Charles Flore Fund plans to invest in Exodus

28 April, 2013

“The first stage is to create the US based proxy for the Israeli companies; the next would be to re-create a similar accelerator hub to serve the needs of US based start-ups"

“The first stage is to create a US based proxy for the Israeli companies”

The US based Charles Flore investment fund, owned by Bruce Friedman, have decided to invest in Exodus (Exodus Communication & Technologies Group), a private company owned by Rami Nakash.

Exodus operates three business “Accelerator Hubs” in Petach Tikva, Israel. The hubs help connect dozens of software and start-up companies and private entrepreneurs in a number of fields of activity.

Bruce Friedman told Techtime that the planned investment amount has not been finalized yet. “We plan to further develop Exodus business model to meet Israeli start-up companies. Israeli start-ups are often pioneers in their fields, which makes the Israeli scene a great indicator for emerging trends in the world. One of our goals is to help some of the companies, currently working within the Exodus hub, gain recognition worldwide.

US based branch

“The first stage is to create the US based proxy for the Israeli companies; the next would be to re-create a similar accelerator hub to serve the needs of US based start-ups. This model (shares in start-up companies in exchange for business development acceleration) could be successfully replicated in US.” Rami Nakash noted that the plan is to extend Exodus’ activities, by creating an additional US based branch.

The Charles Flore fund uses both the traditional investment fund and the investment club (“Angel”) business models. The fund represents a group of private investors (mostly HNW American families) that are interested in allocating part of their assets to investments in start-up companies. Typically, the fund invests $1-1.5 Million in a company.

Friedman was a founder of PartMiner, that built a successful electronics parts distribution and database business. He met Rami Nakash, when Nakash built the Israeli branch of PartMiner in the early 90’s. In 2000, Friedman sold PartMiner to IHS and used the proceeds of the sale as the seed capital for his investment fund. An interesting side-note… Besides investing in high-tech companies, the fund makes investments in the distressed consumer companies via its Evergreen division. Evergreen purchases distressed consumer beauty/cleaning American brands (e.g., Tame, Lavoris, Silkience) and restructures them.

Posted in: Business , Deals and Investments , News

Posted in tags: featured