Israeli private high-tech companies raised a record 2.7 billion dollars in the first quarter but deals began falling apart in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Israel Venture Capital Research Center and ZAG law firm said on Sunday.
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The quarterly figure included 139 deals and was up 76% from a year earlier. It was boosted by 400 million dollars raised by ridesharing company Via Transportation.
But the fundraising stopped two weeks into March when Israel and many other countries began restricting business and other activities to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
"Most investors at various stages of negotiations simply backed out," said Shmulik Zysman, founding partner of ZAG.
"It is already clear that the aggregate amount of transactions in the second quarter of 2020 will be significantly lower than what we have become accustomed to in the past few years. The recovery will not be easy," Zysman said.
