Chemi Peres: Overcoming Personal Challenges to Build Pitango, Israel’s Largest Venture Fund | E98
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Who is Chemi Peres and what is his background?
Chemi Perez, co-founder and managing partner of Pitango Venture Capital, which is really Israel's largest venture capital fund, was over $3 billion in assets under management.
I always wanted to engage with new technologies, to meet other people. And when I looked at venture, I thought this is the right way to go, to raise money, to invest it in the best and brightest. It's very fulfilling.
You lost your dad in 2016. I think a lot of people don't know you lost your son Guy a few years ago. How did that impact all of you?
you
Chemi Peres, I am so excited about this conversation today. He is the co-founder and managing partner of Pitango Venture Capital, which is really Israel's largest venture capital fund with over $3 billion in assets under management. I mean, it's invested in over 250 startups. Chemi is also the son of Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel. And Chemi continues his father's legacy in the most beautiful way as a chairman of the Paris Center of Peace and Innovation, where he really uses technology to foster peace and collaboration. Super inspiring. Chemi, I'm looking forward to this conversation. Thank you for coming.
Thank you, Ilana. It's a pleasure to be here.
So I have to take you back in time because I kept thinking, what is it like to grow up with someone like Shimon Peres? For all of us that know him, everybody in Israel knows him. Most of the people in the world know him. He was a huge inspiration to so many people. What is it like?
Well, I don't know anything else. That's what I know. But I can tell you this. First of all, I have two wonderful parents. And if you imagine a picture, the view of the life consists of vertical and horizontal lines. I think my mother gave me the horizontal ones, the modesty. And my father gave me the vertical ones to aspire, to dream, to serve a great cause. And if you combine those lines, you get a beautiful picture. But I think I can say that it's growing by inspiration because he was very busy out of his life. He had very little time for family, but in the very little time, it was so meaningful. And out of the person meetings, a lot of inspiration was flowing our way. So I was lucky and I'm grateful for that.
He was an incredible person. And you're saying you got a lot of the modesty from your mom. And I would say, I think your father is also like, it was so humble. I wish there were more leaders like him today. But take me there. Does it come with a lot of stress, a lot of expectations? Is it coming with any hate in school? What does it come with? What are the things that we might not know?
I think it's not easy to grow in a house where you have someone who is so dominant. It can crash you, but it can also give you a lot of inspiration. So I think we were lucky in this family. First of all, my mother made sure that we separate the family affairs than state affairs. And she was very protective. And he always gave us the notion that whatever we choose, whatever we do is fine.
What was it like growing up in the Peres family?
as long as we are decent people, as long as we follow our hearts. So I think when you are young, you need to build your muscles, you need to build your standing for who you are, not for what you are. And I think as you grow and you are safer, then you can get closer and closer. And I think that's the pattern that we followed in our life.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Chemi Peres and what is his background?
0:46–4:41
2
What was it like growing up in the Peres family?
4:41–11:13
3
What challenges did Chemi face becoming a combat pilot?
11:13–16:55
4
What lessons did Chemi learn from his military service?
16:55–24:11
5
How did Chemi transition from the military to aerospace industry?
24:11–35:51
6
What happened when the Lavi project was cancelled?
35:51–40:17
7
How did Chemi recover from being fired and start his venture capital career?
40:17–50:50
8
How did Chemi start Pitango and build Israel's venture capital ecosystem?
50:50–57:26
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Leap Academy with Ilana Golan
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