2015, nouveau record de levée de fonds pour l'industrie high tech israélienne

[:fr]4,43 milliards de dollars ! C’est le nouveau record de levée de fonds établi par l’industrie israélienne du high-tech en 2015, rapporte le site Globes (i24news). 4,43 milliards de dollars ont été investis pour un total de 708 contrats lors de l’année 2015, soit une augmentation de 30% par rapport à l’année 2014 (3,42 milliards de dollars) qui avait déjà établi le record à l’époque.

Les chiffres, publiés par le centre israélien de recherche IVC et la compagnie KPMG, montrent également une augmentation de l’investissement moyen en 2015 qui s’élève à 6,3 millions de dollars par compagnie contre 4 millions en 2014.

Ofer Sela, associé chez KPMG, a toutefois indiqué que le ralentissement allait finir par toucher Israël comme cela a été le cas pour le reste du monde. “Au dernier trimestre de 2015, la tendance en Israël était contraire à la tendance mondiale. Alors que les marchés mondiaux ont été touchés par la baisse du marché boursier chinois, l’instabilité de l’économie mondiale et l’augmentation des taux d’intérêt aux Etats-Unis, Israël n’a pas été affecté par la méfiance”, explique-t-il.

“Nous estimons que le marché israélien va ralentir si le marché mondial continue ainsi. Le sentiment général en Israël est que l’hiver approche”, affirme Sela.

Le directeur général du centre de recherche IVC, Koby Simana, a déclaré avoir vu “des entreprises en phase de croissances lever des fonds afin d’augmenter leur taux de croissance et saisir des parts plus importantes du marché”.

Cette tendance a été largement alimentée par l’afflux de capitaux étrangers d’après Simana. “Un changement dans les tendances du marchés pourrait entraîner un ralentissement” ajoute-t-il.

Parmi les compagnies financées en 2015, 181 d’entre elles sont des sociétés de logiciels (qui ensemble ont obtenu 1,3 milliards de dollars d’investissement), soit 29%, suivies de près par les sociétés en ligne (172). Le secteur des sciences obtient 22% des fonds levés en 2015.

source i24news et globes.co.il[:en]2015 was a record year for fund raising by Israel’s high tech industry. Israeli tech companies raised $4.43 billion last year in 708 deals, according to figures released today by IVC Research Center and KPMG. The amount and the number of deals are both all-time highs. The amount raised is 30% above the previous high, recorded in 2014, when 690 deals totaled $3.42 billion.

The average deal peaked as well, at $6.3 million in 2015, compared with the previous year’s $5 million average round and a $4 million average in the past ten years.

The fourth quarter of 2015 was especially successful, in fact the best ever. Israeli start-ups raised an aggregate $1.2 billion in the quarter, 11% more than in the third quarter, and 10% more than in the fourth quarter of 2014.

VC-backed deals accounted for 72% of capital raised in 2015, with an outstanding $3.2 billion closed in 397 deals, or only 56% of deals. The past three years have seen consistent 30% annual growth in capital raising in VC-backed deals. The compilers of the report comment, « It seems the increase in VC-backed capital raising is therefore mostly explained by the increase in the size of the average financing round where VC funds participated. The average VC-backed deal in 2015 reached nearly $8 million, an unprecedented record, well above the $5.9 million average in 2014, and much higher than the $4.4 million average VC-backed deal in 2013. »

Ofer Sela, partner at KPMG Somekh Chaikin’s Technology Group, warns that the slowdown in investment in the rest of the world will catch up with Israel. « In the last quarter of 2015, the trend Israel ran contrary to that of the rest of the world. While global markets were affected by the slowdown in the Chinese stock market, an unstable global economy and the interest rate hike in the US, Israel remained untouched by this global wariness. We expect the Israeli market to slow down if the bear market persists. The general current sentiment in the Israeli market is that ‘winter is coming’, » Sela said.

IVC Research Center CEO Koby Simana said, « As of the second quarter of 2014 and throughout the past year, we have repeatedly pointed to the uptrend in the number of large deals and their sizes. We’ve seen growth stage companies raising substantial capital to boost their growth rates and grab larger market shares. The trend was largely fueled by the influx of capital from foreign investors, and a shift in market trends may indeed cause a slowdown on that front.

« However, there’s still room for Israeli high-tech companies to find both organic and non-organic growth, and materialize their full potential. We’ve seen in the past year a 25 percent hike in the number of Israeli growth stage companies, and the numbers keep growing. At the same time, there’s an increase in the capital dedicated to growth investments by late stage and growth focused VC funds, which are expected to continue investing even if the market slows, or even capitalize on the slight decline in valuations that a possible slowdown may cause. »

Israeli venture capital funds accelerated their activity in 2015, investing $653 million, which compares with $568 million in 2014. Their share in the total amount of capital raised, however, continues to fall, reaching a low of 15% in 2015, compared with 17% in 2014 and a 30% average share in the past ten years. Israeli VC funds placed a total of $236 million in first investments, which accounted for 36% of their total placements, up from 30% in 2014 and 2013.

In the breakdown by sector, in 2015, 181 software companies led all capital raising with $1.3 billion or 29% percent of the total capital. They were followed closely by Internet companies, with 172 deals raising just under $1.3 billion. The life science sector followed, with 22% of the total capital raised in 2015.

source globes.co.il[:]