The Jerusalem Innovation Incubator is set to obtain $25m from Reliance Industries, which helped launch the project last month alongside Yissum and others.

Diversified conglomerate Reliance Industries yesterday agreed to invest $25m in the Jerusalem Innovation Incubator (JII), an early-stage program also backed by Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s tech transfer office Yissum, the Times of India reported yesterday.

Reliance will own a 20% stake in the incubator as a result of its financial commitment. It expects technologies emerging from the incubator will benefit its telecoms subsidiary Jio, which is currently expanding its 4G mobile network across Israel.

The incubator was launched last month by a consortium that included Reliance, Yissum, equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd and telecoms equipment producer Motorola Solutions.

The program is based at OurCrowd’s headquarters in Jerusalem and will be led by the firm. It will focus on technologies such as big data, analytics, artificial intelligence, fintech, storage, internet of things and computer vision.

The incubator will invest in startups in tranches over a period of eight years.

JII forms part of the National Innovation Authority, Israel’s incubator initiative, and is expected to support approximately 50 startups. Applications for the first cohort will be accepted in the second half of the year.