29% less than in the preceding quarter, but 19% more than in the corresponding quarter of 2012, states pwc Israel Kesselman & Kesselman in its quarterly MoneyTree report. Software companies raised 33% of the total capital raised in the quarter, and Internet companies raised 23%.
pwc Israel partner, High Tech Assurance Practice, Rubi Suliman said that the availability of range of financing sources for start-ups was just getting started, pushing the fundraising bottleneck to companies' later stages. "A situation has arisen in which small early-stage investments are available for companies, with the result that many ventures are founded. But in the later and bigger financing rounds, companies face problems and few options for raising capital in the Israeli market, resulting in more and more companies going abroad to raise money," he said.
51% of the capital raised by start-ups in the first quarter was in the seed stage and first and second round, a higher proportion than in the past two years. 12% of investment was in seed stage, with eight new companies raising capital.