The Capital Quest | Third Point opens Israel office, hires Pitango executive

Third Point Ventures (TPV), a venture capital firm backed by the New York-based hedge fund Third Point LLC, has opened a new Tel Aviv office, which will be headed by former Pitango executive Sapir Harosh.

Harosh, who made as many as 20 investments at Pitango, joined TPV as partner in June this year.

TPV has backed a bunch of Israeli-origin companies including New York Stock Exchange-listed cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, AI transcription and captioning solutions company Verbit, and semiconductor company Next Silicon.

It has also invested in Trullion, which is creating business transparency by using automation software to power real-time visibility into company financials, and Forter, a software company that provides fraud prevention technology for online retailers and marketplaces.

A few others like LIDAR technology developer Orix Vision were also a part of TPV’s portfolio.

The VC firm is managed jointly by Daniel S. Loeb and Robert Schwartz.

TPV had recently raised money through dedicated investment vehicles focussed on Israeli startups into which it plans to make Series A and B investments. The VC firm typically invests in domains such as cybersecurity, enterprise software and data infrastructure.

“Israel’s ‘startup nation’ mindset fueled by its excellent educational system, military service and gritty culture makes it one of the most exciting places for venture capital investing,” said TPV Managing Partner Robert Schwartz.

“Our own investments in Israel across AI, cybersecurity, software, and data infrastructure have been among the most successful made in our history. We are especially excited to support the current generation of entrepreneurs and founders to scale their businesses, develop products and grow internationally,” he said.

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