Israeli life sciences companies raised $503 million in 2012, up 23% from 2011, and up 44% from 2010, according to figures released by IVC and KMPG for the IATI-BioMed 2013 exhibition and conference taking place in Tel Aviv this week. 26% of all the money raised by Israeli high-tech companies in Israel in 2012 was in the life sciences sector.
According to data from IATA (Israel Advanced Technologies Association), there are 920 life sciences companies in Israel of which 614 (67%) were founded in the past decade at an average of 61 new companies each year.
Most of the capital raised by these life sciences companies was in the medical devices sector (55%). This is different from the US and Europe where only 40% of capital is raised by medical devices and 60% by biotechnology companies.
50-70% of capital raised in Israeli life sciences is seed early stage funding compared with 30-40% in other Israeli high tech sectors.
Nevertheless, life science has been rich with exists. Since 2005, 23 Israeli life sciences companies have been acquired for sums larger than $40 million for a total of $3.8 billion, before milestone payments and royalties.
According to pwc, 2012 was a record year for Israeli life science exits with nine companies acquired for $1.276 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 9, 2013
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