Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) have announced backing from Alibaba, in which the Chinese e-commerce giant will provide financial support to promising startups in Israel.
According to the Times of Israel, JVP’s portfolio, which includes cyber security software makers CyberArk and CyActive, was what sparked Alibaba’s interest in the company.
PayPal bought CyActive for $60m, which guards enterprises against potential cyber attacks by using algorithms. Similarly, Alibaba wants to defend itself against cyber security threats using the technology.
Alibaba is expanding its business beyond e-commerce and, coupled with the opening of its first US based data centre, the need for cyber security has increased for the company.
According to reports, JVP focuses mainly on cyber-security startups, which could give Alibaba stronger access to security technology.
TechCrunch cited Alibaba spokesperson as saying: "The JVP investment is in line with our mission of supporting innovation and start-ups."
With the investment, Alibaba has joined the ranks of Lenovo which invested in venture capital firm Vertex and Canaan Partners which invested in Pitango Venture Capital.
