Eylon Penchas

Eylon is General Partner at Viola Partners, an exclusive investment fund tailored especially for private investors. He has over 20 years of private equity investment experience, including 17 years as Managing Partner the Viola Partners fund.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• In 1998, Eylon joined the Dovrat-Shrem Group, where he was responsible for investment banking activities in the field of private placements, mainly for high-tech startups.
• In 1999, Eylon joined Aharon and Shlomo Dovrat in the establishment of the Viola Group, where he developed extensive expertise administering and managing complicated investment structures. He was responsible for executing the investments and for the operational and financial aspects of the Fund, was a member of the founding team and investment committee of Viola Credit (formerly known as Plenus) and served as a board member of some of Viola Partners’ portfolio companies.
• Eylon served as Director of Business Development for Bezeq, where he was responsible for the initiation of several multi-million dollar projects in the areas of international telecom services, satellite TV, data networking and e-commerce. He was also part of the company’s corporate strategic team and represented the company on the boards of several of its subsidiaries.
• Before embarking on his business career, Eylon achieved the rank of Captain in a reconnaissance unit in the Israel Defense Forces.

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT EYLON

• He is passionate about investing in new or small businesses: “While each business is unique, most companies face the same fundamental obstacles on their path to success. My mission is to help owners interested in transforming their business by using our experience and expertise to identify and implement solutions that allow them to go further faster.”
• He is an enthusiastic sea kayaker: “I love facing the elements at sea; not in a battle against them, but in harmony with them.”He is Active Chairman of the Natan Fund, a non-profit that offers seed financing for entrepreneurs building their first business, who are unable to receive funding from traditional sources. “I highly believe in assisting people by helping them become productive and not by just giving them goods.”
• One of his biggest inspirations was his grandfather, who was a judge in Berlin before the second world war: “When he fled to Palestine (pre-establishment of the State of Israel) he couldn’t practice law so he became a ‘Meister’ carpenter. He later studied mathematics at the Hebrew University and received a BA when he was 75. He was a great man.”
• One of his favorite mantras to live by is “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”

A few more bits of trivia:

• He grew up in Jerusalem and in Boston.
• His entire family are all big fans of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “Lord of The Rings” books.
• He is a skilled handyman. “I like to, and can fix, practically anything and do all maintenance work at home by myself.”
• Years ago, he volunteered as a medic in the Red Shield of David intensive care ambulance service in Jerusalem “I even delivered a few babies by myself…”