Israel’s family offices – the list

Isreal has one of the most dynamic tech sectors in the world, pulling in money from all over the world to participate in its rapid growth. This, combined with a strong and successful family business culture, has created a healthy family/principal investment ecosystem for a country with a population of less than 10 million. 

As with Isreal’s financial and business sector, the country’s family office world is concentrated in and around Tel Aviv. 

Typically, the country’s family offices invest across the world, but they are also a big source of funding for startups in the local economy. 7-Main, the family office of Ruthi Wertheimer, is one of the most dynamic in terms of global investing and has also invested prodigiously in the country’s venture sector. 

Also, a combination of the country’s venture sector and the diaspora of wealthy jews across the world have attracted many family offices from outside of the country to invest in Israel. Notable examples include Jeremy Coller’s family office UK-based CPT Capital, the Swiss-based family office of Carlo De Benedetti, Planven Investments, and Square Peg Capital, a venture capital firm/fund with strong links to one of Australia’s wealthiest families, the Libermans. 

Canadian billionaire Stephen Bronfman went a step further and set up a local investment group linked to his family office, Claridge, with backing from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a pension fund. 

But the dynamism of the local tech sector has also attracted family offices without a Jewish connection, most notably SKion, the private investment group of Susanne Klatten, Germany’s richest woman, and US-based Koch Disruptive Technologies, Chase Koch’s investment group. 

Potentially even more interesting is Middle East wealth holders and sovereign wealth funds backing Israeli ventures, which Family Capital has written about this week. This has the potential to really spark even more rapid growth in the country’s tech sector – and, at the same time, have beneficial political ramifications.