PICO Venture Partners, an early-stage investment firm headquartered in Jerusalem, has raised $80 million for its second flagship fund following a $35 million debut effort.The four-year-old firm is not industry specific; rather, the outfit seeks values-based, execution-driven Israeli entrepreneurs who leverage technology to modernize processes and unlock greater efficiency in the marketplace.& In other words, PICO is an opportunistic firm, looking for local founders with potential to bring big returns.PICO has previously invested in Vroom, an online used-car marketplace that raised nearly $500 million in funding.
Other portfolio companies include cloud automation business Spotinst, AI-enabled career development tool Gloat and business management tool Arbox.Led by co-founding partners Elie Wurtman — a former general partner at Benchmark Capital Israel — Todd Kesselman and Gina LaVersa — former investment bankers — PICO operates offices in Tel Aviv and New York, in addition to Jerusalem.At PICO, we put an emphasis on impact,& Wurtman said in a statement provided to TechCrunch.
&With this fund, we&re looking to partner with Israeli founders who want to use new technologies to make an impact on industries that need to be looked at from a refreshed perspective.
While we&re looking for early-stage companies with significant growth potential, we also want to ensure we&re investing in entrepreneurs who have a clear vision about how they can make a real impact on markets, people and society.Afore Capital raises second pre-seed venture capital fund