IVC-APM: VC first investments down 23%

January 25, 2017 | First investments by venture capital funds in Israel fell 23% from 440 in 2015 to 341 in 2016, according to the IVC Research Center – APM & Co. report released today. The report analyzes first investments in Israel by venture capital funds in the past five years, and ranks the most active venture capital funds in Israel in 2016. Israeli venture capital funds made 146 first investments, 30% down from the 210 first investments made in 2015, while first investments by foreign venture capital funds dropped 15%, from 230 in 2015 to 195 new deals in 2016. The fall represents both a decline in the number of funds placing first investments to begin with, as well as a decrease in the average number of first investments per fund for both Israeli and foreign funds to 2.7 and 1.5, respectively, lower than the five-year average.

At the top of 2016’s Most Active VC Funds Ranking were three venture capital funds, each having completed eight first investments in 2016. While all three are considered early stage, low-placement, small funds, their new portfolio strategies in 2016 were varied. UpWest Labs, a micro VC with roughly $9 million under management, performed six first investments in seed rounds, in addition to two A rounds. Singulariteam, managing a total of $152 million in three funds, evenly split its eight first investments of 2016 between seed and A rounds. OurCrowd funds, managing a total of $20 million in two funds – OurCrowd First and OurCrowd Qure – tended to invest in relatively later rounds, placing first investments in seed (3), A (4) and B (1) rounds.