Israeli Start-ups Raised $10 bln in First Half of 2022

Amid global market downturn, Israeli startups raised almost $10 billion in investments in the first half of 2022, according to the latest IVC Israeli Tech Review report.

Although quite high, the figure marked a 30% drop compared to the second half of 2021 when Israeli companies grabbed $25.6 billion in private investments in total.

Between January and June 2022, Israeli companies raised $9.8 billion in 395 deals, and the tech industry saw 66 “exits” with nine IPOs (including two SPACs) and 56 mergers and acquisitions (M&As), according to the IVC-LeumiTech report.

Among the most notable deals are the following:

• Intel’s intends to acquire Israel’s Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion.
• Intel is also set to buy Israeli computing tech startup Granulate for about $650 million.
• Google bought Israeli threat detection firm Siemplify (officially, Cyarx Technologies) for $500 million earlier this year.
• Qualcomm acquired Cellwize Wireless Technologies, an Israeli maker of cloud and artificial intelligence-based software that can speed up deployment of 5G networks for around $350 million.

Companies in the cybersecurity sector generated the most funding (about $2.5 billion) in the first half of 2022, followed by fintech startups with about $1.5 billion, internet of things companies with about $700 million and food tech outfits with $450 million in investments, including $135 million for plant-based meat startup Redefine Meat.