11 Israeli fintech unicorns helping to change the world
Israel has more startup tech unicorns than all of Europe combined, and the fintech sector has seen its share boom over recent months
Will 2021 be the year of the unicorn? One sector that seems to have grown exponentially is fintech, much of which due to the coronavirus. The digital transformation which occured in 2020 was supposed to be a slow and steady process, however it got a massive push during the global pandemic. The rapid changes increased the demand for new tools for online transactions, which, in turn, created an influx in demand for fintech solutions.
As more people consumed goods from home during 2020, along with the recent stimulants the U.S. government shared with the American public, both the fintech and e-commerce sectors grew. The former experienced a rise in young ameatur investors, roaming the markets with the help of trade apps such as Robinhood (which is expected to go public this year) and Israeli company eToro, which recently announced a SPAC merger at a $10.4b valuation.
The latter saw a spike in demand for fast, customer driven websites and other online solutions for shopping. Meanwhile, the latter
Furthermore, 2021 also brought a new animal, the "Decacorn"- a private company worth $10 billion or more. One example is Stripe, a fintech company valued at about $95 billion earlier this year after raising a total of $2.2 billion.
This rush for commercial and financial solutions was felt in the Israeli tech ecosystem as well, creating new unicorns in a short span. Between September 2020 and January 2021, $1.4 billion poured into the Israeli fintech sector (24% of all tech investments for that period), compared to a $340 million investment in the first six months of 2020, with five companies raising more than $100 million at a value of more than $1 billion.
This growing stream of investment continued strong in the first half of 2021, which provides us with an opportunity to look at the 11 leading Israeli fintech unicorns.
Fundbox
Product: AI-powered financial platform for small businesses
Valued: $1.5 billion
Total raised: $453.5 million
Investment round: C
Year founded: 2013
Founders: Yuval Ariav, Eyal Shinar, Tomer Michaeli
Employees: 200-500
Investors: MUFG Innovation Partners, Allianz X, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Khosla Ventures, Recruit Strategic Partners, Spark Capital, General Catalyst, HarbourVest Partners, Bezos Expeditions, Shlomo Kramer, Blumberg Capital, Tom Glocer, Jay Mandelbaum, Emil Michael, Vikram S. Pandit, SV Angel
The Fundbox team Photo: Michael Loveton
Next Insurance
Product: Small Business Insurance Solutions
Valued: $4 billion
Total raised: $881 million
Acquisitions: AP Intego, Juniper Labs
Investment round: E
Year founded: 2016
Founders: Nissim Tapiro, Alon Huri, Guy Goldstein
Employees: 200-500
Investors: FinTLV Ventures, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Group11, Zeev Ventures, G Squared, Founder Circle Capital, Munich Re / HSB Ventures, TLV Capital, Nationwide Insurance, Ribbit Capital, Markel Corporation, American Express Ventures
Next Insurance co-founders Nissim Tapiro (left) and Alon Huri. Photo: Amit Shaal
Payoneer
Product: Business management software
Valued: $3.3 billion
Total raised: $282 million
Acquisitions: optile
Investment round: E
Year founded: 2005
Founder: Yuval Tal
Employees: 500+
Investors: CBC Capital, Susquehanna Growth Equity, Viola Ventures, Loeb.nyc, TCV, 83North, Wellington Management, Nyca Partners, Ping An Group, Vintage Investment Partners, Greylock Partners, Crossbar Capital, Yuval Tal, Zohar Gilon, Michael Loeb, Charlie Federman, Ilan Kaufthal
Rapyd
Product: Multi-currency mobile wallet
Valued: $2.5 billion
Total raised: $478 million
Acquisitions: Korta
Investment round: D
Year founded: 2015
Founders: Arik Shtilman, Arkady Karpman, Omer Priel
Employees: 50-200
Investors: Coatue Management, Spark Capital, FJ Labs, Latitude Ventures, General Catalyst, Oak HC/FT, Tiger Global, Durable Capital Partners, Tal Capital, Entree Capital, Avid Ventures, Target Global, Stripe, IGNIA
Rapyd billboard campaign in Tel Aviv
Tipalti
Product: Automation for supplier payments
Valued: $2 billion
Total raised: $286 million
Acquisitions: Approve
Investment round: E
Year founded: 2010
Founder: Chen Amit
Employees: 200-500
Investors: Durable Capital Partners, Greenoaks Capital, 01 Advisors, Group 11, Greenspring Associates, TrueBridge Capital, Zeev Ventures, Wicklow Capital
Melio
Product: B2B payment platform for small businesses
Valued: $1.3 billion
Total raised: $256 million
Investment round: C
Year founded: 2018
Founders: Ilan Atias, Matan Bar, Ziv Paz
Employees: 200-500
Investors: Coatue Management, Accel, Aleph, Bessemer Venture Partners, Corner Ventures, General Catalyst, Latitude Ventures, LocalGlobe, Salesforce Ventures, American Express Ventures, Amex
Sunbit
Product: Flexible payment solutions for retailers
Valued: $1.1 billion
Total raised: $161.9 million
Investment round: C
Year founded: 2016
Founders: Arad Levertov, Ornit Dweck-Maizel, Tal Reisenfeld, Tamir Hazan.
Employees: 50-200
Investors: Group 11, Zeev Ventures, Migdal Investment Banking, Harel Insurance Investments, AltalR Capital, More Investment House, G-Bar Ventures, Iool Ventures, 2B Angels, Polsky Holdings, Heroic Ventures, Amnon Shashua
HoneyBook
Product: Business management software
Valued: $1 billion +
Total raised: $229 million
Acquisitions: AppMyDay
Investment round: D
Year founded: 2013
Founders: Shadiah Sigala, Dror Shimoni, Naama Alon, Oz Alon
Employees: 50-200
Investors: Durable Capital Partners, Tiger Capital, Battery Ventures, Oren Zeev, 01 Advisors, Norwest Venture Partners, OurCrowd, Citi Ventures, Aleph, Vintage Investment Partners, Tank Hill Ventures, Hillsven Capital, Eric Kagan, Carthona Capital, UpWest Ventures, Oliver Thylmann, Ooga Labs, Michael Birch, Ben Narasin, Naval Ravikant, Rick Marini, Ev Williams
Earnix
Product: Mission-critical systems for global insurers and banks
Valued: $1 billion +
Total raised: $100.5 million
Investment round: D
Year founded: 2001
Founder: Sammy Krikler
Employees: 200-500
Investors: Insight Partners, JVP, Vintage Investment Partners, Israel Growth Partners, Viola Credit, Formula Ventures
Earnix CEO, Udi Ziv Photo: Fletcher Wilson Papaya Global
Product: Payroll and workforce management tool for global enterprises
Valued: $1 billion +
Total raised: $90.6 million
Acquisitions: Mensch.io
Investment round: C
Year founded: 2016
Founders: Ofer Herman, Eynat Guez, Ruben Drong
Employees: 50-200
Investors: Greenoaks Capital, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Alkeon Capital Management, Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Workday Ventures, ClalTech, New Era Capital, Dynamic Loop Capital, Group 11, Ronald Cohen, Angel Investors
Lili
Product: Mobile banking and tax tools for freelancers
Valued: $1 billion +
Total raised: $80 million
Investment round: B
Year founded: 2018
Founders: Liran Zelkha, Lilac Bar David
Employees: 11-50
Investors: Group 11, Target Global, AltalR Cpital, Foundation Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Torch Capital, Zeev Ventures, SilverTech Ventures
