Pitango made the most venture capital investments overall, for the third successive year.

JVP (Jerusalem Venture Partners) tops IVC's 2004 list of most active funds based on first investments with nine first investments (compared with two in 2003). Closely trailing are Vertex, with eight first investments (compared with 6 in 2003), and Giza with seven First investments (compared with 5 in 2003). Next in the ranking are Evergreen and Cedar, with six first investments each, and Gemini, Star, Israel Seed, Ascend and Apax with five first investments.

Results for the three leading funds - JVP, Vertex and Giza include investments made in companies operating in their managed incubators - JVP Studio, Technion Entrepreneurial Incubator, and ATI.

Data are based on the IVC Online Database and information received directly from the VC funds. The report relates to investments in Israeli and Israel-related companies made by funds through management companies that had a minimum of $30 million under management.

IVC also ranked the cumulative number of first investments made by funds since the beginning of 2002. This ranking is led by Giza with a total of 18, followed closely by Vertex, with 17, and Pitango (14), Evergreen (13) and Cedar (13).

"First time investments made by funds are important in light of the fact that the average time-to-exit is five to six years. Accordingly, recent investments will only bear fruit years from now" said Zeev Holtzman, chairman of IVC Research Center and Giza Venture Capital. "Venture capital investments are a marathon: the true results will be revealed in time".

Holtzman added that "due to relatively more comfortable terms of investment in the past two to three years, VC funds have begun picking up the pace of new investment. Since more new funds are planning to get underway during 2005, we project further increases in First investments over the coming year."

Pitango heads the list of Top 10 funds ranked by total number of investments (first and follow-on) in 2004. Pitango has now made the most total investments for the third year in a row. Pitango made 36 investments in 2004, compared with18 in 2003. Next on the list is JVP with 20 investments, compared with 10 in 2003. Following closely are Giza, Gemini and Star with 17 investments each, Infinity with 16 and Evergreen with 15. All of these funds exceeded their 2003 numbers.

The Top 10 funds made 54 first investments in the aggregate (about 30% of the total number of deals), compared with 45 first investments in 2003, representing an increase of 17%. A comparison of 2004 activity with activity in 2002 shows an increase of 59% in the number of first investments made by the Top 10 funds. Ayala Chiel, who conducted the research at IVC, said, "The increase in first investments over the past two years is evidence of the continuing recovery in Israel’s high-tech industry, particularly over last year."

Total investments by the Top 10 funds showed a substantial 33% percent increase to 180 in 2004 from 134 in 2003. These figures include 126 follow-on deals in 2004, compared with 89 in 2003, representing a 42% increase.