Israel is widely known as the 'Startup Nation' - a reputation it has earned due to a multitude of impressive factors. The Israeli ecosystem is unique and constantly thriving, despite several global economic challenges. In fact, the Israeli startup ecosystem has grown massively from $113 Billion in 2018 to $393 billion in 2022. This growth is evidenced by the numerous top startups that have come out of the country, with a total of 85 Unicorns based in Israel. Recent successes from Israel include Optibus, Capitolis, and Placer.ai, which all attained unicorn status in 2022.
In 2022, global tech ecosystems faced significant challenges and down rounds due to ongoing economic issues, and Israel was no exception. Nevertheless, the Israeli startup ecosystem has many reasons to remain optimistic. Despite the funding dip, seed funding in the country increased by 22% to $1.6 billion in the past year, bucking the trend of decreasing startup investment worldwide.
Tel Aviv has recently emerged as the second-best startup ecosystem in the entire EMEA region, with only London, England ahead of it. Israel's startup ecosystem has grown at an impressive rate of 350% between 2018 and 2022, surpassing even New York, London, and the Bay Area. In terms of cybersecurity, Tel Aviv ranks third globally, trailing only New York and San Francisco.
1. Sentra
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 51-100
Founders: Asaf Kochan, Ron Reiter, Yair Cohen, Yoav Regev
Sentra is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Tel Aviv. The company provides a cybersecurity platform that enables businesses to gain comprehensive visibility of their cloud systems and manage cloud security efficiently. Security teams can classify and safeguard sensitive information flowing through their cloud networks, with automatic notifications of any vulnerabilities to allow faster threat response times.
Sentra's team is trusted worldwide by numerous companies, including large organizations such as Papaya Global, Stackline, and Domestika, who rely on their security platform. Building on their ongoing success, the team expanded into the US market in 2022 and is now providing their services across the states.
In the mere two years since its foundation, the team at Sentra has been very effective in raising startup funding, with a total of $53 Million being raised across multiple rounds. These funding rounds were supported by a group of 11 investors. The company's most recent funding round took place in January 2023. During this Series A, the team successfully raised $30 Million to further scale the business.
2. Groundcover
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Shahar Azulay, Yechezkel Rabinovich
Groundcover is another startup in Israel that was founded in 2021 and is based in the city of Tel Aviv. The company offers a software solution that specializes in application monitoring for K8-built apps. This solution provides clients with enhanced observability into their cloud environments, without incurring significant cost increases, man-hour requirements or scaling difficulties. The software users can create their applications and environments with minimal challenges.
Groundcover's monitoring solution is adaptable to any environment, including EKS, AKS, and GKE, making it a preferred choice among many reputable companies worldwide, such as Lemonade, SafeBreach, and Dazz. Thanks to its excellent results and usefulness, the startup has experienced tremendous growth since its establishment.
Since its inception, Groundcover has secured significant startup funding. Its most recent funding round - Series A- was held in September 2022, which enabled the company to raise $20 Million. These funds will help further develop the company's products and expand its business into new markets.
3. ARMO
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 51-100
Founders: Benyamin Hirschberg, Shauli Rozen
ARMO is an Israeli startup founded in 2018. The company specializes in cybersecurity and has introduced the first-ever open-source security platform for Kubernetes that offers end-to-end security. Their platform ensures every cluster and microservice is secured from the point of creation to deployment, consistently. Users can secure their Kubernetes environment within three minutes.
The company boasts of over 50,000 users who have integrated the software with a wide range of other DevOps tools, including Slack, AWS, GitHub, and others, to enhance the effectiveness of the platform across organizations.
ARMO has been highly successful in securing startup funding, having raised a total of $34.5 Million to date, thanks to support from four investors. The majority of this funding was achieved during a Series A round that took place in April 2022, during which, the company managed to raise a total of $30 Million. These funds have enabled ARMO to increase its growth trajectory as a business and further improve its offerings.
4. Agora
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 51-100
Founders: Bar Mor, Lior Dolinski, Noam Kahan
Agora is a holistic real estate investment management platform. Founded in 2019, Agora helps general partners (GPs) and real estate investment firms manage deals and opportunities. Their intuitive platform provides investors and firms with everything they need to manage their investments - from offerings, property descriptions, and advanced research, to document management, investor reports and tax.
