"The plunge in investments in Israeli high-tech companies continues": Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.78 billion

The plunge in investments in Israeli high-tech companies continues, according to preliminary data in a report issued by Leumitech (the high-tech banking arm of Bank Leumi) and the IVC company.
In the second quarter, Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.78 billion in 100 deals. This is a 65% decrease compared to the corresponding quarter last year and a 48% drop in the number of transactions.
However, in this quarter there is a slight slowdown in the downward trend compared to the first quarter of 2023. In a quarterly comparison, the amount of recruitments in the second quarter of 2023 reflects a slight increase of 2% compared to the first quarter of this year. In the first quarter of this year, 1.7 billion dollars were invested in local high-tech compared to 5.8 billion dollars in the corresponding quarter last year.
CEO of Leumitech, Timur Arbel-Sedars: "We continue to see a decrease in the annual level of recruitment rounds, both in terms of amounts and in the number of companies recruiting. At the same time, we recognize the first signs of a stabilization in the pace of recruitment thanks to continued investments, as opposed to a halt in initial investments."
After six consecutive quarters in which foreign investors reduced investments in Israel, in the current quarter there was only a slight decrease in their investments, but the decrease in investments by local investors continues.
Earlier today it was published in Calcalist that there was a 90% drop in initial investments by Israeli high-tech funds during the first quarter of 2023. From the report of the attorney firm Gornicki GNY and the research company IVC, it appears that the ten most active funds in Israel made only three initial investments in start-up companies in the first quarter. This is compared to 30 initial investments made by the same companies in the corresponding quarter in 2022.