Life Sciences sector leads capital raising with $86 million
In the first quarter of 2010, 91 Israeli high-tech companies raised $234 million from venture investors - both local and foreign. This was the lowest quarterly amount raised in the last five years, 15 percent below the amount raised by 124 companies in the previous quarter and 12 percent below that raised by 93 companies in Q1 2009 (which had been the lowest quarter in the past three years).
Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Research Center says that "figures for the first quarter of 2010 emphasize that Israel's high-tech industry is still experiencing substantial difficulty. The decrease in the number of active Israeli VC funds and a reduced amount of capital available for investments, were the main reasons for the decline in capital raising. Unfortunately, we don't expect any dramatic improvement in the next few quarters."