The team at Agora has an extensive understanding of the real estate landscape. They leverage technology and automation to provide accurate and live updates on asset performance and market trends, enabling firms to make better investment decisions. Lastly, Agora prioritises transparency and security to ensure that all investment and financial data is secure.
The team at Agora has done a very good job of raising startup funding in the last 4 years, with a total of $29.9 Million raised through 12 investors. The company's most impressive funding round took place in August 2022, when they raised $20 Million from three investors. These funds have helped them increase their headcount and improve the quality of the software platform.
5. Aligned
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Gal Aga, Gal Deitsch, Yotam Sela
Aligned is a startup that was founded in Israel in 2021. The company's one-stop platform provides all the necessary materials to close a sales deal, eliminating the need for messy file sharing and making it easy for customers to say "yes" to your offers.
Aligned's platform is popular with some of the most well-known software companies in the world, including HubSpot, Deel, and EasySend. Its popularity stems from its ability to help sales and marketing teams win more deals and onboard new clients faster.
According to statistics, Aligned reduces onboarding and deal-winning time by 45%.
Since its inception, Aligned has successfully raised $5.8 Million in startup funding in a single funding round with the help of four investors. The funds were employed to expand the company's headcount in order to meet growing demand and allow for increased scaling.
6. Piiano
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Ariel Shiftan, Gil Dabah
Piiano is yet another Israeli startup founded in 2021 and based out of Tel Aviv. The company works in the cybersecurity industry, assisting businesses in safeguarding their customer's personal information. The company's proprietary data vault enables users to create secure zones for PII, PCI, or PHI data that can only be accessed within their cloud environment, thus reducing the risk of data breaches.
The company has also integrated its functionalities with AWS, Google Cloud, Heroku, Data Dog, and Sentry to enhance operational efficiency. With their API, privacy can be integrated into tools to ensure compliance with data protection regulations and obligations.
Following a single round of startup funding, the company raised $9 Million from eight investors, led by YL Ventures, to further develop its offering.
7. Metis Data
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Palo Alto, California, USA
Size: 1-10
Founders: Roee Kriger, Itay Braun
Metis is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Palo Alto, USA. The company provides a high-quality DevOps solution to support its customers. With the company's offering, you can test, fix, and validate your database code before entering the production phase. This proactive approach saves time and resources by preventing coding errors that could disrupt production. Users can easily identify and address any issues with their code, ensuring smooth operations.
It only takes 60 seconds to get started with Metis -- just a few lines of code and you're ready to go. Moreover, the product integrates seamlessly with a wide range of third-party software, so that you can maximize the benefits of the product without wasting time setting it up. The company is actively working on expanding its integrations to enhance the platform even further.
The team at Metis has demonstrated incredible success in raising startup funding, with a total of $4 Million secured in just a single round.
8. Mesh Payments
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: New York, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Eran Katoni, Oded Zehavi
Mesh Payments was founded in 2018 in Israel, and is currently based in New York City. By automating repetitive workflows, the company improves visibility for finance teams into company-wide operations. This clears the work deck, allowing teams to spend more time on important tasks and less on mundane admin work, while also improving the accuracy and efficiency of their work.
Already, the startup's solution has caught the eye of some huge companies, such as Monday.com, Papaya Global, and Synk, highlighting the effectiveness of the platform as a whole. Users can also manage payments and provide budgets for specific arms of the business.
Mesh Payments has received massive startup funding since it was founded, with the company raising a total of $126 Million with the support of ten investors that have faith in the company's business model. The company's most substantial funding round took place in September 2022, during which it raised $60 Million to continue scaling its operations.
9. Eleos Health
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Cambridge, Mass, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Alon Joffe, Alon Rabinovich, Dror Zaide, Shiri Sadeh-Sharvit
Eleos Health is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in the city of Cambridge, USA. The company automates the entire behavioral care workflow, integrating it into one platform, letting healthcare professionals move away from excessive administrative workload and focus on providing their patients with the care they deserve.
