Over $2 billion is available for investments by Israeli VC funds

5 January, 2016

So far, fund-raising efforts of Israeli venture capital funds reached $1.02 billion in 2015

So far, fund-raising efforts of Israeli venture capital funds reached $1.02 billion in 2015

Israeli venture capital fundraising activity was prolific in 2015. So far, fund-raising efforts reached $1.02 billion in 2015, with 13 funds and 43 percent of the capital from funds at first closing. Marianna Shapira, Research Manager at IVC, explains said that 2015 is the first vintage year in the seventh VC capital raising cycle in Israel, which already looks promising with a number of new players entering the local VC market.

IVC-ISRAEL

“We believe they will reach their target amounts, which will bring in an additional $500 million dedicated to Israeli investments for 2015 vintage funds. Furthermore, the 2016 vintage is already on its way, with seven VC funds currently engaged in a capital raising process, targeting more than $1 billion in total.”

The sixth cycle had been the strongest one since the early 2000s, ending with $1.2 billion for vintage 2014 funds, the strongest vintage year in the past decade. The sixth cycle’s most evident trend was the increase in the number of micro-VC funds, with 33 micro funds raising capital during this period, more than three times the number of such funds in the previous two cycles.

Ofer Sela, partner in KPMG Somekh Chaikin’s Technology group, points to another trend: “We can see Israeli high net worth individuals going into VC investments. We hope this changing trend will get more institutional investors involved in the industry, either as LPs in funds or co-investors in financing deals.”

At the beginning of 2016, over $2 billion is available for investments by Israeli venture capital funds. Of this amount, a little over $500 million is earmarked for first investments. The remainder is reserved for follow-on investments. With nearly $1 billion expected to be raised in 2016, IVC and KPMG believe that more than $700 million may be available for first investments over the coming year.

The report was prepared by IVC Research Center and KPMG Somekh Chaikin.

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