Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

JVP Fund Focuses on SANs: Page 2 of 4

This new fund announcement underscores the fact that even though venture returns have been negative during the past several quarters, corporations and institutions still see big money over the long run from backing young companies (see VCs Wait for Liquidity).

"Corporate and institutional investors who are committed to private equity opportunities are continuing to be committed during these difficult times," says Erel Margalit, managing partner at JVP. "Newcomers and the fashionably interested may be putting their interest on hold."

JVP itself is a testament to the changing attitudes in the telecommunications, storage, and optical networking space. It was first founded to concentrate on seeding technology development in Israel but later expanded internationally in order to keep up with its portfolio companies.

"What we did was use our disadvantage -- seeding Israeli communications companies in a country with no strong domestic carriers -- to a competitive advantage by operating in the U.S. and in Europe," says Margalit.

Now the firm takes on the dual role of locally tending to investments while leveraging its international offices. Case in point: CyOptics Inc. was founded in the U.S. and seed-funded by JVP, but its research and development efforts weren't fully established until JVP recruited enough talent in Israel to support a fully operational indium phosphide wafer fabrication facility there (see CyOptics Claims Modulator Milestone).