Haim Saban Will Pour $100M Into Israeli Start-Ups

Haim Saban interviews President Obama at the Saban Forum on Middle East policy. Image by Getty Images
Billionaire entertainment mogul Haim Saban has unveiled a $100 million venture capital fund for Israeli startups.
The Saban Ventures fund will invest in companies in the mobile, social networks, ecommerce and digital media sectors, the Israeli business daily Globes reported. The fund also will be open to investing in fields such as cloud computing and fintech, according to Globes.
“We are open to investment in Israeli companies or companies linked to Israel or Israelis,” fund manager Barak Pridor, former CEO of the Tel Aviv-based Thomson Reuters tech subsidiary ClearForest, told The Marker, the business publication of the Israeli daily Haaretz. “Saban is a winning combination — a partner with deep pockets, patience and the ability to open doors and access markets.”
Saban , 71, the founder and owner of the successful Power Rangers franchise, owns Israeli mobile operator Partner Communications Ltd., which this month began its rebranding campaign after ending its relationship with the French telecommunications giant Orange following a BDS controversy.
Saban, who lives in the United States and also holds Israeli citizenship, is one of Israel’s richest billionaires with a net worth of $3.6 billion as of Tuesday, according to Forbes.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.