startups

Record Number of Investments in Israeli Start-ups

Posted on by Techtime

During January 2021, the month that COVID-19 reached its peak in Israel, local Start-ups raised $1.44B – a record amount of investments in Israel during a single month. Six start-ups raised more than $100M each (mega rounds) during the month. According to Start-Up Nation Central (SNC) the mega-rounds in January 2021 alone, equal close to 30% of the total number of mega-rounds in the entire year of 2020.

It is the highest number of both mega-round and general investments made during a single month in Israeli start-ups. The year 2020 witnessed 21 ‘mega-round’ investments during the whole of 2020, equivalent to 33% of capital raised. As a monthly comparison, there were three ‘mega-rounds’ in January 2020, none in January 2019 or January 2018. The mega-rounds in January were led by US investors.

Fintech was the dominant sector with two ‘mega-rounds’ and $413M raised. It is a continuation of Fintech’s strong performance since September 2020 with $1.4B in investments compared to only $340M raised in the first eight months of 2020. Director of Research at(SNC), Meir Valman, said that the record level of fundraising is driven by the increasing maturity of the Israeli tech ecosystem, when rapidly growing startups are able to raise much larger rounds.

The six ‘mega-rounds’ which were announced during January 2021 were: Rapyd Financial Network (Fintech, $300M), Drivenets (Network Infrastructure, $208M), OwnBackup (Enterprise solutions, $167.5M), K Health (Digital health, $132M), Resident Home (Ecommerce, $130M) and Melio (Fintech, $110M).

Start-Up Nation Central is a non-profit organization that helps tackle global challenges by connecting Israeli technologies with multinational corporations, governments, investors, as well as NGO’s from around the world.

Startups raisings in Israel: $1.2 billion in September 2020

Posted on by Techtime

Israeli startups raised a record $1.2 billion in September 2020, the largest amount raised in a single month, according to data from the Start-Up Nation Finder. It was also the first time that more than $1 billion was raised in one month. Year to date, the total for three quarters has reached $7.2 billion, nearing last year’s record full-year total of $7.6 billion.

The record equity raised in September 2020 was led by two mega-rounds: InsurTech company Next Insurance raised $250 million in a series D round, following the company’s C Round in October 2019, which also totaled $250 million; the second-largest sum, $200 million, was raised by open-source security platform Snyk, also in a series D. This follows the company’s $150 million round earlier this year.

The month of September 2020 represents a huge turnaround from the lows of May 2020, when just $421 million was raised at the height of concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic would halt future growth in the technology sector. While equity rounds exceeded $600 million in every month from June through August, it was only in September that they once again reached – and, in fact, exceeded – the previous high recorded in April, when $970 million was raised.

However, while the total amount raised in September hit an all-time record for a single month, the actual number of rounds is still below previous peaks. Only 50 rounds were raised in September, compared to the peak of 121 rounds recorded in January 2018. It should be noted that there is a time lag in the reporting of many rounds, especially those raised by early-stage startups, so this number is likely to be revised upward in the future.