The Israeli startup ecosystem is still facing a worthy adversary, as the Coronavirus continues to heavily impact the economy and our day-to-day reality. However, even through all the turmoil, Israeli startups still manage to raise a total of $671 million in funding rounds. This is almost a 33% increase when compared to June’s numbers, which saw startups pull in close to half a billion dollars, though it still falls off by a lot when looking at July 2019’s total funding of almost $1 billion.
Nevertheless, there is a silver lining to this dramatic drop off in investments, and that is that despite the dollar value going down there were actually more transactions this July (28) than last July (21). This shows that obviously due to COVID-19, investors are a little stingy with their checkbook but that doesn’t mean that they’re not looking to invest. It’s also important to note that a large chunk of investments in July 2019 went to advanced-stage startups during growth: monday.com, Compass, Lightricks, and Trax. This group alone was responsible for bringing in $755 million. This past month only brought on one mega funding round with Gett scoring a $100 million investment.
When talking mergers and acquisitions, July was a relatively slow month, with architect and design startup, Visual Estate, being the only one finding a new home. The total figure wasn’t reported but estimated to be in the millions. One cool thing that stands out though regarding Visual Estate’s acquisition, as well as funding rounds from Seebo and Cybellum, is the fact that investments came in even after these companies pivoted from the original concept.
Funding rounds
Curv scores $23 million
Israeli startup Curv, which developed a cloud-based wallet that protects your digital assets, announced a $23 million Series A funding round led by Coinbase Ventures, CommerzVentures, Digital Currency Group, Digital Garage Lab Fund, and Team 8 - the think tank that brought Curv to life.
Vesttoo emerges from stealth with first investment
Israeli Insurtech startup Vesttoo, emerges from stealth mode with investment from Axon, Redds Capital, and Angel investors. Vesttoo developed risk management technology that allows insurance companies and their subsidiaries to trade their actuarial risks on the stock market by utilizing various investment financial tools. The total investment amount has not yet been released.
Anabella secures over $1M
Israeli FemTech startup Anabella, which developed a more efficient breast pump that mimics a newborn’s suckle, announces a $1.4 million investment led by two Israeli investors from the Israeli version of the show “Shark Tank” and a third Angel investor. This funding round comes not long after the founders of the Anabella pump appeared on the “Shark Tank” show and received an offer of over $1 million. In fact, including both investment rounds, the company has raised $2.5 million up-to-date.
OwnBackup lands $50 million
Israeli startup OwnBackup, which develops a backup and recovery platform for cloud data, announces an expansion on the company’s funding round with a $50 million investment led by Insight Partners and Vertex, with the startup’s existing investors Salesforce Ventures and Innovation Endeavors also participating. This injection of capital is added to the $23 million funding round from last year, bringing the company a total of more than $100 million raised up-to-date.
XM Cyber raises $17 million
XM Cyber, an Israeli cyber-security startup that was founded by former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo and a group of veteran executives from Israel’s intelligence community, announced the completion of a $17 million Series B funding round, led by Our Innovation Fund, Nasdaq Ventures, Macquarie Capital, and Swarth Group.
NovaSight scores $8 million
The Israeli MedTech startup announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by Rimonci Capital, which brings the company into the $16 million range in total funding up-to-date. NovaSight intends to utilize the newly acquired funds for extensive research that would help accelerate its request for FDA approval.
Seebo brings in $9 million
Israeli startup Seebo, which provides a Process-Based AI solution for large manufacturers, announced a $9 million Series B funding round led by Ofek Ventures, with participation from Vertex Ventures that joins existing investors Viola Ventures and TPY Capital.
Valid Network rakes in $8 million
Israeli startup Valid Network, developer of a security platform for Blockchain applications, announced an $8 million funding round led by Ten Eleven Ventures. The platform is intended for conglomerates and organizations that have implemented Blockchain-based services into their networks. Valid Network’s system can detect contract breach, identify weakness in code lines, adapt to older versions, and detect anomalies.
GoTo Global scores $19 million
GoTo Global, a subsidiary of Ambassador Group which owns 72% of the company, announced earlier this week on a $19 million Series B round, funded mainly by former deposed WeWork CEO and co-founder Adam Neumann, who invested $10 million while the other $9 million came from existing investors. The current funding round was based on a company evaluation of $30 million.
env0 reels in $3.5 million
Israeli startup env0 announced an expansion of its $3.3 million Seed funding round with a $3.5 million investment led by Crescendo Venture Partners with participation from newcomers Microsoft’s VC fund, M12, and existing investors, closing a total of $6.8 million for the round.
BeeWise raises $10 million
Israeli startup BeeWise aims its efforts at bee preservation by developing a smart beehive for better colony management that also produces high-quality honey. The company recently announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by Fortissmo Capital.
CartiHeal scores $15 million
Israeli MedTech startup CartiHeal, the developer of a treatment for joint surface lesions in traumatic and osteoarthritic joints, announces securing a $15 million funding round from American orthobiologics giant Bioventus. This investment also brings Bioventus the option of acquiring the Israeli startup, which has totaled $74 million in funding so far, from Marius Nacht’s aMoon, Johnson & Johnson’s VC arm (JJDC), Peregrine Ventures, and Elron.
Gett lands $100 million
The London and Israeli based mobility tech company, Gett, announced a $100 million funding round. However, the company refrained from naming names because the round is still open, only noting that it was a combination of new and existing investors. This latest round brings the company up to $750 million in fundraising so far.
Taranis raises $30 million
Israeli agtech startup, Taranis, which provides AI-powered crop management with the use of drones, announced a $30 million funding round, bringing an end to the company’s Series C round, which was led by Vertex Growth, K3, and Japanese strategic investor Hitachi Ventures. Additional investing participants include Vertex Ventures, Viola Ventures, agriculture retailer Wilbur Ellis, Mitsubishi, and OurCrowd.
