Kreos Insights

Kreos Capital named as leading investors in Israeli hi-tech

By 19/08/2016June 4th, 2021No Comments

Who were the leading investors in Israeli hi-tech during H1 of 2016?

This is an extract from Geektime’s named¬†investors and VCs that had the greatest impact on Israel‚Äôs tech scene since the start of the year.

Background and Methodology

In addition to the brilliant entrepreneurs, there is no doubt that investors play a major role in the success and prosperity of the Israeli high-tech industry. It is no secret, however, that among all the private investors, Israeli funds, foreign funds, and corporate funds, some were more active than others, made an impact on their portfolio companies, and were overall more reliable. This index attempts to map the various investors’ involvement in a new way.

In contrast to other reports, which rate the investors solely according to the quantity of their investments, the Geektime Investors Index takes into account other parameters affecting the investor’s activity and success. Among other things, we included in our calculations the amounts of the investments, leading investment rounds and follow-on investments in portfolio companies, and the number and amounts of exits and issues. Each index is based on a weighing of the data relevant to it, as obtained from the Geektime research department, and they present what we believe to be an accurate picture of the most active funds and people, divided into a number of categories.

In order to receive a more complete picture, we retroactively weighed the data for all of 2015 in the index, enabling us to compare the indices in different periods. It is important to emphasize that we have not made an artificial separation between funds and private investors, so that, for example, in rating early stage investments, you can find angels together with funds.

 

Private Equity Index

The Private Equity Funds Investment Index weighs a number of figures, including the number of investments by each fund, the total amount raised by the companies in which the fund invested, whether or not the fund made follow-up investments, whether the fund led the financing round, and the total number and amount of the exits and issues by the companies invested in.

BRM Capital came first, with investments in GigaSpaces, V-Wave, StarletDerma, Roomer Mominis, and Capester. Next on the list is Poalim Capital Markets, with a single, but fairly large, investment in Via’s third round. Rounding out the leading trio of funds was Kreos Capital with an investment in the third round of payments platform Zooz. In contrast to 2015, we note the absence of 2015’s leading funds in this category: Viola Private Equity, Accelmed, Arkin Holdings, Kaedan Capital, and FTV Capital.

 

Adtech Investor Index

Total investments in this sector plunged to $149 million, compared with $355 million in the corresponding period last year. The steep fall in the sector can be attributed to a number of reasons, the most important of which was the increasing control by Google, Apple, and Facebook over their ecosystems, and the blow suffered by flagship companies in the sector, such as Outbrain and Taboola, whose valuations dropped dramatically over the past year. In addition, many users are more aware of advertising and ways of blocking it through the growing use of adblockers. Above all, the companies in this sector have a negative image that makes it difficult for them to raise money and recruit employees.

In the Adtech sector, the leader is Kreos Capital, with participation in a recent $24 million financing round, followed by Carmel Ventures, which invested in companies like Pagaya and OurCrowd. None of these funds appeared on the list for the corresponding period in 2015, while the investors who led the Adtech Investor Index for that period, such as Zohar Gilon, 83North, and Moshe Lichtman, are not represented on our index for this year.