Tmura finishes off 2010 with 28 new donors

Tmura – the Israeli Public Service Venture Fund on Tuesday announced 2010 year-end achievements, including recent exits from Wintegra, AudioCodes and Vringo, resulting in nearly $200,000 in new grants for youth and education projects in Israel.

These fourth-quarter exits cap off a strong year for Tmura, which began with exits by Convergin and Dune Networks, two other Tmura portfolio companies.

Tmura used proceeds from these exits to make grants to several organizations, including new Tmura grantees:

- Bma’aglei Tzedek (www.mtzedek.org.il), which cultivates “social change agents” from among high-school students, by delivering educational programming promoting social justice;

- Machshava Tova (www.mtova.org.il) which aims to “narrow the digital gap” by operating computer centers in peripheral areas to teach computer skills; and

- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel (www.bigbrothers.org.il), which matches dedicated, volunteer, long-term mentors who meet weekly with children from single-parent homes.

In addition, 28 new companies joined the Tmura program in 2010, bringing the total number of companies who have donated options to the community through Tmura, to 194. The new donors include Innovid, Transpharma, Semantinet, Aniboom, Maxillent, Worklight, IgnitAd, EyeView Digital, Wix, NLT and BioControl Medical.

Investors in these companies include venture capital funds Giza, Genesis, Evergreen, DFJ Tamir Fishman, Bessemer, Gemini, SCP VitaLife, JVP, Rainbow Medical, Vertex, Pitango, 7Health, Peregrine, AccelMed and the Naiot incubator.

$3.5 million for non profit-organizations

The 2010 list of donors also includes three public companies, AudioCodes, Voltaire, and Kamada, which joined as part of the new “Tmura Goes Public” campaign, targeting donations from publicly-traded companies.

“We’ve demonstrated that the Tmura model can be attractive also for publicly-traded companies that want to support community activities but may find it challenging, in the current business environment, to make cash contributions,” said Yadin Kaufmann, Tmura’s founder and chairman.

“The correlation between the company’s performance and its share price also means that the greater the company’s progress, the larger the value of its donation.”

Founded in 2002, Tmura offers companies a unique way to contribute. Rather than soliciting cash donations, Tmura receives grants of stock from companies and uses the proceeds from successful "exits" – a public offering, acquisition or sale of shares on the market – to fund education- and youth-related charities in Israel.

Tmura’s exits to date have generated over $3 million for charity, which has benefited more than 30 non-profit organizations in Israel. Tmura has also generated over $3.5 million for Israeli non profit-organizations through its two matching grant programs aimed at encouraging new Israeli philanthropy.

Tmura, a foundation with a unique business model, was established in 2002, and is supported by leading Israeli venture capital firms and philanthropic foundations which fund the organization’s operating expenses.

Promoting a unique model for philanthropy and a new standard for investments, Tmura’s goal is to create a culture of giving within the high-tech sector by enabling companies to donate equity to support education and youth-related initiatives. For more information, please visit www.tmura.org.

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