Israeli startups raised over $300 million in May, according to press releases issued by companies that have completed financing rounds. The figure may be more as some companies prefer to remain in stealth and not to publicize the investments they have received.
After raising a record $8.3 billion in 2019, according to IVC-ZAG, which easily surpassed the record $6.4 billion raised by Israeli tech companies in 2018, and $5.24 billion in 2017, 2020 began strongly with $2.74 billion raised in the first quarter and a further $1 billion raised last month. In some instances, financing rounds by tech companies that facilitate remote working and healthcare and cybersecurity, have been boosted rather than hampered by the Covid-19 crisis.
But May's figure was the smallest amount raised by startups since August 2018 and even though startup raising was strong in March and April, it may be that most of that fund raising was achieved before the start of the crisis. It is too early to tell if this is a new trend, especially as one or two companies, completing large financing rounds, can change the picture dramatically.
Financing rounds in May were dominated by smaller startups, with no very large financing rounds at all. Cybersecurity company Semperis raised $40 million, Aqua Security raised $30 million and API marketplace company RapidAPI raised $25 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 1, 2020
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