New Partnerships And More Funds Expected At Israel’s Viola Fintech: If all goes well, Viola Fintech’s fund will hit $150 million in a few months’ time and new partners are expected to join this investment group from Israel.
50% of the current fund ($100 million) is thanks to a number of organizations: The Travelers Companies, a certain European bank, Canadian Scotiabank, and BNP Paribas. The other half was offered by Direct Insurance, Hapoalim Bank, Discount Bank, and Meitav Dash. The fund management team is currently assessing the potential partners who are expected to deliver modern expertise to the investment company.
Daniel Tsiddon, one of the founders and a general partner is positive that 2 or 3 investors will be joining soon. As a matter of fact, Viola Fintech can accommodate as many as 12 investors. The company is on the verge of investing for the first time in artificial intelligence and machine learning, something that will boost small enterprises.
The fund hopes to invest 3 to 5 million dollars in the first 20 startup, tentatively. However, some ventures will need more, say 10 million. Tsiddon, who is a former deputy Chief Executive Officer at the second-largest bank in Israel- Bank Leumi- denotes that co-investment would be a great option for expanding the startup ventures.
For the first time in Israel, Scotiabank, the 3rd largest bank in Canada has decided to make an investment through Viola. According to Ignacio Deschamps who oversees matters of digital evolution and international banking, Scotiabank’s main interest is deep-rooted in Israel’s technology in these areas: machine language, artificial intelligence, fraud and compliance, and cyber security. Besides investing in Viola, Scotiabank is collaborating with various organizations in Israel to determine proof of concept.
The aim of the bank is to help Israel utilize the available technology optimally and incorporate it into the services offered by Scotiabank.
The viola investment group boasts over $2.8 billion of assets.
