Lightspeed Gemini Internet Lab

Yesterday we announced the Lightspeed Gemini Internet Lab. This is a project I have been working on for the past few months, and I am very excited about it. I thought of sharing some thoughts and background on the this.

First of all, the fundamentals are quite simple:

"Lightspeed Venture Partners, a top-tier seed and early stage Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Gemini Israel Funds, a leading seed and early stage fund in Israel, announced today the creation of a jointly led "Lightspeed -- Gemini Internet Lab." The two funds intend to support 7-10 emerging Internet companies with an initial investment of up to $1 million each. Investments will focus on technologies related to the Internet and Web 2.0. Relevant businesses will be seed stage companies with operations in Israel."

So what are we really trying to? Basically there are 3 key goals:

1. Fund 10 companies. That simple. 10 companies is more than the overall vc-backed companies in this  sector since 2001.
2. Enhance the visibility of the Internet activity in Israel. Lightspeed has a major role in making this happen. Their involvement is a great push to this sector in Israel.
3. Create a simple & easy process. The overall process should take no more than a few weeks.

We did some PR on this today, and we got good coverage in Globes, The Marker, and Ynet and in the San Jose Business Journal. I am still waiting for some coverage in the Blogsphere (1 blog so far: Israel Science Technology).

Although we have known Lightspeed for a long time, this is the first "investment" with them. After a few months of work around the lab, I can say that they are an excellent group, and that they the perfect partner for this activity. They have done some interesting Internet investments (Examples include: fatlens, Kosmix and many others) and have a strong commitment to Israel (Optier, Skybox, Galileo, and many others).

We are in the process of bringing dedicated people to help manage the lab. I think that the combination of the management team, Gemini, and Lightspeed will create help build interesting Internet Israeli start-ups.

For entrepreneurs with relevant ideas, please send us an email at: businessplans@LGiLab.com.