Users have reported a 50% decrease in their administrative workload, representing a huge time-saving solution. Another great benefit of the platform is the support it provides to clinicians, decreasing the likelihood of employee turnover by more than 5% overall.
Since being founded, the company has secured $28 Million in startup funding, from a total of 11 investors in its four-year run so far. In the largest of these funding rounds, the company secured $20 Million, allowing it to quadruple its valuation in nine months. These funds have helped the business to rapidly expand and offer its solutions to even more healthcare providers.
10. Dazz
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Palo Alto, California, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Merav Bahat, Tomer Schwartz, Yuval Ofir
Dazz is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in the city of Palo Alto, USA. The company operates in the cybersecurity market, providing a platform that gives full visibility into the vulnerabilities of applications and automatic notifications of any issues that need to be addressed on priority, decreasing the risk window from weeks to hours. The tool can also be integrated with a wide range of third-party software through the use of a read-only API to identify the security of the tools users employ.
Well-known leaders in global business are already using Dazz, with companies such as Intel, Wiz, Flex, and Takeda making use of its software solutions for their security needs.
The team at Dazz has been very effective in raising funds, with a total of $60 Million raised across a pair of funding rounds with five investors involved. The most significant of the two rounds took place in December 2021, closing at $50 Million.
11. Codium
Year Founded: 2022
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Dedy Kredo, Itamar Friedman
Codium is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2022. The company helps developers improve their development processes by providing meaningful testing suggestions directly from their IDE. With simultaneous testing recommendations while coding, developers can execute tests quickly, saving time on writing essential tests and allowing them to focus on more value-adding tasks.
The team has already convinced some incredibly well-known companies, such as Intel, Shopify, and OpenAI, to utilize their platform. These businesses have been able to leverage the platform's features to develop new applications more efficiently.
The company has also excelled in raising startup funding to improve its business, raising a total of $10.6 Million during a single funding round with the support of two investors.
12. Ctrl
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Omri Sagzan, Aviv Nahum
Ctrl is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2021. The company's platform enables revenue and sales teams to enhance their customer and CRM workflows by leveraging automation, enabling faster closing of more deals. Ctrl streamlines the sales process by allowing busy work to be completed up to ten times faster.
The platform's superior performance has attracted household names such as Slack, SalesForce, and Databricks, who make heavy use of its features. Furthermore, the platform is easily integrable with other third-party software, and the setup process can be completed in just a few minutes.
Ctrl has effectively raised $17.8 Million in startup funding since its inception, thanks to the support of nine investors. The company's most lucrative funding round took place just last month, bringing in $9 Million in funds through Earlybird and LocalGlobe.
13. Trullion
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: New York City, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Amir Boldo, Isaac Heller
Trullion is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently headquartered in New York City. The company offers improved AI accounting software to help businesses automate manual-intensive tasks. The platform's automation capabilities enable users to complete these tasks accurately and quickly, freeing up finance teams to focus on more strategic tasks instead of mundane yet important work.
The platform's time-saving benefits and usefulness have led to widespread adoption among businesses such as Lemonade, Taboola, and Pagaya, who use it for their finance functions and enjoy reduced administrative errors and time savings.
Since the company's inception, a group of six investors has raised a total of $33 Million in startup funding across multiple funding rounds. The most significant round to date took place in April 2023, when the company raised $15 Million.
14. SupPlant
Year Founded: 2012
HQ: Affula, Israel
Size: 51-100
Founders: Zohar Ben Nar
SupPlant is a startup in Israel that was founded in 2012 and is currently based in Affula, Israel. The company specializes in the agricultural sector, offering a wireless sensory platform that collects real-time data from farms. The data is then processed and analyzed to provide farmers with valuable insights on how to maximize crop yield. This eliminates the need for guesswork and allows farmers to make data-driven decisions to boost their productivity.
The company has been incredibly successful in raising funds, with a total of $59.8 Million raised in the last 10 years. This was achieved across multiple funding rounds and with the support of eight investors. The lion's share of the funds was raised in March 2022, with increasing the company's headcount to 100 employees.
