Wow! The Israeli startup ecosystem really revved up venture capital activity, bringing in no less than $2.73 billion in funding for the month of March. Following a month when Israeli startups raised “only” $852 million, March blow off the doors, nearly tripling VC invested funds.
11 rounds raised over $100M
A “Mega-round” is used to describe when a startup raised over $100 million. This used to be a rare occurrence. Israeli startups weren’t pulling in hundred million dollar paychecks everyday. This was until March of 2021, when startups seemed to secure 9 digit paychecks on the daily.
Seven companies (Axonius, Aqua Security, Papaya Global, Fireblocks, Optibus, Wiz, and Xsight Labs) raised at least $100 million, 3 others (Yotpo, Orca Security, and Next Insurance) secured over $200 million, and Snyk at the top raised an insane $300 million round. To make things clear, these companies alone raised a little less than $1.8 billion.
We will note that almost half of the mega-rounds this month went to cyber companies - Axonius, Aqua, Orca, Wiz, and Snyk - totaling $845 million, and that’s not including the rest of the startups which fundraised this month. The cash flow in the cyber sector just keeps on flowing, even though COVID impact slowly releases its hold on the market.
And if we’re speaking about mega-rounds, an underlying side effect usually accompanied to these massive rounds are generous valuations - introducing many new Unicorns this year. Keeping on track with the record setting month - March 2021 had 6 startups join the prestigious Unicorn club: Axonius, Papaya Global, Aqua Security, Yotpo, Orca Security, and Wiz, led by Assaf Rappaport (Although the round has yet to be officially announced).
The SPAC train continues to march on, with 3 Israeli companies announcing plans to go public on NASDAQ via SPAC merger this past month. IronSource and eToro are expected to go public at astronomical valuations of $11.1 billion and $10.4 billion, respectively. The third company to list on NASDAQ via SPAC is Arbe Robotics - with a more humble valuation of $723 million.
Three Israeli startups were also acquired this month. PayPal led the way with a $200 million acquisition of Curv and its crypto-asset encryption technology. Another startup that gobbled up this month was Kindite - acquired in a multi-million dollar deal by RingCentral, which is biting on Zoom’s tail. The third Israeli startup acquired this month was more of an Aqui-hire, with Reshuffle’s developer community building minds joining Twitter’s ranks.
March 2021 fundraising
Asset management startup Axonius lands $100M at $1.2B valuation. Read more...
Rewire raises $20M with a vision of financial inclusion. Read more...
Identiq's validation solution scores $47M. Read more...
Localization startup BLEND raises $10M. Read more...
Papaya Global nabs $100M and joins the Unicorn club. Read more...
Ibex Medical lands $38M for AI diagnostics. Read more...
ForSight Robotics secures $10M to make eye surgery smart and accessible. Read more...
Aqua Security also joins Unicorn club. Read more...
Snyk closes in on $5B valuation with $300M round. Read more...
Smart transit startup Optibus nets $107M. Read more...
Growing truffle with Big Data scores $5M Seed. Read more...
Datagen raises $18M with a simulated data solution. Read more...
Centrical's employee engagement lands $32M from Intel and JVP. Read more...
LinearB reels in $16M. Read more...
Noogata raises $12M Seed infusing AI into BI. Read more...
Stor.ai secures $21M customizing the digital grocery shopping experience. Read more...
Argon rallies Israeli cyber leaders to back Seed round. Read more...
Cymbio's brand-to-consumer connectivity idea leads to $7M Series A. Read more...
Warner Music & UBISOFT back Israeli startup Overwolf. Read more...
Yotpo goes Unicorn with $230M Series F. Read more...
Fireblocks rides the crypto wave to $133M. Read more...
Spark Capital leads $50M round in Axis Security. Read more...
Orca Security lands $210M round, led by Google. Read more...
Osu raises $3.2M.
Utilis raises $6M looking for water under the surface. Read more...
AugMedics secures $36M introducing AR to surgery. Read more...
Via Surgical lands funding from Taiwanese tech giant. Read more...
Morphisec and its cloud-based security platform net $31M. Read more...
Silicon Valley's Andreessen Horowitz invest in fintech startup Capitolis. Read more...
Second round in three months: Zoomin lands $52M Series C. Read more...
Next Insurance raises $250M at $4B valuation. Read more...
Other investments closed this month
Tyto Care raised $50M; Seebo raised $15M; Cynet raised $40M; Retrain.ai raised $13M; Ravin AI raised $15M; Vulcan Cyber raised $21M; Viz.ai raised $71M; Teramount raised $8M; Trullion raised $3.5M;Xsight Labs raised $100M; Rivery raises $16M; Wiz, led by Assaf Rapaport, raises $130M at a $1.7B valuation; ClimaCell raised $77M and changed its name to Tomorrow.io; StarkWare piques $75M interest in its blockchain technologies; EyeOn Medical raised $25M; Demostack raised $13.5M.
March IPOs and SPACs
eToro to land on NASDAQ at $10.4B valuation. Read more...
Radar startup Arbe Robotics SPACs its way to NASDAQ at $723M valuation.
IronSource will hit Wall Street via SPAC at an $11.1B valuation. Read more...
March M&As
Curv acquired by PayPal for $200M. Read more...
Kindite acquired by the company giving Zoom a run for its money. Read more...
Twitter Acqui-hires Reshuffle for its developer community building skills. Read more...
March Venture Capital activity
Greensoil anchors $100M PropTech fund. Read more...
Group 11 lands $120M for new Fintech fund. Read more...
The most active VCs operating in Israel. Read more...
AnD Ventures launches $50M Seed fund. Read more...
March-ing forward
Interesting stories of Israeli women advancing in tech despite prejudice. Read more...
Israeli tech's golden boy, Assaf Rapaport, founder of Wiz, takes on his journey from entrepreneur to Microsoft exec and back to entrepreneur. Read part 1 or part 2.
Three nano-satellites developed at the Technion Institute of Technology are launched into orbit to help search & rescue efforts. Read more...
Video - Only on Geektime! Group11, Dovi Frances, and Hillel Fuld take through the journey of the early-stage founder. View episode 1 or episode 2.
