Pitango

Pitango VC, established in 1993, is Israel's largest venture capital fund with over $2.8 billion under management. ^{[citation needed]} Pitango VC invests through three dedicated funds, Pitango First (early-stage investments), Pitango HealthTech (HealthTech investments), and Pitango Growth (growth investments). Pitango invests in startups around the world, in domains such as Vertical SaaS, Digital Health, Deep Tech, FinTech & InsureTech, Devops, Generative AI, Web3, and FoodTech.

Pitango VC

Pitango offices at Akershtein Towers, Herzliya
Company type	Private
Industry	Venture capital
Founded	1993; 32 years ago (1993)
Founder	Rami Kalish and Chemi Peres
Headquarters	Herzliya , Israel
AUM	USD $2.8 billion
Number of employees	~40
Website	www.pitango.com

With two offices in Israel (Herzliya and Sarona), Pitango currently manages several venture funds totaling over $2.8 billion in committed capital. It has invested in more than 250 companies with its investors including Time Warner, Citigroup, Eastman Kodak, Deutsche Bank and HarbourVest Partners.^[1]

History

The fund was founded as Polaris Venture Capital in 1993 by Rami Kalish, as part of a government initiative named the Yozma program ("Initiative" in Hebrew); which offered attractive tax incentives to any foreign venture-capital investments in Israel and offered to double any investment with funds from the government.^[2]

In 1996, Kalish was joined by Chemi Peres, son of former Israeli president Shimon Peres, to create Polaris Fund II, which raised more than $100 million. Polaris II invested in 35 high-tech companies. Some were partially funded by another Israeli VC firm, Eucalyptus Ventures. When the investments proved successful, Polaris II and Eucalyptus merged into Fund III in early 2000.^[1]

In 2001, Polaris Venture Capital changed its name to Pitango Venture Capital, to avoid confusion with Boston based Polaris Venture Partners. Although the Boston firm was founded in 1996, which was after Pitango was founded, the Israeli firm decided to change its name. Pitango takes its name from the semi-wild Surinam Cherry that grows in Israel.^[3]

Pitango Venture Capital Fund IV followed in 2004, and in 2007, Pitango V.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, with the support of the Israeli government, Pitango established the first fund in the country focused on investment in the Arab-Israeli sector, called Al-Bawader (Arabic for “early signs”).^[4]

Notable companies

• AppsFlyer^[5]
• Duda
• EarlySense^[6]
• eToro^[7]
• Evolven
• Formlabs
• Graphcore^[8]
• Kaminario
• mySupermarket
• Radwin
• Riskified
• Silk platform^[9]
• Taboola
• Varonis Systems
• Via Transportation, Inc.
• Zerto^[10]

Exits

Company	Industry	Description	Initial Investment Date	Exit
Anobit	Semiconductors	flash memory controllers	2006	Acquired by Apple Inc. in 2012 for a reported $390 million.[11]
InstallFree	Software	Application virtualization technology	2006	In December 2012, WatchDox Acquired InstallFree.[12]
ClearForest	Software	Brokerage compliance, anti-money laundering, and fraud prevention	2001	Acquired by Reuters in 2007 for $25 Million[13]
Radcom Ltd	Communications	Networking Infrastructure Equipment	1993	IPO on NASDAQ in 1997
Boxee	Consumer electronics		2007	Acquired by Samsung Electronics in 2013 for $30 million[14]
Check, Inc.	Mobile	Mobile Applications	2007	Acquired by Intuit in 2014 for $360 million.[15]
AeroScout Industrial	Communications	RFID	2000	Acquired by Stanley Black & Decker in 2012.[16]
BioLineRx	Biotechnology		2003	IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.[17][18]
dbMotion	Software	Health technology interoperability	2005	Acquired by Allscripts in 2013 for $235 million.[19]
Mainsoft	Software	Network virtualization for software testing	1993
VocalTec	Telecommunication	VocalTec released the first Voice over Internet Protocol application	1993	IPO on NASDAQ 1996
Red Bend Software	Software	Mobile software management	2000	Acquired by Harman International Industries in 2015.[20]
Radware	Communications	Advertising Data	1997	IPO on NASDAQ 1999
Traiana	Software	Post-trade processing, client servicing, and trading partner integration for financial institutions	2004	Acquired by ICAP in 2007 for $247 million.[21]
EarlySense	Medical Technology	Medical device company	2004	IP acquired by Hillrom in 2021 for $30 million plus revenue share.[22]