ICV was established to provide growth capital to entrepreneurs in Israel's energy, water and environmental sectors. The fund is managed by partners Jack Levy, Glen Schwaber, and Meir Ukeles working together with four venture partners, who are industry veterans with decades of experience in Israeli energy, water and materials technology companies: Arnon Goldfarb, the CEO of TMB Water, and a former VP at Israel Chemicals and director of IDE Technologies; Israel Kroizer, the president of Luz II Ltd.; Eytan Levy, the co-founder of microbial fuel cell developer Emefcy and AqWise - Wise Water Technologies; and Yigal Stav, formerly CEO of Netafim.
The fund is backed by institutional investors and family funds in Europe, the United States and Israel, including Netherlands-based asset manager Robeco Private Equity and U.S.-based financial institution Piper Jaffray.
ICV will invest in Israeli based or Israel related high growth clean technology companies, including alternative energy, water conservation and purification, emissions reduction, and in technologies that enable industries to work in a more efficient and environmentally friendly manner.
The fund has made seven investments to date: Aqwise (waste water treatment), CellEra (fuel cells), Citrine Renewable Energy (landfill biogas treatment), Emefcy (energy production from wastewater), Metrolight (energy efficient lighting), Project Better Place (electric vehicle infrastructure), and Pythagoras Solar (solar energy).
"Israel is an attractive market for water, technology and renewable energy and we think that Israel Cleantech Ventures has a strong team and network that is well positioned to take advantage of this emerging cleantech market," said Andrew Musters, partner at Robeco Private Equity.
