Chemi Peres

Background

Nechemia “Chemi” Jacob Peres (born July 17, 1958, in Tel Aviv) is the youngest son of Sonia and Shimon Peres, the Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Israel ¹. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering and management and a Master of Business Administration from Tel Aviv University ¹.

Peres served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force for 10 years, flying Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters ¹. After his military service, he held managerial positions at Decision Systems Israel (DSI) and in the engineering department of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) ².

In 1992, Peres co-founded MOFET Israel Technology Fund (Hebrew acronym for “Industrial R&D”), one of the first venture capital funds listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange ¹. The fund initially raised $6 million in 1993 ³. A notable early investment was a $1.5 million round in VocalTec in August 1993, the world’s first company to transmit Voice over Internet Protocol, which later went public on the NYSE ³. Peres served as CEO of MOFET until 1996 ¹.

In 1996, Peres co-founded Polaris Venture Capital (later renamed Pitango) with venture capitalist Rami Kalish ³. Their second fund, Polaris Fund II, raised $125 million and generated a profit of $200 million by 2000, making it the first Israeli VC fund exceeding $100 million without government support ^{3 4}. In 2001, the firm changed its name to Pitango Venture Capital to avoid confusion with the Boston-based Polaris Venture Partners ⁴.

Today, Pitango manages over $3 billion in assets across three dedicated funds: Pitango First (early-stage), Pitango Growth (growth-stage), and Pitango HealthTech (life sciences) ⁵. Peres has stated that Pitango has raised over $3.3 billion across 14 funds, investing in more than 300 companies ⁶.

Beyond venture capital, Peres serves as Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, an independent non-profit organization founded in 1996 by his father Shimon Peres ⁷. He also serves as an independent director at the Azrieli Group (since January 2024) ⁸ and is Chairman of the Al-Bawader Investment Fund, Israel’s first investment fund focused on the Israeli Arab minority sector, a public-private partnership between Pitango and the Israeli government ⁹. In 2021, Peres was awarded the Reinhard Mohn Prize by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, recognizing his commitment to promoting innovation that serves both business and society, with an award of EUR 200,000 ¹⁰.

Stated Thesis

Peres has publicly described his investment philosophy as centered on backing transformational technology companies emerging from Israel’s innovation ecosystem that target global markets.

On market selection, Peres has stated: “The challenge is to build an economy that is based on exports” and noted that “the ability of these companies to scale locally is limited,” requiring Israeli startups to think globally from day one ³.

He has emphasized that innovation is the key differentiator: “I think what keeps Israel so vibrant is the fact that we don’t have natural resources. If you don’t build your economy on science, technology and innovation — on brain power as opposed to natural resources — then you are doomed to fail” ^{3 11}.

On sector focus, Peres has stated: “The high-tech industry is mainly concerned with infrastructure” and “There is no field that we cannot reach through technology with the help of innovation” ¹². In a 2016 TechCrunch appearance, he identified digital health, drones, and autonomous driving as emerging sectors ¹³.

Pitango First’s current Managing Partner Eyal Niv has described the fund’s approach: “We’re not chasing trends; we’re looking for transformational change and exceptional teams, often before a product even exists” ⁵.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 135 verified portfolio companies listed on Pitango’s website ¹⁴, the following patterns emerge. Note: these represent the firm-wide Pitango portfolio rather than Peres’s personal deal selection alone, though as co-founder and managing partner he has set the overall strategy for three decades.

Stage distribution: Pitango invests across stages through dedicated fund vehicles. Pitango First targets seed and early-stage investments, Pitango Growth handles later-stage rounds, and Pitango HealthTech focuses on healthcare from early to growth. The firm’s most recent fund raise of $300 million was split between Pitango First ($150 million) and Pitango HealthTech ($150 million), indicating a continued emphasis on early-stage dealmaking ⁵.

Sector breakdown: Based on the 135 companies listed on Pitango’s portfolio page ¹⁴: - Enterprise infrastructure / networking / cloud: approximately 30 of 135 companies (22%), including DriveNets, Radware, AudioCodes, Voltaire, Logz.io, Komodor, Frontegg, Volumez - Healthcare / medical devices / biopharma: approximately 25 of 135 companies (19%), including Magenta Medical, Vertos Medical, TScan Therapeutics, QuantHealth, Variantyx, Medisafe, ColBar LifeScience - Cybersecurity / security: approximately 15 of 135 companies (11%), including ForeScout, Skycure, Perception Point, CyberMDX, Sansa Security, Salvador Technologies - AI / deep tech / semiconductors: approximately 15 of 135 companies (11%), including AI21 Labs, Graphcore, Anobit, PsiQuantum, Quantum Source, Speedata - Adtech / media / content: approximately 12 of 135 companies (9%), including Taboola, D-ID, ConvertMedia, Browsi, Applicaster, StreamElements - Fintech / payments: approximately 8 of 135 companies (6%), including Riskified, eToro, PayEm, SuperDerivatives, Traiana - Transportation / transit tech: approximately 6 of 135 companies (4%), including Via, Optibus, Tomorrow.io - SaaS / developer tools: approximately 10 of 135 companies (7%), including Duda, Totango, Tailor Brands, Formlabs, Tulip Interfaces

