Former NBA athlete Omri Casspi has made a significant move in the business world by raising $60 million for his latest venture fund, Swish Ventures. This fund is dedicated to investing in early-stage startups in the crucial sectors of cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI. With a plan to back 10 companies and invest between $5 million to $7 million per deal, Casspi is set to make a substantial impact in the startup ecosystem.

Omri Casspi's Swish Ventures Shakes Up the Startup Scene

Swish Ventures: A Second Fund with a Clear Focus

Casspi's Swish Ventures is his second fund following the launch of Sheva Capital in 2022. With a $36 million fund under his belt, Casspi now manages Sheva's portfolio as its investment period has concluded. He is fully hands-on in continuing the growth of these companies and has explained his role in overseeing both funds.Several founders who were backed by Sheva have now become investors in Swish Ventures. EON founder Ophir Ehrlich, Upwind's founder Amiram Shachar, and PointFive's co-founders Gal Ben-David and Alon Arvatz have joined the fold. Alongside them are other institutional investors, with Sequoia Capital serving as an anchor investor.

Similar Thesis with a Narrowed Focus

Swish Ventures follows a similar thesis to Sheva's, focusing on seed investments in startups led by seasoned entrepreneurs with the potential to build market-defining companies. However, it has narrowed its focus to cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI, a shift from Sheva's broader remit that included fintech and web3 alongside cybersecurity startups.This move reflects the increasing interest in cybersecurity and AI among investors, particularly in Israel and the US, where Casspi has concentrated his investments. Israel is known for its strength in cybersecurity, with the sector bringing in more than half of the venture capital raised by Israeli startups in the first six months of 2024, according to Startup Nation Central.Companies like Wiz, which turned down a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google and Eon, reached unicorn status within a year of its founding, showcasing Israel's dominance in cloud security and its affinity for second-time builders in the space. Wiz founders sold their former startup, Adallom to Microsoft, while Eon founders sold their last startup, CloudEndure, to Amazon in 2019. Casspi has himself invested in Wiz, and Eon is a Sheva portfolio company.

Athletes Turning Venture Capitalists

Casspi is not alone in this venture capital trend. He is one of several athletes who have entered the world of venture capital. Just last week, Giannis Antetokoumpo became the latest sports figure to do so. Serena Williams runs Serena Ventures, Kevin Durant has 35V, Stephen Curry has Penny Jar Capital, and Andre Iguodala owns Mosaic General Partnership.Casspi claims that his firms have about $125 million in assets under management. Other startups in Sheva's portfolio include Upwind, which today confirmed its $900 million valuation (Stephen Curry's Penny Jar is also an investor), and PointFive, whose founders previously sold a company to Rapid7 and raised $36 million.

Adding an Operating Partner

Swish is also adding Dana Alexandrovich as an operating partner. Before her current role, Alexander was the COO of Microsoft in Israel from 2021, leading sales operations across the Middle East and Africa. Her expertise will bring valuable insights to the Swish Ventures team.In conclusion, Omri Casspi's Swish Ventures is set to make waves in the startup world with its focused investment approach and the involvement of experienced entrepreneurs and operating partners. The fund's success will likely have a significant impact on the growth and development of startups in cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI.

Nebius, a publicly-traded European AI infrastructure firm previously named Yandex N.V., has successfully raised $700 million to drive its growth in the United States. This significant financial boost comes from a group of “dozens of very well known investors,” as stated by Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh during a press briefing today. While the identities of all the investors will be disclosed upon filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), three names have been made public for now: existing partner and GPU giant Nvidia, Silicon Valley VC firm Accel, and asset manager Orbis.

Private Placement and Stock Details

Under the private placement, Nebius will issue 33.3 million Class A shares at $21 each, representing a 3% premium on the stock's average price since trading resumed in October. This move comes approximately six weeks after Nebius re-entered trading on the Nasdaq following a nearly three-year hiatus due to sanctions against Russia-affiliated companies. The Netherlands-based business, which was formerly the holding company of “the Google of Russia,” Yandex, emerged as Nebius in July with the aim of providing “full stack” infrastructure for AI companies.In addition to its core cloud infrastructure business, Nebius operates several other ventures. These include Texas-based autonomous vehicle company Avride, a Netherlands-based generative AI and LLM company called Toloka, and an edtech platform named TripleTen based in Wyoming.

Hybrid Growth Approach

Nebius is adopting a hybrid strategy to expand its presence. This involves a combination of co-location facilities (shared data centers) and the construction of its own “greenfield” sites from scratch. However, this expansion comes at a cost, which is why the company is now seeking additional funding. While competing with traditional cloud hyperscalers, Nebius also faces competition from well-funded private players like CoreWeave, which has Nvidia as an investor. CoreWeave is expanding from the U.S. to Europe, while Nebius is moving in the opposite direction, recently announcing plans for a new GPU cluster at a co-location in Kansas City. Nebius has also added a co-location site in Paris to its portfolio and plans to triple the capacity of its flagship data center in Finland.After selling its Russian assets earlier this year, Nebius had around $2.2 billion in reserves. A portion of this was set aside for a buy-back program in case existing investors wanted to exit. The offer allowed for the repurchase of up to 81 million Class A shares at a maximum of $10.5 per share. However, in the six weeks since re-entering the public markets, Nebius's shares have been hovering around the $21 mark, providing existing shareholders with the opportunity to sell at a higher price than the buy-back offer. As a result, Nebius believes the buy-back offer is no longer necessary, freeing up more capital for its data center expansion.With approximately $3 billion at its disposal, Nebius is looking to raise more capital, whether through equity or debt. CEO Arkady Volozh emphasizes that while the company will generate some revenues to support its growth, it will still require significant additional capital to build infrastructure at a faster pace. “Technology and capital are two key components of this business. I am not concerned about the technology side, and I believe we will be able to raise the necessary capital,” he said.It is also worth noting that this new financial position has led Nebius to revise its financial forecast. The company now expects to reach an annualized run rate (ARR) of $750 million to $1 billion by the end of 2025, an increase from its previous forecast of between $500 million and $1 billion.As part of the deal, Accel partner Matt Weigand will join Nebius's board of directors. Initially, he will have observer status until he is formally elected at the company's annual shareholder meeting in 2025.