By Orr Hirschauge
TEL AVIV--Chinese Internet-security company Qihoo 360 Technology
Co. plans to establish a global, early-stage fund with a $60
million target size for investments in Internet-of-Things
companies, according to a presentation shown last week by a company
representative during a visit in Israel.
The intended fund, called "360 Capital--IoT Fund," will focus on
investments in China, the U.S. and Israel, the presentation
says.
Qihoo, which listed American depositary receipts on the New York
Stock Exchange in 2011, develops and distributes free
personal-computer and mobile-security software, deriving revenue
from advertising. The company also has a Web browser and a
mobile-application store. With around 7,000 employees, its current
market capitalization is more than $9 billion.
Qihoo didn't respond to a request for comment.
Qihoo intends to be the leading limited partner in the fund,
with other limited partners including both strategic investors and
financial institutions, the presentation says. While the fund will
be focused on early-stage investments it will be flexible enough to
enable later-stage investments, it says.
Qihoo has made several investments in Israel over the past year,
including investments in two of the country's leading venture
funds, Carmel Ventures and Jerusalem Venture Partners.
It has also led a round of investment in Israeli
image-recognition-technology company Cortica Inc.
The company has made at least two more investments in Israeli
startups, according to a person familiar with the deals: one in
gesture-control-technology company Extreme Reality Ltd. and another
in messaging-app maker Glide Talk Ltd. Both companies declined to
comment.
Interest in Israeli tech investments by Asian investors, and
specifically Chinese investors, has grown significantly in the last
two years. In 2013, Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co.
announced a $100 million fund dedicated to investments in the U.S.
and Israel, and Chinese financial-services company Ping An
allocated a fund focused on the same geographies in November 2013.
Other Chinese companies investing in Israeli venture funds have
included Lenovo Group Ltd. and Baidu Inc.
During the past two weeks, a representative of Qihoo met with
numerous Israeli startups, including ones developing technology for
wearable computing and connected homes, according to a person
familiar with the company's activities.
Write to Orr Hirschauge at Orr.Hirschauge@wsj.com
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