Alternative investments

"Sometimes we need a bit of fresh thinking," saysErel Margalit, founder and managing director of Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of Israeli's top venture capital firms. Margalit, 41, has quietly funded a nonprofit umbrella group to sponsor projects that aim to put Israel in the middle of a transformed region. The first, Alon JVP, is tutoring 400 children in grades five through seven in underprivileged areas of Jerusalem in science, math and the humanities. Over time the program will include students up to the 12th grade and expand to Arab neighborhoods, too. Due to launch in October, another project, dubbed the Lab, seeks to bring together Arabs and Jews in the performing arts. Working from a renovated train station dating from the British mandate, its aim is to rejuvenate the city's once-dynamic arts scene. "What we're after is what you have in New York: a very diverse set of populations creating a wonderful mix of energy," says Margalit, who spent much of his youth in the U.S. and is perhaps best known for reaping a billion-dollar payday from selling portfolio company Chromatis Networks to Lucent Technologies in 2000. Obviously, his more recent grassroots efforts -- aimed at contributing to peace and greater economic cooperation within the region -- could have a beneficial long-term impact on the area's venture capital firms. Israel's Venture Association reckons that local firms will raise less than $200 million this year, only about
5 percent of 2000's record $3.7 billion. "We think these projects could change the environment in Israel and specifically in Jerusalem," says Margalit.

Margalit: Angel investing