Pereg Ventures sets up $25m Israel, US fund

Itzhak Fisher and Ziv Ben-Barouch
Itzhak Fisher and Ziv Ben-Barouch

Pereg Ventures Fund I has already invested in Israeli price comparison company Zollo.

The Pereg Ventures fund, whose investors include global information services company Nielsen and Indian conglomerate Tata Group, is beginning to invest in startups. The fund started by Pereg Ventures for this purpose, Pereg Ventures Fund I, which has raised $25 million to date and plans to raise up to $75 million by the end of the current year, has already made its first investments in two companies: one Israeli and one from the US.

The Israeli company is Zollo, in which Pereg Ventures Fund I has invested $1 million. Zollo has developed a platform for comparing prices between supermarket chains that uses photographs of receipts. Zollo's application makes it possible to use a smartphone to photograph the receipt after purchases are made, after which a comparison with three additional chains located near the one in which the purchase was made is provided. The comparison includes the rate of difference between the chains, the distance between the stores, and a table of prices in each chain. Zollo's idea is to use the knowledge accumulated by scanning the receipts to provide a solution for users, so that they can compare their basket of purchases before leaving home. Incidentally, Zollo took part in the Nielsen Innovate incubator, whose partners are Nielsen, Yigal Ahuvi's Partam High Tech, and Ron Lauder's R&R Venture Partners. Pereg Ventures cooperates with Nielsen Innovate.

Pereg Ventures Fund I's second investment, also totaling $1 million, is in US company RealNext, which provides an analysis of buyers' movements in large retail outlets.

Pereg Ventures is headed by its two Israeli managing partners: former Nielsen executive vice president Itzhak Fisher and former Viola Group senior principal Ziv Ben-Barouch, who also helped found several companies. Managing partner Claudia Iannazzo and venture partner Mark Leiter are also partners in Pereg Ventures.

Nielsen's investment in Pereg Ventures Fund I is also strategic, and the close cooperation is expected to benefit the startups, which will enjoy easier access to the personnel and many customers of a leading market research company.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 25, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

Itzhak Fisher and Ziv Ben-Barouch
Itzhak Fisher and Ziv Ben-Barouch
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