Israeli VC Jerusalem Venture Partners raises $220 million for new tech fund

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) said on Wednesday it closed a new fund with investment commitments of $220 million.

It has attracted investors from the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK, and from Asia, including Japan. Among them are U.S. and European sovereign funds, corporations, insurance companies and university endowments.

The fund is investing in early-to-mid-stage companies in areas such as computer vision, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and big data.

Several of the companies are U.S.-Israeli or European-Israeli, JVP founder and Executive Chairman Erel Margalit said.

"It's a sign that the next generation of Israeli companies don't just want to be bought by multinationals but want to create their own international business leadership," Margalit said.

JVP, which has investment hubs in Jerusalem, the southern Israeli city of Beersheba and a new one in New York, has raised $1.4 billion to date in nine funds.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer)