Sequoia Capital Closes $150 Million Israeli Fund

[HERZLIYA, Israel – Silicon Valley VC fund Sequoia Capital said it raised $150 million for its first Israeli venture capital fund.

The company said the fund will be its only fund outside Silicon Valley. Sequoia Capital, a major player in U.S. VC circles, has established or invested in Yahoo, Oracle, Cisco and Apple.

Since its establishment in the 1970s, 500 portfolio companies have had successful exits, 200 of which became public companies.

Sequoia Capital Israel will be managed by two of the fund’s 14 general partners: Shmuel Levy, former president of Lucent’s Data Communications system division and CEO of Lannet, and Haim Sadger, who has managed Sequoia Capital’s Israeli investments for the last two years and is a former member of Intel’s Business Development team.

“Israel is the second Silicon Valley, and it is therefore the only other place we have chosen to expand our activities,” said Sequoia general partner Michael Moritz.

Levy said Sequoia will help Israeli companies penetrate the American market, which he described as the most important and hard-to-penetrate.

Sadger said the $150 million is for seed and early-stage companies in telecommunications, chip design and software.