Gemini's new brooms.

(From Israel Business Arena)

Byline: Batya Feldman

At the end of last week, Gemini Israel Funds announced that it had closed its fourth fund, having raised $200 million. Gemini is the second venture capital group of its kind to close fundraising in the past month; Pitango Venture Capital also raised a new $300 million fund.

Gemini now has $550 million under management, in four funds. Gemini raised the new fund in nine-months, after an initial close of $170 million a month ago. Outstanding investors include California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), which invested $25 million; and Morgan Stanley, which invested $20 million. According to the CalPERS annual report, published in May of this year, Gemini lost about $38 million on paper, out of $110 million invested in the third fund. CalPERS has already transferred $1.37 million to Gemini, and has yet to see a return on its investment. Gemini recorded an internal rate of return of …