A new report by IVC Research Center and law firm Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal found that 99 Israeli high tech exits reached $6.94 billion in 2014 up 5 percent from $6.59 billion of 2013 (90 exits). The IPO activity in 2014 reached a 10 year peak, to $2.1 billion. 18 companies sold in the range of $100 million to $500 million, compared to 12 in 2013 and the M&A equity ratio is up sharply.
In April 2008, I wrote a series of posts about the Golden Age of Israeli startups in the areas of funding, product innovation, mergers and acquisitions and smart money, but then Lehman collapsed… are good times back or are we about to hit another market correction?
Update: according to PWC, Israeli exits reached a record $15 Billion in 2014, I’ve reached out to IVC for clarification. Here’s what IVC said in reply:
There is a profound difference in survey methodology between IVC and PWC. We use the globally customary methodology, while PWC apply their own methods used in PWC offices around the world. Two major differences are, as follows:
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IVC report all the exit deals, while PWC clearly use a sampling method – for ex. they reported 70 exits in 2014 – we had 99 exits in total (nearly 30 deals more).
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We count the actual money income from the deal, while PwC count valuations – ex.: looking at MobiEye IPO – we take into account the amount raised in the IPO – $1.02B, while they have the company valuation at the time of the IPO – $5B.
Worth quoting the PwC Israel partner, Rubi Suliman who said:
“In 2014, the stars were aligned exactly right for Israeli high-tech. The IPO window was open in the US and England, the maturity of many Israeli companies and investors, the major availability of money for high-tech from buyers and investors, and of course the strength of Israeli high-tech that knew how to reinvent itself and adapt to the times.”
He is a former General Partner at Google Ventures (GV) in Europe, former head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe, and founding head of Campus London, Google's first startup hub. Eze writes on Israeli tech, venture capital, artificial intelligence, and founder strategy.
He is also the founder of Techbikers, a nonprofit that brings together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read.
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