Yozma

Yozma, Yozma Program, or Yozma Fund was a venture capital organization in Israel that initially started out as a government funded program in 1993 to help kick start venture capital, angel investing, and private equity in Israel's economy. $20 million of government subsidies went to the Yozma Fund, the other $80 million the government provided went to match other foreign and domestic firms, at 40%, to create their own venture capital funds in Israel. The VC companies could buy-back the governments equity stake over a 5 year period, and most did. The Yozma Fund privatized in 1997 and became the Yozma Group.^[2]

Capital raised by year in the venture capital industry in Israel during the 1990’s, ~$8 billion raised total.^[1]

Background

See also: Israel Innovation Authority

Immigration to Israel^[3]

  Total Immigrants

  Immigrants from the USSR and Post-Soviet states

Inbal is a government owned insurance company that underwrote and guaranteed up to 70% of losses for venture capital firms from 1992-1998. The Israeli Government helped start and fund business incubators and an R&D cluster during the 1990s. Many immigrants came to Israel during the fall of the soviet union in the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah and about ⅓ of them were skilled enigineers and scientists.^[4]

Yozma funds

Yozma Initial Funds^[5]

Name	Est.	Capital	Foreign LP	LP Country	Portfolio	Exits	Exit Rate
Eurofund	1994	$20M	Daimler-Benz, DEG	Germany	14	7	50%
Gemini	1993	$36M	Advent Venture Partners	USA	25	13	52%
Inventech	1993	$20M	Van Leer Group	Netherlands	33	16	48%
Jerusalem Venture Partners	1993	$20M	Oxton	USA	12	10	83%
Medica	1995	$15M	MVP	USA	10	5	50%
Nitzanim	1994	$20M	AVX, Kyocera	Japan, Japan	13	7	54%
Polaris (Pitango)	1993	$20M	CMS	USA	19	13	68%
Star	1993	$20M	TVM, Siemens	Germany	27	15	56%
Vertex Holdings	1996	$39M	Vertex Int., Singapore tech	USA, Singapore	29	16	55%
Walden	1993	$33M	Walden International	USA	21	10	48%
Yozma	1993	$20M	None	Israel	16	10	63%
Total		$263M			217	122	56%

Yozma 2.0

In 2024, the Israel Innovation Authority has launched a Yozma 2.0 with government funds of $155 million, looking to raise $700 million from private institutional venture capital investors, at a 30% match.^[6][7]

Hebrew translation

Yozma translates from Hebrew to English as initiative.^[8]

See also

• Genesis Partners
• Infinity Group
• List of Israeli inventions and discoveries
• List of venture capital firms
• Economic dynamism
• Economy of Israel
• Start-up Nation
• Science and technology in Israel
• CPP Investments - Canadian Pension Plan
• Venture Capital Action Plan - Canada
• Baltimore Development Corporation
• Texas Emerging Technology Fund
• Investment banking
• Public–private partnership
• Silicon Wadi