Carmel Ventures Raises Fifth Fund, Rebrands as Viola Ventures and Expands with Two New Partners

TEL AVIV, November 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Viola Ventures, formerly Carmel Ventures, announced today its new fund with commitments of over $170M towards a target of $200 million, crossing the $1B assets under management (AUM) dedicated to early stage investments. This is the fifth fund raised by the Viola Ventures team, with prior and current funds supporting some of the most successful technology companies in the Israeli ecosystem, including global market leaders such as IronSource, Payoneer, Outbrain, Playbuzz, and Redislabs.

This latest fund was raised from a significant number of returning investors as well as selected new investors from the US, Asia, Europe and Israel.

Viola Ventures has also broadened its partner's team with the addition of Omry Ben David (formerly Senior VP at Goldman Sachs) and Zvika Orron (co-founder & former CTO of LifeBeam). They are joining Shlomo Dovrat, Avi Zeevi, Daniel Cohen, Ronen Nir and Itzik Avidor. Viola Ventures is the only Israel-based venture fund with six investing partners, solely dedicated to early-stage tech investments. This allows for unique depth and diversification across backgrounds and verticals.

Viola Ventures, formerly Carmel, is an independent fund, focused on early stage tech investments and is part of the Viola family, Israel's largest tech investment group with $2.8B assets under management. With the raising of the fifth fund, it has made the strategic decision to embrace the Viola brand. The fund will continue to lead an independent investment strategy with a dedicated team, while also offering its portfolio companies the added value of being part of a multi-strategy investment group.

"With this latest fund, Viola Ventures is doubling down on its commitment to support the best Israeli entrepreneurs and to build global technology leaders by providing the extra edge they need to succeed in the global arena," said Viola Ventures General Partner Daniel Cohen. "We believe Israel will continue to cultivate global leaders and Viola Ventures, with its new capital, enhanced team, and the benefits of the Viola group, will continue to be a central player in this ecosystem."

About Viola Ventures (Formerly Carmel):
Viola Ventures is a venture capital firm, empowering early stage start-ups to become global leaders. 

Founded in 2000, Viola Ventures manages over $1B across five funds. The fund invests in Israeli or Israeli-related early stage companies, with significant ideas that can lead to transformational companies. Its portfolio varies around a number of segments, including: enterprise, software/SaaS, AI, cloud infrastructure, FinTech, frontier technologies (automotive, IoT, AR/VR, drones), big data, digital media, consumer, semiconductors and more. 

Viola Ventures is the only Israel-based venture fund with six investing partners, solely dedicated to early-stage tech investments.

The team has backed a substantial share of Israel's exits, including: Actimize, RedBend, DesignArt, CopperGate, Exelate and ECI.

About Viola: 
Viola is Israel's leading technology oriented investment group with over $2.8B assets under management. The group provides long term world-class returns by identifying and pursuing attractive investment strategies across all stages in the vibrant Israeli technology and industry market.

It is comprised of focused separate investment arms, including: Viola Ventures - a technology focused early stage investment fund with over $1B AUM, Viola Growth - technology focused growth capital fund with $440M under management; and Viola Credit - the debt arm with $600M under management as well as other dedicated vehicles. Each partnership operates independently with a dedicated investment team and different investors, pool of funds, and portfolio companies, but share access to added value services that provide entrepreneurs the edge they need to succeed in the global arena.

Founded in 2000, Viola's team includes over 30 investment professionals and 40 support staff, and has invested in over 200 technology companies.

Contact:
Joel Strauss
[email protected] 
+1-917-595-2309

SOURCE Viola Ventures