A look at the Israel Tech Ecosystem in 2022

Famously known as the ‘Startup Nation’, the Israeli tech and startup community is one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in the world. With its advanced technologies, state-of-the-art R&D centers, and increasing government support, a lot happened within the Israeli tech scene in 2022.

While funding for tech across the globe in 2022 had significantly reduced (by approximately 35 per cent), Israel was hit harder, with a funding decrease of 40 per cent. In 2021, Israel had raised close to $29 billion, whereas 2022 saw a dip – with Israeli startups managing to raise around $17 billion. One of the reasons for this dip was poor public market performance, caused by high inflation rates in 2022.

Despite this fall in capital raised, Israel managed to maintain its position as the fifth-largest tech ecosystem in 2022. Above Israel were the USA ($235 billion), China ($64 billion), the UK ($28 billion), and India ($23 billion). Cyber Security continued to lead Israel in raising capital, followed by IT, FinTech, Healthcare, and RetailTech.

Additionally, 21 new unicorns (with a valuation of $1 billion or above) were added in 2022, expanding the list to a total of 85 unicorns in Israel as of January 2023. Moreover, the M&A market of Israel continued to be extremely active last year; a total of 109 M&A deals were closed in 2022 with a total value of $18 billion. Some of the notable M&As are Unity & ironSource, Tower Semiconductor & Intel, Granulate & Intel and Zimperium & Liberty. This is largely possible because of the growing interest of multinational corporations like Intel, Google and Apple in Israeli tech and their confidence in the opportunities for scalability offered by them.

Some of the top most innovative Israeli startups from 2022 include:

Reep Technologies: Reep offers the world’s first practical, industrial-strength system for circular printing. Reep’s solution sets a new standard in sustainability for office printing, while also meeting the requirements for leading enterprises and organizations. Reep technologies aim to increase document safety and save operations costs through circular printing.

6Degrees: 6Degrees is an Israeli startup that has developed a hands-free adaptive controller for people who are unable to use their hands. The company has created a technology that can easily translate movements into a command on any smart device- including computers, tablets and smartphones. With every single move, the technology learns and adapts to the user’s unique motions and adjusts as per their needs.

Pigmentum: Pigmentum offers a sustainable and highly scalable solution for the low-cost production of high-value natural compounds for industries such as food and nutrition, health, diagnostics, and research. Pigmentum is developing a patent-protected molecular technology platform that can turn indoor or outdoor-grown crops into efficient producers of high-value compounds at a fraction of the cost incurred by the current fermentation-based industrial production plants.

Green Kinoko: Green Kinoko has developed an elegant outdoor cooling air conditioner based on smart patented cooling technology. Their product ‘Kenshō’ is the first outdoor air conditioner that doesn’t need an electrical connection. Kenshō brings the green revolution to outdoor cooling and has already brought great demand for long term collaborations.

Written by Priyanka Nangalia, Trade Officer at the Israel Trade and Economic Mission in Mumbai – Priyanka.Nangalia@israeltrade.gov.il.