In Israel, the Copia Agro & Food fund announced it is raising $50 million to expand its investments in agricultural and food projects developed by Israel’s leading research institutes. Privately-owned, Copia’s unique business model is to invest in R&D projects rather than in companies and manage the entire process from research to commercialization. In addition to funding the research, Copia matches each project with suitable industrial partners who fund and execute the development and the commercialization of the technologies.
Eyal Cohen, Copia’s co-managing director said, “Copia’s operating model is unique. By investing in projects, not companies, we can make many small investments with no overhead instead of few large ones, thereby minimizing risk and heightening potential success.”
Copia’s first Israeli research partner is Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization through its Technology Transfer Office Kidum. Copia and other industrial partners already have six operational projects with an additional three in the pipeline.