China’s Qihoo 360 to Invest in Israel

The Chinese Internet-security company Qihoo 360 Technology Co. will spend some of its new a global, early-stage $60 million fund on investments in Israel, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

This is just the latest example of the growing relationship between China and Israel.

The business ties between Israel and China just keep on getting stronger and stronger. Corporations from both nations have invested in the other and as cultural and educational ties have also been strengthened of late.

The intended fund, called “360 Capital—IoT Fund, ” will focus on investments in China, the U.S. and Israel.The plans for the new fund were revealed by a company executive during a presentation that he gave in Israel last week.

Qihoo has already made investments in Israel over the past year, including ones in two funds, Carmel Ventures and Jerusalem Venture Partners. It also invested in Israeli image-recognition-technology company Cortica Inc., gesture-control-technology company Extreme Reality Ltd. and messaging-app maker Glide Talk Ltd.

Founded in 2005, Qihoo provides Internet and mobile security products and services in China. Its core Internet security products include 360 Safe Guard, a solution for Internet security and system optimization; 360 Anti-Virus, an anti-virus application that uses multiple scan engines to protect users’ computers against various kinds of malware, as well as 360 Mobile Safe, a security program for the Google Android, Apple iOS, and Windows smartphone operating systems.

A Qihoo rep met with a number of Israeli startups over the past few weeks, including ones developing technology for wearable computing and connected homes.