Epsagon nabs $10 million
Israeli startup Epsagon, which provides a cloud observability platform capable of analyzing, monitoring, detecting, and remediating different cloud issues, announces another funding round, the second in the last 6 months. The round was led by DTCP, while existing investors also got back in on the action including Lightspeed Venture Partners, USVP, and StageOne Ventures. The official investment sum was not released but the company did note that its total raised funds increased to $30 million, and considering that the last round totaled $20 million, then the math is pretty simple here.
Belkin Laser secures $12.25 million
Israeli startup Belkin Laser, which develops a quick and easy laser treatment for those with visual impairments, announces a $12.25 million Series B funding round led by Rimonci Capital and Santen Ventures, with CR-CP Life Science Fund, BioLight Life Sciences, and C-Mer Eye Care Holdings also participating in the round.
Ecoppia lands $40 million
Israeli startup Ecoppia develops specialized robots that autonomously clean industrial-sized solar panel fields, without the use of water. The company announced a strategic $40 million investment coming from CIM Group, and American real estate, infrastructure, and energy management company.
RealView Imaging raises $10 million
Israeli startup RealView Imaging develops Hollywood-like hologram systems that will enable surgeons a comprehensive view of all your organs, just like Iron Man’s futuristic tech. The company announced a $10 million Series C funding round, bringing total raised funds to $20 million. The round was led by the Jerusalem-based crowdfunding platform, OurCrowd, existing investors, and a few Israeli private investing superstars.
Mitiga comes out from under the radar with $7 million
Mitiga emerges from stealth mode with $7 million in Seed funding. The round was led by Rain Capital, Flint Capital, Glilot Capital, and DNX Ventures. The Israeli startup has developed an investigatory system that spreads throughout an organization’s infrastructure, including cloud infrastructure, and begins a post hack analysis, providing definitive details about the breach.
CyCognito lands $30 million
Just one year after scoring a multi-million dollar investment from former Chairman of the Board at Microsoft, John Thompson, Israeli cyber startup CyCognito announces a $30 million Series B round led by Accel. Other VCs participating in the round were UpWest, Lightspeed Venture, and Sorenson Ventures. The Israeli startup provides complete visibility regarding an organization’s entire asset network (both known and unknown), enabling them to determine an asset’s risk priority.
SavorEat Brings in a total of $4.75 million
Alternative meat startup SavorEat announced a $3 million Series A funding round from Israeli investment management company Meitav Dash. It was just two weeks ago that the FoodTech startup raised $1.75 million in Seed funding from Millennium Food-Tech.
Nanox secures $59 million
Israeli MedTech startup Nanox, an innovative medical imaging technology company, announces it has closed a $110 million equity investment round from strategic global investors, which began in December 2019. January saw the company land $26 million, another $20 million in June, $5 million from private investors in-between, all culminating to July’s largest investment of $59 million, led primarily by Israeli-based A-Labs Advisory and Finance Ltd.
Explorium scores $31 million
Israeli startup Explorium is looking to do to big-data the same thing that Google did to the internet. One foot behind the other, this company keeps ascending with its third funding round in the last year, this time closing a $31 million Series B round, led by Zeev Ventures with participation from 01 Advisors, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo’s fund Emerge, and British VC legend, Ronald Cohen’s Dynamic Loop.
Cybellum raises $12 million
Israeli cyber-security startup Cybellum, a provider of an automotive cyber-security risk assessment platform, announces $12 million in a Series A funding round led by RSBG Ventures, with existing investors Blumberg Capital and Target Capital chipping in as well.
ClimaCell secures $23 million
Israeli-American company ClimaCell, developer of super accurate weather forecast model, announces a $23 million Series C funding round led by Pitango Growth and Square Peg Capital.
Ermetic lands $17.25 million
Israeli startup company Ermetic, which develops a data-leak prevention system for securing the cloud environment, announces a $17.25 million funding round. The round was led by California-based Accel, while existing investors like Norwest Ventures Partners, Glilot Capital Partners, and Target Global also got in on the action.
Chorus.ai scores $45 million
Israeli startup Chorus.ai, which provides a sales-team oriented conversational intelligence platform, that analyzes sales calls to optimize the sales process, announces a $45 million Series C round led by Georgian Partners with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Emergence Capital, and Sozo Ventures - a newcomer to the investment team.
Buildots raises $12.5 million
Israeli startup Buildots, which develops monitoring systems for better construction management, announces a $12.5 million Series A funding round. The investment was led by Israeli VC TLV Partners, while Innogy Innovation Hub; Tidhar Construction Company; OrCam and Mobileye founder, Ziv Aviram; Magma VC partner, Zvi Limon; Tidhar Group Chairman Gil Geva; and serial entrepreneurs Benny Schnaider and Avigdor Willenz. In addition, the construction-tech startup also received support from Israel Innovation Authority.
Sight Diagnostics lands $71 million
The Israeli company’s development enables immediate on-location blood test results without the need for a lab. Sight utilizes AI algorithms that process results on-site. Among investors is Clal Biotechnology.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Israeli startup Visual Estate, which developed technology that turns real estate blueprints into 3D models, was acquired by one of the company’s customers - MODY Israel, interior design giant. The acquisition came after the Israeli startup pivoted from selling its technology to real estate companies that wanted to model apartment sales to a tool providing retailers with a more personnel shopping experience. This is done by leveraging the 3D modeling technology to create a virtual tour for potential customers. The exit amount has not been published but is estimated to be a few million dollars.
