According to IVC Research Center, 2019 was a record year of exits for Israeli corporations, garnering an annual total of $21.7 billion. There were 138 deals in total, with the largest single deal being the acquisition of Mellanox by Nvidia for $6.9 billion. Even without the Mellanox exit, the total value of the deals in 2019 reached $10.3 billion, which remains the largest all-time annual sum of exits, comprised of deals worth less than $5 billion apiece.
The value of VC-backed deals rose to $7.2 billion; up from 2.75 billion in 2018. As previously stated, the number of deals in 2019 was 138, which constitutes a rise from 122 deals closed in 2018. During 2019, a total of $8.296 billion was invested in Israeli companies. That sum must be viewed in two ways — first, on average, investors are clearly still receiving a good return from Israeli investments. Second, these investments fuel the Israeli economy, and their impact cannot be overstated — with over $8 billion in new investments and $21 billion in exits (given that a significant proportion of the exit money stays in Israel, as both taxes and private wealth).
Over the past ten years, the value of exits from the Israeli economy has been $11.29 billion. There has been an 800% increase in the value of the exits over the decade. 2019 was the second-highest year in terms of value, only dwarfed by 2017, where the exit of Mobileye for over $15 billion skewed the overall numbers.
- Intel has been the top purchaser of Israeli companies acquiring 10 companies, at a total
cost of $17.2 billion.
- Cisco is second largest acquirer, buying 4 companies totaling over $6 billion.
- Medronics bought 8 companies for $3.42 billion.
- Salesforce purchased 6 companies for $2.286 billion.
- Google acquired 12 companies for $1.77 billion.
- Palo Alto purchased 6 companies for $1.455 billion.
- Microsoft bought 9 companies for $958 million.
- IBM acquired 6 companies for $907 million.
- Apple bought 7 companies for $834 million.
