Israeli start-ups raised $1.7 billion in the second quarter of 2016, which is more than half of the financing raised in the first quarter, according to an IVC Research Center and KPMG report released on Wednesday.

A company known for its hailing taxis mobile app, Gett, raised $300 million, the largest of the 187 deals made in the quarter. The average financing deal was $9.2 million, higher than the averages in the first quarter of 2016 ($6.5 million) and the second quarter of 2015 ($6.7 million).

“All indicators point to a healthy and vibrant ecosystem that continues to mature and generate new companies,” Ofer Sela, a partner at KPMG Somekh Chaikin’s Technology group said in the report.

According to Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Research Center, an Israeli company specializing in analyzing and monitoring the country’s high-tech industry, “the clear increase in large deals is driven by the enhanced activity of foreign investors – primarily corporate investors and VC funds – in growth-stage companies. However, the increase is not limited to top-tier deals.”

“We are also seeing an increase in low to mid-range deals, with those between $5 million and $10 million jumping 50 percent, to a record $234 million. This across-the board trend lends us to believe 2016 will continue to be strong in capital raising, with a projected 20 percent year-on-year increase, or about $5.3 billion in total to be raised by the end of the year,” Simana concluded.

By: JNS.org

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