The start-up nation continues on a funding tear. In the last full week of May, Israeli companies raised more than $700 million in venture capital funding, and two announced IPO plans.
Israel's hi-tech ecosystem is benefitting from a perfect storm of factors, including the participation of a number of international investment funds, a very mature tech sector with many second- or third-time founders, the rise of SPACs as a tool to do an IPO quickly, high capital market values worldwide, a mature market for secondary shares, and other factors. It helps that many of the kinds of technology fields that Israel excels at- cybersecurity, biotech, and automation, among others- are exactly the fields that have come into the forefront during the coronavirus pandemic.
These factors have created an environment of hypergrowth in the industry. Israel's tech sector has been breaking its own fundraising records every month this year. In April, Israeli company's raised $2.7 billion, including more than $1 billion announced in just one day.
This week, Forter, an e-commerce fraud prevention company, raised $300 million this week in one of the largest funding rounds for an Israeli start-up ever. The round nearly tripled the eight-year old company's valuation to $3 billion, just six months after it raised $125 million. The Tel Aviv-based company said it is now the most valuable privately-held company ever in the fraud prevention industry.
Cloud security company Wiz reportedly raised $120 million in a financing round led by Salesforce. and Blackstone The company, which was founded just last year, raised $100 million last December and $130 million in March at a $1.7 billion valuation, is believed to have reached 'unicorn' status faster than any company ever. The company's founders achieved superstar status in the hi-tech sector when they sold their previous cybersecurity company, Adollam, for $320 million to Microsoft in 2015.
Salt Security, which makes API security solutions, raised $70 million in series C funding at an undisclosed valuation, its third funding round in less than a year. The Tel Aviv-based company, which was founded in 2015, has raised $120 million since last June.
Snappy, a platform aimed at revolutionizing online gifting, raised $70 million. The company, whose technology allows recipients to choose the gift they love before it’s delivered, is based in New York, but was founded in Tel Aviv and maintains its R&D center there.
Other deals announced this week include $50 million round for neurovascular device maker Rapid Medical; $47 million for video intelligence company AnyClip; $23 million for program debugging software maker Lightrun; $20 million for Crypto risk monitoring and market surveillance company Solidus Labs; $17.5 million for digital insurance provider Parametrix Insurance; $17.5 million for Yokneam-based space computing solutions company Ramon.Space; $12 million for sales prospecting technology company RightBound; and $6.6 million for Laguna Health, which makes technology to assist with post-hospital recovery.
Meanwhile, several Israeli tech companies filed for IPOs in Israel and New York via SPAC acquisitions. Drugmaker NeuroRx said it was approved for listing on the Nasdaq at a $1.5 billion valuation, chipmaker Valens Semiconductor will list on the Nasdaq at a $1.16 billion expected valuation; and medical robotics company Memic Innovative Surgery is reported to be on the verge of a $1 billion IPO as well.