Tech exits were boosted in 2020 by a record year for IPOs.
According to the PwC Israel report on tech exits for 2020, there were far fewer deals, only 60 compared with 80 in 2019, but their cumulative value rose 55% to $15.4 billion, from $9.9 billion in 2019.
PwC Israel noted that the average deal size increased by 207% to $257 million (excluding follow-on deals in both years).
PwC Israel said that 2020 was a record for IPOs with 19 IPO, up from 13 in 2019. In addition, the share of IPOs in the total value of deals surged to $9.3 billion (or 60% of total deal value), compared with $2.2 billion in 2019 (or 22% of total deal value). The average value per IPO also rose sharply from $169 million in 2019 to $489 million in 2020, mainly led by Lemonade, JFrog and Nanox in the US, and Ecoppia and Aquarius Engines in Israel.
The share of large deals remained high in 2020, PwC Israel added. There were six deals larger than $500 million (total value of $9.4 billion) compared with 4 such deals in 2019 (total value of $3.7 billion). There were 24 deals of over-$100 million in 2020, the same number as 2019.
The computing and software sector continued to lead the exits, with total value of deals reaching $7.4 billion. Other sectors, which showed significant growth included the Internet and life sciences sectors.