Israeli tech firms received $8.3 billion in venture capital last year, crowning a record-breaking decade for the digital nation. The figure, which represents a 30% increase on 2018’s $6.4bn, and caps the country’s decade of VC funding at $39.1bn – a 400% rise on the period between 2000
and 2009.
The data, released in a report by the IVC Research Center and ZAG-S&W law company, shows that during last year Israel’s tech startups received their record cash injections via 522 deals. That is a drop on 2018’s 532 deals, evident in the fact that 26 deals raised $50m or more in 2019, comprising 58% of the year’s total funding.
Early-stage deals—those weighing in at under $1m—were down on 2018, dropping from 24% to 17% of the 2019 haul.
“2019 marked a record year, capping a decade of successive increases in capital invested in the Israeli hi-tech industry,” ZAG-S&W attorney Shmulik Zysman told the Jerusalem Post. “The final quarter of 2019, and the entire year of 2019, symbolize the clear and consistent trend of the Israeli hi-tech industry: tremendous growth and frequent record breaking.”
While Israel is known worldwide for its tech industry’s diversity, software ran out by far 2019’s most-funded sector, with $4.4bn, or nearly half, the year’s funding.
“The change in investor preferences over the decade is visible in the distribution of deals of early- and growth-stage companies,” added Zysman. “The change became apparent in 2017-2018, when the number of deals for the growth companies outnumbered deals in early stages.”
Red Herring will be reporting from 2020’s OurCrowd Summit in Jerusalem. Read here for the latest in Israeli tech developments.