New York is home to 21 Israeli-founded unicorns

New York is home to 21 Israeli-founded privately held unicorns, companies valued at $1 billion or more, according to the United States-Israel Business Alliance (USIBA).

Seven New York-based Israeli-founded companies crossed the $1b. threshold since January, it reported Sunday. There were only five companies on the list in 2019.

Each of these companies’ global or US headquarters is based in Manhattan, establishing New York as the city with the second-most Israeli-founded unicorns in the world, behind Tel Aviv, the report said.

“The numbers we’re seeing in New York are unprecedented,” USIBA president Aaron Kaplowitz said. “Despite a year filled with challenges and uncertainty, New York remains a global hub for growth industries that Israeli entrepreneurs continue to disrupt.”

Over the past six months, 10 Israeli-founded companies based in New York have achieved unicorn status: Axonius, BigID, Forter, Kaltura, K Health, Melio, Papaya Global, SimilarWeb, Talkspace, and Yotpo. They joined Gett, Monday.com, OrCam, Outbrain, Payoneer, Riskified, Sisense, Taboola, The We Company, VAST Data, and Via.

“There’s no doubt that COVID-19 disoriented the investment community,” Kaplowitz said. “Once investors and growth-stage companies got their bearings, and some technologies gained more relevance from the pandemic, investment activity picked up in a big way – especially in 2021.”

In January, Talkspace announced a $1.4b. merger agreement with Hudson Executive Investment Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, which will take the online therapy provider public.

Melio, an accounts-payable tool for small businesses, closed a $110 million round to boost the company’s valuation to $1.3b. Soon after, K Health, an AI-driven telemedicine app, announced a $132m. raise based on a $1.5b. valuation.

After a brief February respite, Axonius led another unicorn charge. On March 1, the cybersecurity asset-management firm, with its US headquarters located on the top floor of 330 Madison Ave., closed a $100m. funding round that gave it a $1.2b. valuation.

That same week, Papaya Global, a workforce-management platform, completed a $100m. round, pushing its valuation above $1b. Yotpo, an e-commerce marketing platform, raised $230m. for a $1.4b. valuation. Most recently, Kaltura, a live and on-demand video-platform service, set terms for its forthcoming initial public offering that will give the company a $2b. valuation.

These deals helped drive a record-setting first quarter for Israeli-founded companies, which raised $5.37b. in total – double the capital they raised over the first quarter of 2020.

The 2021 activity extended a late 2020 trend, when a trio of unicorns took flight.

SimilarWeb, a market-intelligence platform that monitors website and mobile-app traffic, reached a $1b. valuation after closing a $120m. round in October.

Forter, a pioneer in fraud detection for retailers, secured $125m., which more than doubled its valuation to $1.3b. To close out the year, BigID, a data-privacy and -protection platform, completed a $70m. round that increased its valuation to $1b.

“The real story here is the impact COVID-19 has made on accelerating the widespread adoption of specific technologies, such as telehealth and platforms that enable smoother remote work experiences,” Kaplowitz said. “These forward-thinking companies will create more jobs at home and contribute much-needed commercial activity to a recovering local economy.”

Of the five Israeli-founded companies based in New York in 2019, two of them, Lemonade and Compass, went public in the past year, and the other three, Payoneer, Taboola and WeWork, have announced plans to go public via SPAC in the coming months, he said.