Evergreen closes $140m Fund IV

Israeli venture capital firm Evergreen Partners has closed its fourth fund on $140m, the lower end of the fund’s $140m to $170m target.

99 per cent of the fund’s capital came from outside Israel, including commitments of $25m from HarbourVest Partners and the Illinois Teachers Retirement System. Other investors are the Ontario Municipal Retirement Fund, Bank of America, California Institute of Technology, NIF Ventures and Nippon Ventures.

The number of European investors in the fund was substantially lower than in the firm’s previous fund, which closed on $170m in 1999. Harel Insurance and one private investor were the fund’s two Israeli investors, according to Israeli newspaper Globes. Announcement of the final close was made at an investors conference in Boston on Friday.

Evergreen was unavailable for comment.

Evergreen IV has already completed five investments since holding a first close on E95m in January 2003. It has invested in Montilio, ItemField, Big Band Networks and Transpharma Medical. In 2002, Evergreen made 17 investments, including 14 follow-on investments.

Evergreen was founded in 1987 by chairman Jacob Burak. The firm, which now manages more than $700m, invests in software, communications and life sciences and has completed 26 exits since it was set up 16 years ago.

Israel’s venture capital market has seen a sharp downturn in fundraising activity since the height of the dotcom boom. In 2000, Israeli venture capital firm raised a total of $1.27bn, which fell to E812m in 2001. In the nine months to October 2002, the figure had fallen to E383m according to the Israel Venture Association.