ANNOUNCING SWEETWOOD VENTURES I, OUR NEW $70 MILLION FUND OF FUNDS Following our press release last week, we are thrilled to share the announcement of the final closing of our inaugural Israel-dedicated fund of funds, Sweetwood Ventures I, with aggregate commitments of $70 million. This fund will allow us to continue in our mission of supporting Israel’s best-in-class venture capital managers through primary and secondary allocations, as well as through direct co-investments in leading portfolio companies.Our parent firm, Sweetwood Capital, was first established in 2011. Since then, we have closely followed the development of the venture capital industry in Israel. The launch of our dedicated venture capital fund of funds now allows us to be true long-term partners of the funds and startups we invest in, by supporting them across multiple vintages and investment cycles. Over the past two years, Sweetwood Ventures has been actively planting the seeds for these long-term partnerships, having invested in six top-tier Israeli venture capital funds and one leading cybersecurity startup. Most importantly, we have worked and established deep relationships with 19 Managing Partners, General Partners and Partners, two entrepreneurs and well over 100 employees and support staff of our portfolio funds.
Sweetwood Ventures’ Partners (left to right):
Samuel Cohen Solal, Manuel Sussholz and Amit Kurz
Backed by a great group of LPs from Europe, including private banks, institutional investors and family offices, Sweetwood Ventures is in many ways a unique representation of the journey undertaken by many of our team members, who immigrated to Israel to establish their homes, after successful careers in leading investment firms in Europe. Continuing on the same path, we will be looking to bridge the gap between Europe and Israel for our investors and network, allowing both sides to fully capitalize on the opportunities that each presents. The fund is set-up as a Luxembourg domiciled fund with offices in Luxembourg and Tel-Aviv. This structure puts us in a unique position to offer European investors superior access to Israel’s best technological talent and mature ecosystem, which now boasts over $100 billion worth of exits over the past decade. We feel incredibly grateful to our investors for their support in this journey, having recognized the value of allocating capital to the Israeli ecosystem through our fund of funds model. We are very proud to be supported by a diverse group of investors, with decades of entrepreneurial and investment experience across a variety of sectors such as automotive, technology, retail, luxury goods, finance, industrials, food and beverage and many more. We are very thankful to the entire team that helped us in accomplishing this important milestone, mentioning among others the fantastic work that has been done in finance, legal, HR, marketing, administrative and more. In characteristic fashion to these times of the Coronavirus, we will conclude by saying “we are open for business” and as many of our portfolio funds and companies can attest, this is true in every sense of the word. We are excited to start new relationships and invest in the best managers, now more so than ever, and look forward to continuing our journey with the Israeli ecosystem through this new decade and for many decades to come.
Press Coverage of Announcement - Highlights Sweetwood Ventures closes first $70m Israel VC fund [Globes] Sweetwood Ventures Announces Final Closing of Its Inaugural Israel-focused Venture Capital Fund of Funds [Yahoo! Finance] Sweetwood Ventures pockets $70M for FoF [Pitchbook] Sweetwood Ventures : clôture finale de son 1er fonds de fonds israélien de capital-risque [BOURSIER]