Benson Oak, an investment banking firm based in Prague has already raised over $5 billion worldwide. It announced on Sunday that it is rising $ 100 million to launch an investment fund to support the Israeli blockchain startups. According to the Israeli media Calcalistech, a new investment fund called Benson Oak Ventures has already raised $ 25 million and intends to reach its goal of $ 100 million by the end of the year. Participants in the investment pool are still unknown.
The report says that the capital of the new venture fund will be raised from private investors and family offices, and excludes the participation of institutional investors. Benson Oak said in its report that in the coming days the company will name two of its partners.
Managing partner Robert Cohen said the company has been investing in the Israeli market for for a while now.
“I believe that there are great entrepreneurs in Israel who are leading the platforms of the future, with creating and disruptive use of blockchain technologies. I moved to Israel six years ago, and with a passion to build companies, I have established Benson Oak Ventures as a new platform to provide financial and operational capital to the best entrepreneurs in Israel and around the world.”
According to information on the Benson Oak Ventures website, the fund is interested in start-ups that are able to offer consumer products or create a platform that promotes growth of blockchain community in order to increase the practical applicability of blockchain products.
Benson Oak has two more venture funds that invest in American and Czech startup companies in the sphere of high technologies.
Bank Hapoalim, the largest Israeli bank, cooperates with Microsoft to develop a platform based on blockchain technology to create digital bank guarantees. Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) is also merged with the global professional services company Accenture and the Israeli fintech center The Floor to create a blockchain securities lending platform (BSL) aimed at direct lending to all financial instruments.
