New fund targets Israeli, European enterprise tech start-ups
Fund founder: our unique perspective is 'informed by the Israeli experience'.
By EYTAN HALONAngular Ventures founder and general partner, Gil Dibner.(photo credit: PR)
International venture capital fund Angular Ventures announced the closure of its debut $41 million fund on Tuesday, focusing on early-stage enterprise technology companies based in Europe and Israel.Founded by experienced London-based Israeli investor Gil Dibner, Angular initially set out to raise a $25m. debut fund, but ultimately closed the fund with $41m. in capital raised exclusively from commercial investors.The fund aims to rapidly enable expansion of European and Israeli start-ups in the United States, where the fund operates a New York office.Angular, operating in stealth mode for nearly two years, has built a portfolio of 12 companies to date, investing in start-ups located in Israel, the UK, Finland, Romania and other European countries.The firm, which raised approximately 60% of its debut fund’s capital in the United States, typically invests between $250,000 and $1.5m. in early-stage start-ups.“Angular is bringing a new perspective to early-stage venture capital outside the United States, particularly in Europe and Israel,” Dibner, who serves as general partner of the firm, told The Jerusalem Post. “That perspective is informed by the Israeli experience, which is that it’s possible to build impactful, very successful, enterprise technology businesses in the United States or globally, having started the business outside the United States.”The fund, Dibner said, seeks to reimagine early-seed venture capital in Europe and Israel by focusing on a single sector, removing geographical borders to investing and establishing a US platform to support the global expansion of start-ups.“We’re bringing on an age of post-geographic venture capital,” said Dibner. “We couldn’t have done that if we didn’t have the Israeli experience we had, and the focus on Israel that we have.”Of the fund’s first 12 investments, five have American venture capital firms as co-investors, seven were led or co-led by Angular, and four have already raised additional capital at a higher valuation.AdvertisementThe fund is backed by a list of leading advisers, including JFrog founder Fred Simon, SiSense and Firebolt founder Eldad Farkash, marketing executive Guy Poreh, Google VP of Product Management Jerry Dischler, and Sozo Ventures founder Phil Wickham.
