Secretive start-up Zon raises $7m

The firm was established by the founders of Jungo.

Israeli start-up Zon Networks Ltd. operates under a veil of secrecy. The company, whose name is temporary, remained secretive after raising $7 million in its first financing round today.

It is not clear what sort of product the company, which was founded only a few months ago, is developing, but it's founders, Ofer Vilensky and Derry Shribman, are well known. The two founded and managed Jungo until it was a sold a year and a half ago to NDS Group (Nasdaq: NNDS) for $108 million. Despite the company still being in its infancy, Wilensky has no qualms about aiming high. "If we manage to develop our idea over the next few months, Internet users everywhere will want to use it. This could be one of the biggest companies to come out of Israel. This is an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime."

Zon raised the money US venture capital funds Draper Fischer Jurvetson and Trilogy Partnership - a Seattle-based fund which manages capital on behalf of former executives at Microsoft and AT&T. Israeli venture capital funds Tamir Fishman Venture Capital (TASE: TFVC) and Megama also participated.

Globes: Why do you need this, after the Jungo exit?

Vilensky:"It's not just about finance, but the ability to do something, to affect the world. The product is not an idea that will target a niche or heavy users of technology. It is something that everyone will want. I will give you a parallel example from another world: If someone tells you he can supply you a fuel additive that can make a car do a thousand kilometers to the liter, wouldn't you buy it? Today, no one would ask for anything like this, because they wouldn't believe it's possible. But if it is on the market, everybody will want it."

According to Vilensky, if all goes according to plan, the first product will be on the market in early 2009. Zon currently employs 20 people and is looking to recruit a further 20 for product development, especially experts in telecommunications and Internet protocols.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 9, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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