Only 12% of entrepreneurs who secured initial funding in Israeli tech in 2023 were female
A mere 17% of the startups that raised their first funding last year had at least one female founder, notably lower than the figure in the U.S. and Europe (26.2% and 25.5% respectively), according to a new report by RISE Israel
Women’s participation in Israeli high-tech remains low, both among entrepreneurs who secured their first funding and among CEOs of companies that raised mega-rounds in 2023, according to a new report by RISE Israel, formerly Start-Up Nation Policy Institute.
A gender analysis revealed that a meager 12% of entrepreneurs who secured initial funding in 2023 were female. Within this group, 57% are in the Life Sciences and Health-tech sector, 14% in Agrifood-tech and Water, and 10% in Retail and Marketing.
Just 17% of the startups that raised their first funding in 2023 had at least one female founder. It is notably lower than the figure for startups with at least one female founder that secured funding in 2023 in the U.S. and Europe (26.2% and 25.5% respectively, according to Pitchbook).
The lack of diversity in Israeli tech is also clearly evident in the fact that all 15 CEOs of the companies that completed megarounds in 2023 are male, with all the companies being located in the center.
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The number of mega-rounds in Israel declined significantly from 40 in 2022 to just 15 in 2023. The mega-rounds accumulated over $2.3 billion (over 30% of total investments in Israel in 2023).
Only two of those companies (one in Life Sciences and Health-tech and one in Smart Transportation) are not pure software ones.
Software also dominated among startups that secured their first funding in 2023, with over 60% being software companies (the number is actually higher since some startups in the Life Sciences & Health-tech sector are software companies that develop digital health solutions).
