Israeli High Tech Companies Get Investment Boost

After weeks of news stories about the long-term slump in Israel’s high tech industry, good news: Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.7 billion in financing in the second quarter of 2016, a 55 percent surge over the first quarter of the year.

Topping the list of 187 deals was a $300 million investment by Gett (formerly Get Taxi), a taxi hailing application. The average deal amounted to $9.2 million, up from the $6.5 million average raised by 174 companies last quarter, according to data compiled by IVC Research Center and KPMG published Wednesday.

“All indicators point to a healthy and vibrant ecosystem that continues to mature and generate new companies,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Ofer Sela, a partner at KPMG Somekh Chaikin’s Technology group, as saying.

Another bright spot was foreign investment. In the first half of the year, 57 percent of all the investment deals included at least one foreign venture capital investor, up from 32 percent in the same indicator in the first halves of 2015 and 2014.

“The clear increase in large deals is driven by the enhanced activity of foreign investors – primarily corporate investors and VC funds – in growth-stage companies. However, the increase is not limited to top-tier deals,” said Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Research Center.

“This across-the-board trend leads us to believe 2016 will continue to be strong in capital raising, with a projected 20 percent year-on-year increase, or about $5.3 billion in total to be raised by the end of the year,” he added.