China-based e-commerce company Alibaba has become a limited partner in cybersecurity and storage-focused venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners’ (JVP) seventh fund with a $15m investment, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Alibaba’s investment is reportedly centred on an interest in new data storage and network technologies that could help reduce its data centre costs.
Founded in 1993, JVP has more than $900m under management and has previously attracted China-based internet security software provider Qihoo 360 as a limited partner.
Alibaba only recently made its first ever investment in an Israel-based startup when it provided a $5m series B round for Visualead, a developer of scannable QR codes for every day objects, in January 2015.
Corporate-backed companies backed by JVP include hybrid storage technology developer Reduxio Systems and cybersecurity company CyActive, which was acquired by online payment processing company PayPal for $60m earlier this month.