The US investor, Cohen, who has managed billionaire investments such as George Soros and Decle Docinmeleer, is currently $ 800 million to create special research laboratories in Israel called called Nevo Laboratory. The project also includes the partner of the founder of the Aleph Venture Capital Fund Michael Easeenberg and Bessimer Venture Partners Adam Fisher, who help in forming the program and finding investors.
Cohen revealed the project in the “investor” podcast of Eisenberg, and said that the establishment of the research laboratory is inspired by the Bell’s AT & T – an institution that is not present in Israel and works as a scientific research institute that serves as a commercial company. In these laboratories, scientists in various fields try to develop new technologies that can be marketed within a few years, unlike academic laboratories, as marketing is not necessarily the first goal.
In a publication published by Eisenberg on Sunday, he said he had held a major fundraising event in New York where he tried with Cohen to persuade 100 investors of family wealth offices to invest in Israel.
Raising the capital represents a challenge
In the first stage, Nevo Labs will focus on three main research areas: artificial intelligence, quantum computing and industrial biology. “In Israel, there is a large industry that develops a lot in the short term, but there is no commercial research here for 5-15 years,” Cohen explains.
One of the main goals of establishing laboratories is to enable the return of minds to Israel. “Nine out of ten students from doctorates are training them in the United States in the United States, and then staying there, not because they want to leave the country, but because the academic circles here are small and have no work to present everyone,” says Cohen. . In Israel, those who hold a doctorate in fine sciences in the technology industry are absorbed into regular development positions, and therefore do not contribute to the long -term scientific development. “In the United States, on the other hand, many academics prefer to work in private research institutions on university institutions. The reason for this lies in administrative flexibility and the fact that there is a lower bureaucracy there.”
However, the challenge of collecting capital for academic research laboratories is several times greater than collecting financing for technology companies, as the return to investors may only come after many years. “It requires more patience, but it is also very rewarding,” he says.
The creation of research laboratories requires a lot of capital, and Cohen uses his financial skills and contacts from the last years to raise money. Cohen managed the investment and research department of billionaire George Soros, and later worked as head of the hedge fund. Later on the position of investment manager of the Shostman Fund in New York. “Globes” has learned that investors who have submitted Cohen with a preliminary commitment including Druckenmiller, who worked with them in the past.
Cohen describes himself as very associated with businessmen and government officials in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and is believed to be trying to collect capital from the Gulf for the initiative. He said when asked about the possibilities of cooperation between the two countries: “The Israelis and the Saudis are interested in the same areas of research.”
The creation of a laboratory box is defined as a “special sovereign research box”, as it usually depends on one commercial company. Unlike the sovereign wealth fund, it will not be linked to the State of Israel, which is not currently open to investing hundreds of millions of dollars in long -term technology, so those involved in the private sector investors are looking for the project. However, a senior official says familiar with the Fund’s activities that government capital can be raised to the fund if the government is interested.
Inspiration from Boston and the Gulf
A similar research institute called TII is working in Abu Dhabi, where hundreds of millions of dollars have invested in bringing scientists from countries such as France and Canada to develop new technologies in the areas of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and life sciences. One of the successes of TII is the Falcon, which was considered for a period of time to be the most successful open source language models, which represents a challenge even the Llama model in Meta.
Nevo Labs is inspired by an inspiration from a laboratory that was established last year in Boston by Harvard scientists named Arena Bioworks, which provides researchers freedom to work on a treatment for any disease. When the administration determines the possibility to develop a treatment, it creates a new company that relies on it, alone or in partnership with other pharmaceutical companies.
There was no response from Eisenberg, Cohen or Fisher.
It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on February 10, 2025.
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