JERUSALEM, June 30 Reuters — Tech startups in Israel raised $2.9 billion in the second quarter of 2024, a two-year high, IVC Data and Insights and LeumiTech said on Sunday, in an illustration of how the cash-raising ability of the high-tech sector remains very strong despite the war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Based on preliminary figures, the total included a $965 million funding round by cyber security firm Wiz. Excluding that, startups raised $1.94 billion, 19% more than $1.63 billion in the first quarter.
According to the report, some 62% of this $2.9 billion total came from merely six deals of more than $100 million, including Wiz. First-timers and new foreign investors in Israeli tech rose during the second quarter.
Fundraising by Israeli tech firms had slowed due to a global slowdown beginning in the second half of 2022, and it had also been hit hard by the government’s plans to overhaul the country’s judiciary. Funding has remained steady since Israel’s war that began on Oct. 7 last year.