It’s another busy day in the Start-Up Nation. WalkMe, whose enterprise guidance and engagement platform enables businesses to better realize the value of their software investments, completed its IPO on the Nasdaq market Wednesday. The company, which trades under the ticker symbol “WKME, raised approximately $287 million at $31 per share, giving a nearly $2.6 billion valuation. The Tel Aviv-based firm is the fifth Israeli company to go public in the US at more than a billion-dollar valuation, following gaming company Playtika, traffic analytics company SimilarWeb, e-commerce platform Global-E, and work management platform monday.com, which went public last week.
Meanwhile, Israel’s record-breaking fundraising year continued Wednesday, with more than $200m. raised in one day. Israeli start-ups have raised more than $10.7b. since the start of the year, topping the total raised for 2020 less than half the time.
Bringg, a last-mile delivery and fulfillment cloud platform provider, said it reached unicorn status as it closed a $100m. Series E investment round at a $1b. valuation. The funding will be used to quickly scale the company’s platform through M&A and by growing its ecosystem of strategic and technology partners. The Tel Aviv-based company said the round, which makes it the only unicorn in the fulfillment space, was led by Insight Partners with participation from seven existing investors, including Cambridge Capital, GLP, Harlap, Next 47, Pereg Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Viola Growth.
Jerusalem-based KAHR, a cancer immunotherapy company developing novel multifunctional immuno-recruitment proteins, raised $46.5m. The funds will be used to advance clinical development of the Company’s lead product candidate, a targeting fusion protein for the treatment of solid and blood cancers.
Gloat, whose talent marketplace platform aims to reinvent work and careers in global enterprises, announced a $57m. Series C funding round led by Accel, with participation from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, Intel Capital, Magma Venture Partners, and PICO Partners. With total funding of $92m., the company will accelerate product innovation and market expansion, it said.
Trigo, whose technology allows shoppers to skip the cashier with frictionless checkout technology, raised approximately $10m. from German retail giant REWE Group, and Viola Growth, a top Israeli tech investment firm, bringing its lifetime investment above $100m. The investment comes along with a partnership with REWE, Germany’s second-largest grocery retailer, to provide a “grab-and-go” shopping experience to REWE customers in a new store in downtown Cologne. Tesco, the largest grocery retailer in the UK, invested in the Tel Aviv-based company and opened a similar store last year.
On Tuesday, Duda, a website builder platform for digital agencies and SaaS companies, said it raised $50m. in Series D financing, led by Claridge IL as well as existing investors Susquehanna Growth Equity and Vintage Investment Partners, bringing its total raised to $100m. There are now one million published websites built by over 17,000 web professionals worldwide on the Duda platform, the Tel Aviv-based company said. the new funding will be used to accelerate growth by developing new products and features, and expanding investments across all departments.
Israeli-founded emergency response technology company Carbyne said Tuesday it raised $20m. just four months after raising another $25m. The new funding was led by Global Medical Response, the largest private emergency medical services provider in the US, and the two will partner to develop advanced interactive communication solutions for the health and medical sectors.
Also Tuesday, digital insurance company Libra raised NIS 24m. with its IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Tuesday, at a NIS 450m. valuation. The company plans to get licensed to sell life insurance in Israel in the coming year.