Page 28 - Jewish News_March-2020

28A March 2020 ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

Why 2019 was a record-breaking year

for Israel’s economy

In technology, digital health, tourism, exports and other verticals,
Israel has seen steady growth through the past decade.
By Brian Blum, ISRAEL21c.org, January 15, 2020
he year 2019 broke records partner or go public on the stock mar- deals in the $400 million to $1 billion majority go to the European Union, a
across Israel’s economy. From ket. That figure grew, too, in 2019, al- range more than doubled (to nine) in market that grew 4.8% this year. The
Ttourism to tech, exports to the though the amount depends on which 2019, accounting for 42% of all activi- United States, Israel’s largest export
illusive “unicorn,” Israel scored higher analytics firm you follow. ty. There were slightly more East Asian market by country, rose only 2%. India
in many categories than it ever had. According to Pricewaterhouse- deals – 10 compared to eight in 2018 – grew by 9% in the last year, but Japan
Below, ISRAEL21c breaks down Coopers (PwC), Israeli exits in 2019 but the average price fell to $75 million and China fell in 2019.
the numbers. totaled $9.9 billion, twice the number compared with $112 million in 2018. Nevertheless, exports to Japan in-
Unicorns as in 2018. Over the past 10 years, PwC counts creased a total of 73% over the last de-
Unicorns are a good place to start. IVC-Meitar, on the other hand, put 587 Israeli technology exits worth a to- cade while exports to China jumped a
We’re not talking about mythical one- the number at $21.7 billion, marking a tal of $70.8 billion, not counting deals whopping 402%. The last decade also
horned beasts. Rather, a technology 72% jump over 2018’s $12.6 billion. announced in 2019 but not yet closed. saw an increase in exports of 40% to
unicorn refers to a privately held com- IVC-Meitar’s Azran Lahat said the The most prominent of those 587 deals Latin America.
pany with a valuation of over $1 bil- numbers differ because the methodol- was the $6.9 billion acquisition of Is- Venture capital
lion. ogy and databases used are different. raeli chipmaker Mellanox Technolo- Local and international venture capital
In 2019, Israel doubled its num- Let’s drill down further. gies by NVIDIA. firms are the engine that keeps Israeli
ber of companies hitting that mark to In the PwC report, 80 deals were One more number: if we include startups’ wheels greased.
20. Israel now has more unicorns than cited of which 67 were mergers and companies acquired more than once or Israeli companies raised $6.4 bil-
France, Germany and Australia com- 13 were initial public offerings. (In the acquired after going public, the num- lion in 2019 from venture capitalists
bined. Only the U.S., UK and China tech sector, the IPOs included Fiverr, ber for the decade would rise to a stag- (VC) compared with $4.75 billion in
have more. Tufin, InMode and 89bio.) The average gering $108 billion, according to PwC. 2018, according to the latest report by
Among the high-profile new com- deal size in 2019 was $124 million, an The “deal of the decade,” of the IVC Research Center and the Israe-
panies Israel welcomed into unicorn increase of 53% over the 2018 figure. course, was Intel’s 2017 acquisition of li office of law firm Zysman, Aharoni,
playground last year: taxi-hailing Twenty-four deals were valued at $100 Mobileye for $15.3 billion. Gayer & Co. (ZAG-S&W).
company Gett, cybersecurity experts million or more, up from 17 last year. Exports If we look at total deal flow (not
Cybereason, and team management Half of the total value of the deals Israeli exports rose from $109 billion in limited to VCs), we reach an even
systems developer Monday. was in the area of computing services 2018 to $114 billion in 2019, according higher number: $8.3 billion in 2019 in
Additional companies are on their and software. That includes the largest to the Central Bureau of Statistics and 522 deals, compared with $6.4 billion
way to unicorn status: 3D sensor com- deal of the year, Intel’s $2 billion ac- the Economy Ministry. in 2018.
pany Vayyar Imaging, fraud protec- quisition of Habana Labs. Most of the increase was in ser- Software companies alone raised
tion firm Riskified, software developer In the IVC-Meitar report, there vices exports (things like software, $4.4 billion in 2019, almost 50% more
JFrog, and insure-tech company Lem- were 138 exit deals, of which 122 were computing and R&D), which grew than the year before. Artificial intel-
onade all had financing rounds of over mergers and acquisitions. by nearly 12%. That helped to offset ligence companies raised $3.7 billion
$100 million in 2019. The PwC report also looks beyond weakness in goods exports, which have in 199 deals in 2018, cyber companies
According to a list compiled by the tech sector. Including deals such as been hurt by a slowing of global trade, raised $1.8 billion, fintech companies
TechCrunch, out of some 500 unicorns the Delek Group’s $2 billion acquisi- a weak diamond market and a strong raised $1.7 billion, and life-sciences
around the world, 30 were founded tion of Chevron North Sea, merger and shekel. companies raised $1.38 billion in 2019.
by Israelis though not all of them are acquisition activity in Israel surged Overall, Israeli exports soared by While 2019 was a good year, it
based in Israel. 34% in 2019, reaching a total deal almost 70% in the last decade (2009 looks positively outstanding compared
Mergers, acquisitions and IPOs value of $20.4 billion – close (but still exports totaled just $67 billion), with with the beginning of the decade, when
The most common model for valuable not identical) to the IVC-Meitar con- high-tech services leading the way. VC investment in Israel was a mere
Israeli startups has been an “exit,” – to clusion. Exports comprise around 30% of $1.13 billion. Forty-one megadeals
merge, be acquired by an international According to PwC, the number of Israel’s total economic activity. The continued on next page

Located in the heart of
Downtown Sarasota, the Embassy

Suites is an all-suites hotel with

breathtaking views of the city.

Charge up your mornings with

complimentary breakfast.

Unwind every evening during our

manager's reception at Bridges

Restaurant on the 8th floor.

202 NORTH TAMIAMI TRAIL

SARASOTA, FL 34236

941 256 0190
EMBASSYSUITESSARASOTA.COM

Please see our event schedule at jfedsrq.org/events