Two months ago, Israeli research firm IVC, together with the Gornitzky law firm and KPMG, published a gloomy report on a dramatic downturn in Israeli venture capital fundraising, with 12 funds having raised only $260 million since the beginning of the year for investments in local tech companies. A month later, the war ended, and eight Israeli venture capital funds made announcements that they had raised a combined $1.37 billion, including Cyberstarts, Glilot, Pitango and JVP. Did all of these funds miraculously raise millions of dollars in ten weeks?
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The explanation, as it turned out, is more prosaic. Some of the funds carried out a move known as “first closing,” an underwriting that allows them to begin investing from the capital they raised, long before the end of the war – they just didn’t announce it. At the same time, they continued to raise capital, some of them continuing to raise capital until they reached the target they had set themselves. Venture capital funds usually declare an initial closing to attract as many entrepreneurs as possible to present their companies to them, but because of the war, the fund managers feared the negative public relations that might accompany the announcements.
Revised upwards
IVC has also revised upwards the figures presented in the September report – so while only $350 million was raised in the first half of 2025, the total capital raised by Israeli funds for tech investments this year is $1.61 billion so far, an encouraging figure that indicates growth in the Israeli fund market after a contraction that began in 2021.
Among the funds that have been added to the list of fundraisers since the end of the war are Gili Raanan’s Cybertsarts, which raised a second opportunities fund trotalling $380 million – an opportunities fund allows a fund that invests in early stage companies to continue investing into those companies growth stages.
The Glilot 5 cyber and software fund has raised $290 million raised in 2025. Although Glilot announced in September that it had raised $500 million for the Glilot 5 fund for seed investments and “Glilot Plus 2” for investments in growth companies, IVC says that only $290 million of the amount was raised during 2025. In addition there was an initial closing of $150 million for Pitango First Fund 9, the Pitango Group’s fund for seed investments, among others.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on November 11, 2025.
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