Terra Venture Partners raises $20m for new fund

Terra Venture Partners LP today announced the first $20 million closing for its new fund, for which it plans to raise $50 million. Investors include a US private equity fund, a Brazilian bank, European family wealth offices, and strategic investors. Many of the investors invested in Terra's first fund. When the full $50 million is raised, it will bring the capital managed by Terra to $90 million.

Terra's second fund will invest in ventures outside the cleantech industry, including Internet, software, and mobile, which have a favorable impact on the environment.

Terra general partner Dr. Astorre Modena said, "Despite Israel's immense potential, absurdly Israel is ranked second in the world's cleantech index, but only 6% of venture capital money is invested in cleantech. Conversely, 27% of investment in the US was channeled to cleantech in 2012. Cleantech has changed in the past two years, and we see more and more revolutionary and breakthrough ventures which target the end user and include green technologies in our daily lives. Cleantech stopped being intended for heavy industry long ago, as we have proved with our current portfolio companies. There are outstanding cleantech companies on the market with promising economic viability. We want to attract more talented entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and skill is every technology field to help us build the next generation of cleantech in Israel."

Modena, a physicist, and Harold Wiener, a chemist, founded Terra Venture Partners to invest in cleantech in 2007. Terra' $25 million first fund invested in nine water, renewable energy, and environmental companies, making investments from the pre-seed through growth stages. Most of its portfolio companies have raised large follow-on capital, and four have substantial revenue and cooperation agreements with leading companies.

Terra's portfolio companies include Phoebus Energy Ltd., which has developed hybrid water heating solutions for institutions, such as hospitals, that cut energy costs by 50-70% and contamination by 90%; Wi-Charge Ltd., which has developed radiation-free wireless solutions for recharging electrical products and mobile phones; and SmarTap Ltd., which provide smart water saving solutions for the home, and which won the Eco Innovations Award for 2013.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 19, 2013