Chinese giants Baidu, Ping-An invest in Israeli VC
Israel’s Carmel Ventures investment fund has closed its fourth investment fund, valued at $194 million, with a little help from friends in China. Among those providing financing for Carmel Fund IV, as it is officially known, are Chinese companies including web services provider Baidu, insurer Ping-An, and software company Qihoo360.
Like other Carmel funds, Fund IV will concentrate on early stage tech firms in high growth sectors that include enterprise software, data center infrastructure, big data, cyber security, financial technology, digital media and consumer applications. Carmel began investing from the new fund in January 2014 and has made investments in PlayBuzz, LuckyFish and three other promising early stage technology companies, the firm said. Carmel Ventures currently manages over $800 million of investor capital and is invested in 35 active companies. Carmel is a member of the Viola Group, which has over $2 billion under management.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/chinese-giants-baidu-ping-an-invest-in-israeli-vc/