March 2006

Lighthouse Capital Partners and Magnolia Capital Join Forces to Bring Venture Lending to Emerging Companies in Israel

Menlo Park, CA (Date) – Lighthouse Capital Partners, a leading U.S. venture lending firm, and Magnolia Capital Partners today announced a strategic alliance to bring venture lending funding to Israeli and emerging Israeli-related companies in the technology and life sciences sectors.

“Israel is an underserved investment sector when it comes to venture lending. While traditional equity investments have gained momentum in this market, venture loans – which enable young companies to gain additional financial support with minimal dilution – has been underutilized in the Israeli market,” said Hagi Schwartz, founder and president of Magnolia Capital Partners. “Magnolia is delighted to be teaming with the leader in venture lending to be able to extend the reach of this powerful financial tool to this region. The Lighthouse team has proven themselves to be a stable, flexible and reliable venture debt provider within the U.S. By combining their strong offerings with our deep network of contacts within Israel, we will be able to give Israeli entrepreneurs the support and commitment they need to bring their innovations to market.”
 
With approximately $1 billion under management, Lighthouse Capital Partners invests capital in the form of secured loans to early- and expansion-stage technology and life science companies that have received equity financing from top-tier venture capital firms. To date, Lighthouse has invested in more than 350 emerging companies, including approximately ten with affiliations in Israel. Working together, Lighthouse and Magnolia have already funded three Israeli companies, including: HyperRoll Inc., Skybox Security, Inc. and Transparency Software, Inc. 

“Over the last decade Israel has become a hotbed for emerging technologies and we have already enjoyed success working with some of the region’s most innovative companies,” said
Rick Stubblefield, co-founder and managing director of Lighthouse. “We are thrilled to be broadening our reach and focus within Israel by working with Magnolia. Hagi Schwartz and his team are a well-respected group with a deep understanding of what it takes for a new venture to succeed. We believe the combination of Lighthouse and Magnolia will enable us to provide the most promising Israeli entrepreneurs with the on-going capital, senior-level guidance, and strong organization required to help build market-leading companies.”

About Magnolia Capital Partners

Magnolia Capital Partners is a financial services group for Technology and Life Science growth companies in Israel.  Magnolia Capital is the exclusive representative in Israel of Thomas Weisel Partners, a leading U.S. investment bank focused on the growth sectors of the economy, primarily technology, life science, consumer, telecommunication & media. In 2004 and 2005, TWP was the most active underwriter of venture-backed growth IPOs in the U.S.  Magnolia Capital and Thomas Weisel Partners were active in 2005 in a number of Israeli transactions including the convertible bonds offering by M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers (NASDAQ: FLSH) in March 2005, the follow-on offering by Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ: ELOS) in March 2005, and the IPO of Scopus Video Networks (NASDAQ: SCOP) in December 2005.  In 2004, the firm was an underwriter in the follow-on offering by Israeli company M-Systems (NASDAQ: FLSH) in February 2004.  Magnolia Capital was founded in 2004 and is managed by Rani Cohen, Hagi Schwartz and Irit Hillel.  Magnolia Capital has offices in Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel.

About Lighthouse Capital Partners

Lighthouse Capital Partners is a leading venture debt firm with investing offices in Menlo Park, Calif. and Cambridge, Mass. Lighthouse invests capital in the form of secured loans to early- and expansion-stage technology and life science companies that have received equity financing from top-tier venture capital firms. The Lighthouse investment team consists of seasoned professionals with a wide breadth of operating and financial experience. Over the past decade, LCP has funded some of the nation’s pre-eminent young companies, including AppIQ, Airespace, Ariba, Aruba, Broadbase Software, Force10 Networks, Foundry Networks, LiveVault, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Netflix, Nvidia, RedBack Networks and Sirocco Systems.

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