A Who’s Who of Cardmen Capital Betting on Israeli High Tech

Israel has been proud to have one of them for years Innovative ecosystems Most developed and sophisticated in the world. He Its entrepreneurial prowessCapable of introducing state-of-the-art technologies, coupled with firm commitment from the governmentNo country to support innovation and encourage investment funds through the Yozma program (Initiative in Hebrew), explain the successful nature of this ecosystem.

He The Mediterranean country’s technological potential has become a playground for Cardmen capital. Born in 2018 and regulated by the CNMV, the venture capital manager focuses on Israeli-born start-ups capable of launching disruptive solutions within so-called deep technology. These are innovations that require long development times before they can be used in the market, and at the same time, allow important developments in various economic and industrial sectors.

Founders

The interest in this market dates back to a long time ago for the founders of Kartumen Capital. Gil KidronChairman of the Management Company and more Spanish-Israeli Chamber of CommerceResponsible for opening Accenture’s office in Israel.

For his part, Gonzalo Martínez de AzagraHe is a telecommunication engineer and founder Samsung Ventures In Israel, the investment area of ​​the technology company Igor de la Sota He has many years of experience in corporate finance and banking. Private capital.

“We are focusing on Israel because it is one of the pioneer countries Globally high technology. „We found an opportunity to give foreign investors access to the best companies in this country that promote high technology,” says Igor de la Sota. 5% of GDP The country has invested in R&D, with about 400 multinational companies doing R&D in this market and about 1,000 start-ups being created per year.

This is Expertise and knowledge Finding cutting-edge technological advancements in that country, the manager highlights, is a key value that the manager offers to investors who want to achieve financial returns and, in addition to profits, to „big companies that can keep an eye on the markets. Israelis have found high technology to help them be more competitive and continue to innovate.”

The company launched its first fund in 2019, its initial size 50 million euros Finally closed with a volume of 60 million. „The objective was to invest in twenty Israeli technology companies focused on artificial intelligence, cyber security and big data. All of them, Deep technical technologies In the early stages it was aimed at the B2B segment (solutions for enterprises),” explains De La Sotta.

This first fund was backed by Repsol, Red Electrica and Banco Sabadell, including large companies and other smaller companies, family offices and international funds.

In January 2022, De La Sotta adds, “We started The second bottomIts initial size was 80 million Now it has already raised 100 million. This demonstrates great investor interest for this company profile. Follow the same approach as above: Israeli High Tech“The vehicle has already entered five companies and the target is to reach 20.

In early 2023, Cardumen Capital was launched Apertura del vertical foodtechA fund focused on investing in food technologies developed by start-ups from Israel and Europe.

At the launch of this vehicle, it was cIn collaboration with the Basque Culinary Center San Sebastián, World Reference Center for Training and Innovation in the Culinary Sector and supported by the Basque Government. Sejal Ravji – Mentor, Entrepreneur and 20 years of experience Food industry– is behind this FoodTech fund, which hopes to raise 45 million euros to invest in new projects.

More than 600 opportunities

between 26 institutions are participating Cardmen Capital -Analyzes more than 600 investment opportunities every year, some investments Artificial intelligence. “One of the companies in our portfolio is Israeli Second nature„There is a bot that can maintain a conversation to train the sales teams of companies with real situations,” explains Martínez de Asagra.

One of the company’s most notable investments was the one made in 2022 American Financial Insight PartnersBy DoControl 27 million euros. „What’s new about this cybersecurity company is that it’s focused on security SaaS applications With the aim of preventing data leakage and theft in organizations,” he concludes.