January 1, 2018 | Israeli startups raised an all time high of over $5 billion in 2017, Globes reported this week based on a report released by Israel Venture Capital (IVC) Research Center and law firm Zag. The numbers beat last year’s record of $4.8 billion in 2016, wihch at the time had been up 11 percent from the $4.3 billion raised in 2015. IVC-Zag reported that startups raised more than $3.8 billion in the first nine months of 2017 and more than $1.3 billion during the fourth quarter. The number could be even bigger, as some companies don’t publicize their investments. Globes says three startups raised 60 percent of the funds, which pointed to the trend that “fewer startups are raising more money.” Those startups were medical device company Insightec which raised $150 million, online insurance firm Lemonade which raised $120 million, and 3D imaging company Vayyar Imaging, which raised $45 million.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report shows that Israeli high-tech company exits totaled $7.44 billion in 2017, according to Israel21C. This is a significant increase from the $3.5 billion exits in 2016. Almost half the exits were computing or software, including cybersecurity tech. Life sciences companies were a quarter of the exits. A high-tech exit is a merger, acquisition, or initial public offering (IPO).