VC fund Israel Seed wrote off $14 million on three companies

Venture capital fund Israel Seed hasn't escaped the write offs that affected the local venture capital market over the last year.

The fund recently wrote off three companies from the portfolio of its fourth fund: Frame Shot, which has developed a solution for delivering online digital pictures, Task Mail, which has developed an email environment task solution, and Safety Direction, which has developed applications for workplace security management.

Israel Seed General Partner Michael Eisenberg said that Frame Shot and Safety Director found it hard to raise capital and therefore closed. He said that Task Mail had a product, but the management belatedly realized there is no real market for the product, so this company also had to close.

Eisenberg said that the write offs come to 7% of the fourth fund, some $14 million out of $200 million, or 25% of the $54 million the fund has already invested.