Nielsen, a New York-listed media market research agency backed by six private equity firms, is reportedly looking to raise $50m for an early-stage corporate venturing fund following the creation of an incubator in Israel in July.
The planned fund launch is the latest in a series of private equity-backed portfolio companies setting up a corporate venturing unit, including chemicals group Evonik, either before or just after their flotation.
News provider Fortune said Nielsen would commit $10m to the fund to be run by Itzhak Fisher (pictured), executive vice-president of global business development and mergers and acquisitions at Nielsen. The remaining money would come from third-parties, Fortune said.
Fisher was unavailable to comment but his LinkedIn page made no mention of the fund but said he “holds responsibility for strategic business development initiatives and mergers and acquisitions to benefit clients and their priorities”.
However, he has had substantial prior success making corporate venturing and private equity deals. At a prior company he founded, RSL Communications, he acquired a quarter of Germany-based directory assistance provider Telegate for $35m and flipped it two years later for $450m.
In July, Nielsen set up an Israeli incubator in July with Bruce Haymes, senior vice-president of global business development and mergers and acquisitions at Nielsen, a board member.
Haymes had previously been head of PanAmSat New Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle of a satellite business sold to peer Intelsat after a management buyout by private equity firm KKR (then known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts).
KKR is an investor in Nielsen after a consortium of six private equity firms bought the company in 2006 from Netherlands-based directories business VNU for €7.6bn ($10bn). Nielsen floated at the start of last year to raise $1.8bn to pay down its debt.
In July, KKR said the value of its 2006 Nielsen investment was up 73%.