JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli high-tech firms raised $1.7 billion in the third quarter, preliminary data showed on Tuesday, in a sign that investment in startups is stabilising.
The amount raised in the third quarter was down 38% over the same period in 2022 but only 14% lower from the second quarter, the IVC Research Center and LeumiTech said in a report.
It noted that full quarterly data will be issued in October.
Israeli tech companies have raised $5.3 billion so far this year, with $1.9 billion coming in the second quarter. In all of 2022, tech firms raised nearly $16 billion, mainly in the first half before the global economic slowdown, higher interest rates and weak stock markets hit.
The Israeli government’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary has also harmed fundraising, with many investors wary and vocal about the country’s democratic health.
“We continue to see in the third quarter data the first signs of stabilisation in the amount and scope of fundraising, data that bring us back to the levels of 2018-19,” said LeumiTech CEO Maya Eisen Zafrir.
“In addition, we recognise a stabilisation in the rate of follow-on investments, an indication that the companies are beginning to adjust their value to the new interest rate environment.”
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
