The Tel Aviv skyline at night. Photo: Gilad Avidan via Wikimedia Commons.

CTech – Israeli Industry 4.0 startups have raised larger funding rounds in 2018 than in years prior, according to a new report published Thursday by Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), a Tel Aviv-based non-profit organization managing a database of Israeli tech companies. The sector grew from 146 companies in 2014 to 230 in 2018, the report said.

While the amount of capital Israeli companies raised in 2018 grew substantially, the number of deals did not change drastically, according to the report. Industry 4.0 companies in Israel raised $365 million across 36 deals in 2018, compared to $225 million across 35 deals in 2017.

Over the past five years, Israel ranked third, after the US and China, in venture capital investments in Industry 4.0 companies, the report said. Of the 36 deals in 2018, 67 percent have at least one Israeli investor compared to just 49 percent in 2017. Sixty-one percent of 2018 investments were made by at least one foreign investor compared to 69 percent in 2017.