Geographic focus: The portfolio is overwhelmingly Israel-origin, with companies headquartered in or founded from Tel Aviv, Herzliya, and the broader Israeli tech ecosystem. Several portfolio companies have dual headquarters (Israel and US), reflecting the global-from-day-one approach Peres has described.

Exit patterns: Of the 135 listed portfolio companies, approximately 18 achieved IPO (including Taboola on Nasdaq, Via on NYSE, Riskified on NYSE, Radware, AudioCodes, Varonis, ForeScout, AppsFlyer, VocalTec, and others) and approximately 45 were acquired (including by Apple [Anobit], Google [Timeful], IBM [WorkLight], Cisco [Leaba Semiconductors], and others) ¹⁴. This represents a strong exit rate of approximately 47% (63 of 135).

Board involvement: Peres personally serves on the boards of Via Transportation, Taboola, Duda, Totango, Radwin, and Venn.city ². He previously served on the boards of publicly traded companies including Aladdin, AudioCodes, BackWeb, Koor Industries, Orckit VocalTec, and Voltaire ².

Co-investor patterns: Based on verified rounds, frequent co-investors include Bessemer Venture Partners (DriveNets), Capital One Growth Ventures (Riskified), C4 Ventures (Riskified), 83North (Via), and Exor/Agnelli family (Via) ^{15 16}.

Portfolio

The following table includes investments personally associated with Chemi Peres through board seats and publicly cited involvement. Pitango’s full portfolio of 300+ companies is managed across multiple funds and partners.

This table represents a subset of the 300+ companies Pitango has invested in since 1993 ⁴. Only investments with publicly confirmed Pitango involvement are included. Many entries lack specific year and stage data because the firm-level portfolio page does not break out individual deal timelines.

In Their Own Words

“Maybe we were on the verge of a new era, where people would be able to raise small amounts of money and start a software company.” — Chemi Peres, on the founding of Pitango, Knowledge at Wharton, May 2013 ³

“Why don’t we build a vehicle that will help those companies finance their dreams, their ideas?” — Chemi Peres, on the impetus for creating Pitango, Knowledge at Wharton, May 2013 ³

“Running a venture fund as a public company was not a good idea. You need to do it as a partnership.” — Chemi Peres, on transitioning from the publicly listed MOFET fund to a private partnership model, Knowledge at Wharton, May 2013 ³

“With $100 million, you can really run a business.” — Chemi Peres, on reaching critical fund size for Pitango’s first major fund, Knowledge at Wharton, May 2013 ³

“The digital wave is disrupting industry one after another.” — Chemi Peres, TechCrunch, August 2016 ¹³

“There is no field that we cannot reach through technology with the help of innovation.” — Chemi Peres, at the National Conference for Trade Infrastructures and Innovation, September 2022 ¹²

“Our job, the job of the investors, entrepreneurs and innovators, is to reach out and to connect beyond borders and help the Middle East transition itself from a poor region to a start-up region.” — Chemi Peres, Fathom Journal, Autumn 2017 ¹¹

“There is no need to go to war any more in order to achieve greatness.” — Chemi Peres, Fathom Journal, Autumn 2017 ¹¹

“Offering a new horizon of opportunity for the young generation in the Middle East will be the best answer to poverty, extremism and terrorism.” — Chemi Peres, Fathom Journal, Autumn 2017 ¹¹

“Yesterday, Taboola began trading on Nasdaq as ‘TBLA’, and we couldn’t be more happy for Adam and the incredible Taboola team!” — Chemi Peres, on Taboola’s IPO, CTech, July 2021 ¹⁷

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. The Unicorn Nest investor database describes Pitango as having “phenomenal wisdom and intuition regarding business strategy, marketing and more” with support that “was and continues to be instrumental,” but these are aggregator descriptions without named founder attribution ²⁰. Dedicated searches for portfolio founder quotes about Chemi Peres on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, podcast transcripts, and press coverage did not yield verifiable first-person testimonials from named founders.

Sources