Battery Ventures raises $900m in new funds

Israel will be a focus of the US funds after $830 million in exits from previous funds in 2012 when Apple bought Anobit and EMC bought XtremIO.

24 February 13 18:07, Globes' correspondent

Battery Ventures announced that it has closed two new funds - $650 million for its 10th fund, and a $250 million side fund to support later stage, growth and buyout deals. The firm, with offices in Massachusetts, California and Israel funds companies worldwide, and says the majority of its new investments will be in North America, Israel and Europe.

Itzik Parnafes, who was recently promoted to General Partner in Battery Ventures Herzliya office told "Newsgeek" that Battery's policies have proven themselves in recent years. He said, "Israel has been excellent for our fund's previous investments and we intend continuing to invest in Israel through the new fund and perhaps to even increase the number of investments."

In 2012, Battery had two large exits in Israel. Flash memory storage developer Anobit Ltd. was sold to Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) for about $400 million, and XtremIO, which also develops flash memory storage, was sold to EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) for about $430 million.

Battery Ventures said that key themes for the coming years include: SaaS/software for business users, including analytics exploiting big data; IT infrastructure including networking, cloud, scale-out and flash storage; unique e-commerce, retail and yield management models that leverage mobility and high service levels; technology-enabled business services; and buyouts in markets such as later stage software and industrial technologies, which are ripe for consolidation.

Battery Ventures recently led a $16 million investment round in ERP testing and upgrade automation SaaS provider Panaya, which has its development center in Ra'anana. Other recent investments in Israeli companies include cancer diagnostics company Vayyar Imaging Ltd., print technology company Digiflex Ltd., social travel site Gogobot Inc., email banking company ActivePath Inc., and disaster recovery software company Zerto Inc..

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 24, 2013

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