Yozma
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Yozma, Yozma Program, or Yozma Fund was a venture capital organization in Israel that initially started out as a government funded program in 1993 to help kick start venture capital, angel investing, and private equity in Israel's economy. $20 million of government subsidies went to the Yozma Fund, the other $80 million the government provided went to match other foreign and domestic firms, at 40%, to create their own venture capital funds in Israel. The VC companies could buy-back the governments equity stake over a 5 year period, and most did. The Yozma Fund privatized in 1997 and became the Yozma Group.cite-ref-2[2]
Contents
• See also
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Background
Inbal is a government owned insurance company that underwrote and guaranteed up to 70% of losses for venture capital firms from 1992-1998. The Israeli Government helped start and fund business incubators and an R&D cluster during the 1990s. Many immigrants came to Israel during the fall of the soviet union in the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah and about ⅓ of them were skilled enigineers and scientists.cite-ref-4[4]
Yozma funds
| Name | Est. | Capital | Foreign LP | LP Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurofund | 1994 | $20M | Daimler-Benz , DEG | Germany |
| Gemini | 1993 | $36M | Advent Venture Partners | USA |
| Inventech | 1993 | $20M | Van Leer Group | Netherlands |
| Jerusalem Venture Partners | 1993 | $20M | Oxton | USA |
| Medica | 1995 | $15M | MVP | USA |
| Nitzanim | 1994 | $20M | AVX , Kyocera | Japan, Japan |
| Polaris ( Pitango ) | 1993 | $20M | CMS | USA |
| Star | 1993 | $20M | TVM, Siemens | Germany |
| Vertex Holdings | 1996 | $39M | Vertex Int., Singapore tech | USA, Singapore |
| Walden | 1993 | $33M | Walden International | USA |
| Yozma | 1993 | $20M | None | Israel |
| Total | | $263M | | |
| Name | Portfolio | Exits | Exit Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eurofund | 14 | 7 | 50% |
| Gemini | 25 | 13 | 52% |
| Inventech | 33 | 16 | 48% |
| Jerusalem Venture Partners | 12 | 10 | 83% |
| Medica | 10 | 5 | 50% |
| Nitzanim | 13 | 7 | 54% |
| Polaris ( Pitango ) | 19 | 13 | 68% |
| Star | 27 | 15 | 56% |
| Vertex Holdings | 29 | 16 | 55% |
| Walden | 21 | 10 | 48% |
| Yozma | 16 | 10 | 63% |
| Total | 217 | 122 | 56% |
Yozma 2.0
In 2024, the Israel Innovation Authority has launched a Yozma 2.0 with government funds of $155 million, looking to raise $700 million from private institutional venture capital investors, at a 30% match.cite-ref-6[6]cite-ref-7[7]
Hebrew translation
See also
References
cite-note-11. "(PDF) Venture capital start-up co-evolution and the emergence & development of Israel's new high tech cluster".
cite-note-22. ↑ "Policies for financing entrepreneurship through venture capital: learning from the successes of Israel and Taiwan" (PDF). kenney.faculty.ucdavis.edu.
cite-note-32. "Total Immigration to Israel from the Former Soviet Union". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
cite-note-44. ↑ citerefyinYin, David. "What Makes Israel's Innovation Ecosystem So Successful". Forbes.
cite-note-53. "(PDF) VC Policy: Yozma Program 15-Years perspective".
cite-note-66. ↑ "Israeli gov't launches $155m Yozma 2.0 VC fund". January 8, 2024 – via Globes.
cite-note-77. ↑ "Israel Innovation Authority launches new fund to catalyze $700 million investment in Israeli VCs". ctech. April 21, 2024.
cite-note-88. ↑ "Take Some Initiative! - Streetwise Hebrew Ep. 427". TLV1 Podcasts. TLV1. 3 September 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
• Venture Capital Policies in Israel