Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has been the swiftest to go global, has opened an outpost in Israel. It's the latest move in an impressive empire-building that now includes 120 investors in 30 cities. It's also a smart move, given strong growth in other parts of the world.
DFJ has teamed up with an Israeli firm called Tamir Fishman. The two will rebrand the Israeli firm's next fund as "DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures". (Here's the statement ).
One of Tamir Fishman's partners, Eldad Tamir, hit the news several years ago, when he was forced to pay for covering up a mistake in a filing for an IPO on the Tel Aviv stock exchange. The charge had originally been a felony, but he settled, and paid a minor fine.
Jennifer Fonstad, a partner at DFJ, will join the joint venture's investment committee. Tamir Fishman is raising its third fund, with a target of $150 million. It has already raised $80 million.
Israel has become one of the more attractive regions for investment, boasting a continuous supply of security and communications start-ups that derive in part from the solid science training and close bonding that occurs in Israeli's army training. Top firms like Sequoia and Benchmark are already there. We've reported on DFJ's global moves, including setting up partnerships in South America, Russia, Europe-wide (Esprit) and elsewhere.