Carmel Ventures Interview: Fund IV and China

Last week, TechCrunch broke news of Israeli venture capital firm Carmel Ventures closing a USD $194 million fund for ‘transforming technology’ start-ups, drawing contributions from Baidu, Qihoo and PingAn among other backers. Huxiu interviewed Viola Group (of which Carmel Ventures is an affiliate) Marketing Director, Hila Shitrit Nissim, to find out more about Carmel Ventures, Fund IV, its China strategy and working with Chinese companies.

Interview with Viola Group Marketing Director Hila Shitrit Nissim

Huxiu (Hx): What prompted Carmel Ventures to link with Baidu for Fund IV?

Hila Shitrit Nissim (HSN): Like most Israeli companies, Carmel's portfolio companies are global from day one and focused on business development and sales in global markets such as US, Asia and Europe. Therefore Carmel is also active in these markets and that's how we started our connections with Asian companies.

Hx: Does Carmel plan on expanding its investment portfolio to Chinese start-ups?

HNS: We are focused on investments in Israeli and Israeli related companies. That is our primary focus.

Hx: Chinese business is well-known for its reliance on familiarity between partners and good relationships. How did Carmel build those relationships?

HNS: We view the Chinese market as a long term, strategic market for us and for our companies and as such we initiated mutual visits to China and Israel and created strong relations with these Asian Players. We intend to continue and strengthen these partnerships.

Hx: What guides Carmel's decision-making process about which start-ups to back?

HNS: We are committed to backing visionary Israeli entrepreneurs who aspire to transform industries and markets on a global scale, and build world class companies. We hope to back those teams early on and be helpful to them as they scale up.

Hx: Considering the contributions from Baidu, Qihoo and Ping-An, were there any concerns about taking money from Chinese businesses with ties to the CPC? On a related note, Israel is viewed as closely related with Washington on the international political stage, and Washington has popularised the notion of Chinese soft power. Have political affairs, especially between America and China, affected how Carmel conducts business?

HNS: Carmel is a private fund, and our considerations are only business related. We are doing extremely well in our business relations with US and Chinese Companies.

Huxiu was informed the amount Baidu invested could not be disclosed.