Israeli startups raised a record monthly figure of over $1.2 billion in January 2021, according to press releases from the companies and their investors. The figure may be more as some companies prefer to remain in stealth and sometimes do not publicize the investments they have received, Trend reports with reference to Globes.
January's record figure edges past the $1.2 billion raised by startups last September, which was a record according to Start-Up Nation's Finder database.
Israeli tech companies raised a record more than $10 billion in 2020, according to IVC-ZAG, up from $8.3 billion raised in 2019, and $6.4 billion in 2018.
In many instances, financing rounds by tech companies that facilitate remote working and healthcare and cybersecurity, have been boosted rather than hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over 75% of these funds in January were raised by five unicorns (startups with a company valuation of more than $1 billion). Global payment network developer Rapyd raised $300 million, cloud native software network developer DriveNets raised $208 million, automatic cloud backup company OwnBackup raised $167.5 million, telemedicine app K Health raised $132 million, and B2B payments company Melio raised $110 million.
There were other large financing rounds by DevOps streamlining company Quali, which raised $54 million, and AI-driven health-food developer Ukko, which raised $40 million. AI software company Run.ai raised $30 million and non-invasive angiography treatment company Cathworks raised $30 million.