Hong Kong-based investment and merchant bank Ion Pacific has announced the first close of its debut tech-focused structured secondaries fund, its fifth fund to date, which will invest globally with a focus on Israel and Asia.
The bank, which has offices in London and Tel Aviv, did not disclose the actual amount raised for the first close of its latest fund, Ion Pacific Stonecutter LP, but said it exceeded targets and achieved about 62 per cent of final fund size.
“We are targeting $30 million for the final close, but have a hard cap that is above that,” Ion Pacific executive Kristaps Ronis told DEALSTREETASIA. Investors in the new fund, Ion Pacific Stonecutter LP, come from Europe, Asia, and North America, and include a large number of participants from Ion Pacific’s prior funds, as well as Ion Pacific shareholders.
“Achieving a first close within three months of launch highlights the pent-up demand for a product like this,” said Michael Joseph, co-CEO of Ion Pacific.
The bank said the fund will take structured secondary positions in technology, venture, and growth capital funds.
“Ion Pacific has created a new category of investment that allows investors to participate in the venture ecosystem without having to take the binary risk usually associated with venture investing,” Joseph said.
The bank’s four existing funds are Phillion I, which closed in 2015; Phillion II, which closed in 2016; Ion Pacific Peak I, which closed in 2017; and Ion Pacific Peak II, which closed in 2018.
Founded in 2015 by Joseph and the Israeli-born Itamar Har-Even, the investment bank employs a 25-person team in offices in Hong Kong, London, and now Tel Aviv.
In March, Ion Pacific announced plans to launch its Tel Aviv outpost, with a target of investing at least $100 million in the Israeli market in the next 12 to 18 months.
It also backed the $4 million the pre-Series A funding round of San Francisco-based patient engagement startup Catalia Health in November 2017.
This article was also published in Deal Street Asia on May 17, 2018
