JERUSALEM: Israeli venture capital firm Viola Ventures said on Monday ‍it had ‍raised $250 million in capital for two new funds ​to back the "next generation of Israeli startups".

About $100 million will ⁠go to Viola's Conviction Fund I, which has already been ⁠fully deployed ‌in follow-on investments in its portfolio.

The remainder will be allocated to the Viola Ventures ⁠7 Early Stage Investment Fund, which will invest in seed and other early-stage rounds in startups focused on areas such as vertical AI, enterprise AI, ⁠financial technologies, AI infrastructure, cyber, ​quantum and defence technologies.

The new fund will launch in the ‍first half of 2026, as Viola is still making investments ​from its Ventures 6 fund.

Viola said it had formed an advisory panel of tech executives from companies including IBM, Red Hat, Mellanox - acquired by NVIDIA - Payoneer and SunGard to serve as strategic advisers and board members of portfolio companies.

"Despite a challenging couple of years for the region, the Israeli tech ecosystem continues to ⁠grow at record pace," said Omry ‌Ben David, managing partner at Viola Ventures.

He cited tech funding of more than $11 billion ‌and mergers and ⁠acquisitions worth nearly $70 billion so far in 2025. (Reporting by ⁠Steven Scheer. Editing by Mark Potter)