2021 was a record year that broke all the indices with $ 25.6 billion invested in Israeli start-ups – an amount almost 2.5 times higher than in 2020 and more than three times higher than in 2019. Bloomberg published a comprehensive article today on Israeli fundraising, noting that the capital raised in Israel alone amounts to a quarter of the total fundraising in Europe as a whole.
“American funds made 266 investments in the early stages of raising capital in 2021,” according to start-up Nation Central, a non-profit organization that monitors industry in Israel.
Bloomberg noted the significant investments made by American funds Insight Partners and Tiger Global, as well as the opening of local branches of Softbank and Blackstone “to better sniff out opportunities.”
Insight had 70% more Israeli transactions in 2021 than the most active investor after it. “In a single month last year, three of its portfolio companies founded in Israel – Monday , Walkmi andSentinel One “Raised more than $ 2 billion along with their IPO,” it said.
Sentinel One also won the support of Tiger Global, Founded by billionaire Chase Coleman and $ 3.4 billion in asset management, it has invested in at least 16 Israeli technology companies during 2021.
Tiger Global announced last October the first closing of a new $ 8.8 billion fund, its largest ever. The fund is expected to grow to $ 10 billion and Tiger has already invested more than a third of that amount in practice. At the same time, Insight Partners is raising a huge fund of up to $ 20 billion, according to unconfirmed reports. These sums more or less explain the madness in Israeli (and global) high-tech and perhaps also why the private market continues to heat up as the public cools down.