management company Zerto for $374 million|url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3911516,00.html|website=CTECH - www.calcalistech.com |access-date=24 July 2021 |date=2021-07-01}}
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Exits
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.pitango.com/}}
{{Venture capital firms}}
Category:Venture capital firms of Israel