Israel tech startup fundraising hits $2.9 billion in second quarter

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli tech startups raised $2.9 billion in the second quarter of 2024, the highest level in two years, IVC Data and Insights and LeumiTech said on Sunday, showing that the sector's cash-raising ability remains robust despite Israel's war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The number, based on preliminary figures, included a $965 million funding round by cyber security firm Wiz. Without it, startups raised $1.94 billion, up 19% from $1.63 billion in the first quarter.

Some 62% of the $2.9 billion total came from six deals of more than $100 million, including Wiz, while the number of first-timers and new foreign investors in Israeli tech increased in the second quarter, the report said.

Fundraising by Israeli tech firms slowed beginning in the second half of 2022 due to a global slowdown and it was also hit by government plans, now abandoned, to overhaul the country's judiciary. Funding has remained steady since Israel's war that began on Oct. 7 last year.

Full data is expected by mid-July.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer. Editing by Jane Merriman)