Israeli venture capital firm Carmel Ventures has closed its latest investment fund worth $194 million. Called Carmel Ventures IV, the fund’s investors include several major Chinese companies, including Baidu (the maker of China’s biggest search engine), mobile services provider Qihoo, and financial conglomerate Ping-An. Other investors include Horsley Bridge Partners.
The interest in Carmel Ventures from notable Chinese investors is interesting because it follows a growing trend. More Chinese investment firms and companies are investing a significant amount of capital in Israeli tech. For example, Ping-An created a $100 million fund for U.S. and Israel tech ventures in November, while PC maker Lenovo Group invested about $10 million in Canaan Partners Israel last August.
Carmel Ventures manages a total of over $800 million in investor capital and its investments already include ironSource, Outbrain, and Payoneer. Carmel Ventures IV will focus on early-stage tech companies in sectors like enterprise software, data center infrastructure, big data, cyber security, financial tech, digital media, and consumer apps in Israel. It will be led by partners Shlomo Dovrat, Avi Zeevi, Ori Bendori, Ronen Nir, Daniel Cohen and Itzik Avidor.
In a statement, Daniel Tu, group chief innovation officer at Ping-An Group of China, said, “Carmel offers us reliable access to Israeli innovation and we look forward to partnering with them.”