The UK has everything it needs to build great startups. Talent, money and ideas, the trinity of startup success, are all present in the UK.London has the largest venture capital and private equity industries in Europe. The city’s cultural vibe attracts global talent, and the UK enjoys far more public sector support than the US. So what’s holding back the UK from growing successful startups?
As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. For the Invest in Israel archive, click here. This month’s trend…
According to the latest IVC-KMPG quarterly survey published today, in the first quarter of 2012, venture capital investments in Israel rached $483 million, up slightly from the amount invested in Q1/2011. 144 Israeli high-tech companies raised $483 million from Israeli and foreign venture investors, 15% below $569 million raised by 124 companies in the previous quarter, but almost equal to $479 million raised by 140 companies in Q1/2011.
On aggregate, putting a dollar into Israeli high-tech could yield you more than double the returns (if only these things worked on aggregate!). In the last decade, Israeli high-tech companies raised approximately $15 billion from investors, compared to more than $37 billion received in M&A and IPO exits, according to the latest IVC report.
Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don't tell the whole story. The latest IVC report reveals that in 2011, 546 Israeli high-tech companies raised $2.14 billion in VC funding, representing a 70% increase compared to the $1.26 billion raised in 2010 and almost double from the $1.12 billion raised in 2009.
In a world that suffers from content overload, personal recommendations are a bare necessity. Israeli startup Outbrain, one of the leading companies in the recommendations space, has completed a $35 million in Series D led by Index Ventures and joined by previous investors Carmel Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. This brings Outbrain's funding to $64 million total since its inception in 2007.
Terence Kawaja is one of the most influential (and funny) social media advisors around. His opinion in social media makes waves across the investment world, influencing heavily where money will flow.
The latest IVC Online report is out and it offers interesting color on the funding of Israeli startups. According to the report, 137 startups raised $522 million in Q3 of 2011, up 53% from the equivalent period in 2010, but down 8% from the $549 million raised in Q2 2011.
BillGuard has raised $10 Million in their Series B round of financing. Investors include bigtime funds like Khosla Ventures, Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors; previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners and IA Ventures also contributed to this round
Seeing no borders, Daniel “Danny” Shechtman made his award winning discovery of quasi-crystals while working at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. He is a graduate of the Technion in Haifa, Israel, and currently divides his time teaching and researching at Iowa State, U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames, and the Technion.
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