Most valuable tech start-ups founded in Israel 2024
Over recent decades, Israel has emerged as a leading global tech hub. As of May 2024, the country recorded 95 tech unicorns. Leading the pack in terms of valuations were Rapyd and GoPuff, both valued at 15 billion U.S. dollars. Rapyd was part of the local fintech vertical, while GoPuff described itself as a rapid digital delivery service company. The third most valuable unicorn was the cybersecurity startup Wiz, valued at 12 billion U.S. dollars.
Wiz continues to break records
Having developed a suite of cloud security solutions, Wiz has broken new ground in its growth velocity. Founded four years prior, a July 2024 report revealed that the startup rejected an acquisition offer by Google worth 23 billion U.S. dollars. By comparison, the largest M&A deal in Israel in 2023 was the purchase of Imperva for 3.6 billion U.S. dollars. While the Wiz acquisition deal did not come to fruition, the company could become the highest valued unicorn in Israel’s history. This record is currently held by Mobileye, purchased by Intel in 2017 for 15.8 billion U.S. dollars.
Cybersecurity and fintech lead investment trends
Cybersecurity and fintech sectors remain key verticals in the local startup ecosystem, and a popular choice for venture capital portfolios. Despite a slowdown in capital markets, in the first half of 2024, cybersecurity startups completed 37 funding rounds worth over 2.4 billion U.S. dollars. Of these, seven deals exceeded 100 million U.S. dollars in value. Similarly, in the same period, fintech ventures secured 29 funding rounds valued at over 412 million U.S. dollars.
