The Harel Group is recruiting Tomer Goldenberg, who will be appointed director of the Strategic and Alternative Investment Arm, which is responsible, among other things, for investments in young technology companies. Four years ago, the Harel Group decided to establish a small and unique investment arm, designed to make a series of investments with different characteristics, from the investments it usually makes. In light of the success of the investment arm, the Harel Group decided to allocate an additional $ 100 million for such investments.
So far, the small investment arm has managed the 9 investments made by Guy Hermelin, who is now retiring from the Harel Group for private businesses. In his place, Harel is now recruiting Tomer Goldberg, who is joining the company these days with the aim of increasing the unit’s activity, to manage the strategic investment arm. For the past five years, since 2016, Goldberg has led Cisco’s investments and acquisitions in Israel in the areas of cyber, computing infrastructure and cloud. Prior to Cisco, Goldberg served as Amazon Product Manager in technology as well as in engineering positions in Elbit’s unmanned aerospace division.
The strategic and alternative investment arm is unique to the Harel Insurance and Finance Group, and was in fact established with the aim of investing directly in technology companies that are in relatively early stages of their activity, and in relatively small amounts. When so far investments in this arm have made an average return of 300 percent.
To date, the Harel Group’s strategic and alternative investment arm has made 9 direct investments in a variety of areas, including biotech, fintech, digital medicine, green energy and more. Among other things, investments in leading companies: American Wall, Ecopia, Ayala, Ashurd, Beyond Biologics, Tabit, Quantum Machines, Lemonade and Innovies. In total, Harel has invested close to $ 100 million in these companies.
In American Wall, the Harel Group invested $ 5 million in 2017. The company that develops advanced technologies for distance medicine was founded by two Israeli doctors, Dr. Ido and Roi Schonberg, and is headquartered in Boston. The Corona period skyrocketed the company’s performance. The company was launched in New York in October 2020 and is worth over $ 6 billion. The return that Harel made on this investment, as of this date, is 5 times the money.
In Beyund, led by Tehila Ben Moshe and Uri Shela and based in Misgav in the north, Harel and the IBF fund invested in the first round first in 2018 and in the subsequent rounds. Harel invested a total of $ 6 million in Beyund. And one hundred million dollars with the global Sanofi company, in one of the largest biotech transactions in Israel.
Harel invested in Ecopia, a company in the field of green energy, in 2017. Together with them, Harel supported the company over the years, and invested a total of about $ 12 million, until the company’s successful IPO in Tel Aviv. This investment yielded Harel more than 4 times the money.
In Ayala Pharma, which Harel established in 2018, with an investment of $ 8 million, together with the IBF fund. Ayala, led by CEO Roni Mamlok, was issued on the Nasdaq in 2020 and gave Harel a threefold return on the money invested.
In 2019, Harel invested $ 30 million in Lemonade, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Harel sold its holding in Lemonade in a recent sale offer and recorded a fourfold return on investment.
It should be noted that the type of investment in question differs from the classic investments of institutional entities in that it is a relatively small investment in young companies. These investments require considerable attention, in relation to the size of the investment, as well as flexibility and the ability to make quick decisions. In addition to the aforesaid investments, investments in more established technology companies are made in Harel’s investment division, in later investment rounds.
It is important to emphasize that another characteristic of Harel’s direct investments is the involvement of the Harel Group, in the companies in which it invests, unlike the vast majority of the investments that Harel makes on a regular basis. That is, Harel becomes a “strategic investor” for these companies and sometimes it also provides credit to them. For example, Harel persuaded the CIM investment fund to invest $ 40 million in the company Acupia.
In addition, Harel participates in almost every round of recruitment of these companies and also in IPOs, as they take place.
Maharel reported: “The Harel Group is pleased to welcome Tomer Goldenberg, who has been appointed Director of Strategic and Alternative Investments, responsible for investing in young technology companies. We believe that the proven experience and achievements, along with his in-depth knowledge of the worlds of technology and financial investments