15. Fairmatic
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Sacramento, California, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Jonathan Matus
Fairmatic is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Sacramento, USA. The company focuses on providing better insurance coverage to companies with fleet vehicles in the market. Fairmatic is one of the only insurance providers that rewards users for driving safely, leading to a potential 20% savings on fleet cover. The platform also provides valuable insights into driver behavior, allowing companies to identify areas for improvement.
The team at Fairmatic has raised a total of $88 Million across multiple funding rounds and with the support of eight investors. In fact, in March 2023 alone the team managed to secure an investment of $46 Million to expand its headcount by 30.
16. Winn.ai
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Herzliya, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Eldad Postan-Koren, Bar Haleva
Winn is a startup in Israel that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Herzliya, Israel. The company has developed an AI assistant platform to assist businesses with their sales functions. The software joins sales staff in their meetings, allowing them to concentrate on the customer while the software performs the secretarial work of filling in the CRM and taking notes about the conversation. This streamlines and speeds up the sales process, increasing the likelihood of winning more deals.
In addition, users can easily identify the talking points they have addressed and those they have missed, ensuring that they have covered everything with the customer from the outset. This eliminates the need for back-and-forth communication with customers, which wastes time and can lead to lost sales. When faced with difficult questions, users are provided with answer prompts that enable them to answer on the call rather than having to leave and return to the customer.
The company has secured a total of $17 Million in funding from a pair of investors in just a single funding round. With this round the company aims to move out of stealth mode and double its headcount to 50 within the course of the year.
17. Chain Reaction
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Yokne'am Illit, Israel
Size: 51-100
Founders: Alon Webman, Oren Yokev
Chain Reaction is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Yokne'am Illit, Israel. The company is helping the rapid and widespread adoption of blockchain technology by designing and building the next-generation hardware to power the ecosystem. Their technologies accelerate computing performance, which allows other organizations to adopt and scale blockchain solutions to the world's biggest issues.
With a talented team of engineers and developers, Chain Reaction is pushing the boundaries of what's possible with blockchain technology and is poised to make a significant impact on the industry. The company's innovative hardware has already gained attention from major players in the industry, and they are well-positioned to continue their growth trajectory in the years to come
Additionally, Chain Reaction has also been incredibly dedicated to raising startup funding. The company acquired a total investment of $115 Million with the help of eigh investors spread across multiple rounds. The largest of these rounds occurred in February this year, when the company netted a total of $70 Million to expand its services.
18. FinOut
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Size: 11-50
Founders: Roi Ravhon, Yizhar Gilboa
FinOut is an Israeli startup that was founded in 2021. The startup offers a cost-saving solution for tech companies to manage their cloud expenses by consolidating all of their cloud costs into a single, unified bill. This simplifies cloud management, reduces man-hours, and lowers overall cloud spending by up to 30%.
FinOut has already secured a reputable list of global clients, including Wiz, Orca Security, Zoominfo, and more, who appreciate their services at a fraction of the cost compared to other providers with similar features.
The team has successfully secured $18.5 Million in startup funding through two rounds in June 2022. Of this, the lion's share was raised in the first round itself, closing at $14 Million. These funds have allowed the company to rapidly enhance its service offerings and expand its headcount to 40 by 2023.
FAQs
What is the Average Startup Funding in Israel?
Israel has a well-established and active startup funding ecosystem that is highly developed compared to other countries in the world. In 2020, Israel ranked second globally, after the United States, with $10.6 billion in total venture capital investment. In the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem area alone the average Seed Round is worth $2 Million and the average Series A is worth $7.5 Million.
How Many Startups Are There in Israel?
There are over 10,000 startups in Israel, making it one of the most startup-dense countries in the world. The number of startups in Israel has been growing steadily over the past few years.
According to data from the Israel Innovation Authority, there were 8,380 active startups in Israel in 2018. By 2019, that number had grown to 9,200, and by 2020 it had reached 10,000. This represents a growth rate of around 18% per year.
What Are The Strongest Startup Industries in Israel?
Some of the strongest startup industries in Israel are AI and Cybersecurity. In fact, Israel has the highest concentration of cybersecurity startups per capita in the world. Apart from this, the Finance and Healthcare sector in the country is also ballooning at an impressive pace. The country's Fintech and Healthtech ecosystems have been actively harnessing blockchain and other emerging technologies to disrupt the traditional market.
