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SUMMARY:Venture capital and the high technology market in Israel: How tiny
  Israel with no natural resources generates more technology start-ups then
  all of Western Europe combined - Roni Hefetz (General partner\, Walden Is
 rael)
DTSTART:20070523T130000Z
DTEND:20070523T140000Z
UID:TALK7435@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Paul H
DESCRIPTION:We are delighted to announce that the third of this term's Tec
 hnology Enterprise Group seminars will be given by Roni Hefetz\, General P
 artner at Walden Israel\, one of the most successful venture capitalists i
 n Israel (according to Forbes magazine\, the most successful in 2006). \n\
 nIt would be very helpful if you could send me an email to let me know if 
 you plan to attend this event so that we can prepare enough handouts.\n\nL
 ocation: Seminar Room A\, Institute for Manufacturing\, Mill Lane\, Cambri
 dge. "Click for map":http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/service/maps/\n\n*Abstra
 ct:*\nIn 1992 there was one venture capital fund operating in Israel\, wit
 h $20 million under management. Today\, over $20 billion are managed by mo
 re then 60 venture capital firms funding 300-400 new ventures per year. Th
 e market in Israel has matured quickly – and at present there are more t
 hen 100 technology companies traded in NASDAQ. In 2006 there were 76 M&A t
 ransactions totalling over $5 billion. Roni Hefetz\, one of the founders o
 f the industry and a general partner of Walden Israel - one of Israel’s 
 leading technology venture firms - will share his view of why Israel is so
  successful in generating technology start-ups. \n\n*Biography:*\nRoni Hef
 etz joined the Walden Group in San Francisco in 1992 and co-founded Walden
  Israel in 1993. He made his first investment in January 1994 in Ornet\, a
  communications company that later was acquired by Siemens. Roni Hefetz’
 s relationship with Walden actually began in the late 80's\, when they met
  under very different circumstances to discuss a potential investment and 
 he was an entrepreneur looking for capital for a start-up called CI System
 s. He spent approximately six years with CI Systems\, an Israeli military 
 electro-optics company that started out of the Technion Physics department
 . Roni Hefetz relocated to the US to start and manage the company's North 
 American operations\, and as such was involved in all aspects of running a
  start-up\, including generating revenues from major aerospace corporation
 s\, raising equity funds\, hiring a team and experiencing the challenges o
 f a rapidly growing organization that has one foot in the US and another f
 oot in Israel. \n\nPrior to joining CI\, Roni Hefetz had managed his first
  entrepreneurial venture\, a small management consulting company for Israe
 li technology start-ups. Prior to that he spent seven years with the Israe
 li government: first\, as a team member at the Budget Department at Minist
 ry of Finance and second\, as representative of the Israel Investment Auth
 ority in New York. \n\nRoni Hefetz has degrees in Economics and a Master's
  in Business Administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem\, 1980
 . His master's thesis in the MBA program was titled "Key Ingredients for t
 he Establishment of Venture Capital Industry in Israel." At that time the 
 term "venture capital" was hardly known in Israel. Currently there are mor
 e than 50 venture firms in Israel managing more $5 billion and Roni Hefetz
  is pleased that Walden Israel is a player in this thriving market.\n\nOrg
 anisers: \nThomas M. Bohné and Paul P. Hwang\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room A\, Institute for Manufacturing\, Mill Lane\, Cambri
 dge
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