The Ten Biggest Investment Rounds in Israeli Tech in 2018

2017 closed with a total of $5.24 billion in venture capital funds put into Israel-based or Israel-linked startups, a 9% increase from 2016, according to data from market research firm IVC Research Center Ltd. While comprehensive data for 2018 will probably come out in the coming weeks, an October report from IVC shows that the year is well on track to surpass 2017—in the first nine months of 2018, Israeli companies raised $4.54 billion in total across 444 deals, 82% of the total amount raised in 2017.

The companies listed below are the 10 Israeli tech companies that raised the largest funding rounds in 2018, compiled from CTech reports. The list only includes companies that raised equity funding. As such it does not include what was arguably the biggest investment round of the year—a $300 million round for digital printing company Landa Digital Printing, announced in June. As the financing resulted in the two investors owning a 46% stake in the company, the transaction can likely fall into the category of mergers and acquisitions.

The list includes only companies founded by Israelis that are based fully or mostly in Israel. Rounds that have been cut for this reason include TripActions Inc.'s $154 round, raised in November; Selina Ltd.'s $95 million round, raised in April; and Hippo Insurance Services' $70 million round, announced in November.

 

1. JFrog Ltd.

Amount: $165 million, announced in October

Investors in the round: Insight Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Geodesic Capital and Spark Capital, and existing investors including Dell Technologies subsidiary VMware Inc., Battery Ventures LP, Scale Venture Partners, Gemini Israel Ventures, and Qumra Capital Management Ltd.

Sector: software

Founders: Shlomi Ben Haim, Yoav Landman, and Frederic Simon

Year founded: 2008

Total funding to date: around $230 million

JFrog develops tools designed to streamline the coding process and automate software updates, with customers including Amazon, Google, Bank of America, Uber, and Netflix. The company employs around 450 people in its offices in Sunnyvale, California, Israeli coastal town Netanya, Beijing, Toulouse, and Bengaluru, India.

2. Trax Image Recognition

Amount: $125 million, announced in June

Investors: Boyu Capital Consultancy Co. Ltd. led the round, with participation from DC Thomson

Sector: Retail Analytics

Founders: Joel Bar-El and Dror Feldheim

Year founded: 2010

Total funding to date: $235 million

Headquartered in Singapore with a research and development center in Tel Aviv, Trax enables retailers to keep track of their stock using image recognition and computer vision analytic tools. The company operates in over 50 countries, with clients including some of Coca Cola's anchor bottlers and Henkel AG & Company.

3. eToro Group Ltd.

Amount: $100 million, announced in March

Investors: China Minsheng Financial Holding Corporation Ltd. led the round, with participation from SBI Group and Korea Investment Partners.

Sector: alternative financing

Founders: David Ring, Ronen Assia, Yoni Assia

Year founded: 2007

Total funding to date: $162 million

eToro operates a website that enables users to make investments in a variety of financial assets. Investments can be made manually, or “socially” by copying the trading activity of other users.

4. Gett

Amount: $80 million, announced in June

Investors in the round: Volkswagen, Access Industries, Baring Vistok, MCI

Sector: mobility

Founders: Shahar Waiser and Roi More

Year founded: 2010

Total funding to date: around $700 million

Israel-based Gett develops a taxi-hailing app that connects users with registered taxis and cabs. The company operates in over 120 cities across the U.S., U.K., Russia and Israel, and has over 13,000 corporate clients. in December, German weekly Der Spiegel reported that Volswagen cut down its investment in Gett to 16 million euros.

5. Sisense Ltd.

Amount: $80 million, announced in September

Investors in the round: Insight Venture Partners led the round.

Sector: business intelligence

Founders: Guy Boyangu, Eldad Farkash, Adi Azaria, Aviad Harell

Year founded: 2004

Total funding to date: around $200 million

Sisense develops software that allows companies with large datasets to gain insights on customers and users without requiring professional data analysis. Customers include Nasdaq, Rolls-Royce PLC, and General Electric. Based in Ramat Gan in the greater Tel Aviv area, the company has over 450 employees in Israel, Kiev, Tokyo, New York, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

6. BlueVine Capital Inc.

Amount: the company raised $60 million in equity in June and $200 million in debt financing in May. In July the company announced it has added another $12 million to the round, bringing the total to $72 million.

Investors in the round: Menlo Ventures led the June round, with participation from SVB Capital and existing investors. Credit Suisse granted BlueVine the credit line in May.

Sector: Alternative financing

Founders: Eyal Lifshitz, Moti Shatner, Nir Klar

Year founded: 2013

Total funding to date: $140 million in equity, $500 million in credit lines

BlueVine offers small and medium-sized businesses capital financing, either by credit line or invoice factoring, which allows businesses to receive cash advances on outstanding invoices.

7. V-Wave Ltd.

Amount: $70 million, announced in April 

Investors in the round: Deerfield Management Company L.P. led the round, with participation from Endeavour Vision SA, Quark Venture Inc., Aperture Venture Partners LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Edwards Lifesciences, BRM Group, and Pontifax Ltd.

Sector: medical shunts

Founders: Yaacov Nitzan and Gad Keren

Year founded: 2009

Total funding to date: $104.5 million

Israel-headquartered V-Wave develops a minimally invasive implanted shunt device for treating patients with severe heart failure. According to the company, its device can help control elevated left atrial pressure, the primary cause of breathing difficulty and hospitalization due to heart failure.

8. Valens Semiconductor Ltd.

Amount: $63 million, announced in November

Investors in the round: Oppenheimer Asset Management and Linse Capital

Sector: automotive, semiconductor

Founders: Dror Jerushalmi, Eyran Lida, and Massad Eyal

Year founded: 2006

Total funding to date: $167 million

Israel-based Valens manufactures semiconductor products for the delivery of uncompressed HD multimedia content for the automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics markets. The company employs 350 people in offices in Hod Hasharon, a town in central Israel, in Pasadena, and in Asia.

9. Claroty Ltd.

Amount: $60 million, announced in June

Investors in the round: Temasek Holdings led the round, with participation from Rockwell Automation, Aster Capital, Next47, Envision Ventures, Tekfen Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Team8, Innovation Endeavors, ICV

Sector: Cybersecurity

Founders: Amir Zilberstein, Benny Porat, Galina Antova

Year founded: 2014

Total funding to date: $93 million

Claroty develops and markets cybersecurity platform for industrial networks. Headquartered in New York, the company also has an office in Tel Aviv.

10. 89Bio Ltd.

Amount: $60 million, announced in October

Investors in the round: OrbiMed Advisors LLC and its Israeli venture arm led the round, with participation from Longitude Capital Management Co. LLC., RA Capital Management LLC, and Pontifax Ltd.

Sector: biotechnology

Founders: OrbiMed Advisors

Year founded: 2018

Total funding to date: around $60 million

Incorporated in Israel in January, clinical-stage 89Bio develops treatments for liver and metabolic disorders. The company’s pipeline of biologic and small molecule drug candidates was acquired from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and several of the company's lead executives are former Teva employees.