Israel’s booming fintech landscape continues to stay in the global eye. Home to over 500 Israeli fintech startups, the country’s ascent as a hub for fintech has been both rapid and spectacular.
Alongside being a frontrunner for fintech in the MENA region, Israeli capital Tel Aviv is also the fifth most popular fintech city in the world. Elsewhere, the country has also brokered several deals with Middle Eastern countries, such as the UAE and Azerbaijan, to build partnerships in this space.
More recently, Israeli fintech startups raised a staggering US$2.3 billion in venture capital across 68 rounds, just in the first of 2021. The investments represent a year on year growth one 260%, and also beat total funding raised last year by 28%.
The capital raised also represents a fifth of all venture capital investments in Israel this year. The growing popularity of paytech, anti-fraud solutions, and insurtech, stood out as well – these three sectors have claimed 70% of funding for Israeli fintech startups in the last two years.
With several Israeli fintech startups picking up ticket sizes of US$100 million or more in the year so far, these companies are clearly cementing their spot in the fast-paced global fintech landscape. Here are nine of the most popular ones to keep an eye on this year.
Top Israeli Fintech Startups 2021
1. Parametrix Insurance
Industry: Insurtech
Headquarters: New York/Tel Aviv
Founders: Yonatan Hatzor, Neta Rozy
Founding Date: 2019
In a world where everything is a service, Parametrix Insurance offers insurance against third-party IT downtime events. These include cloud outages, e-commerce downtime, payment failures, and other disruptions from SaaS, PaaS and IaaS platforms. The company recently picked up US$17.5 million in a funding round.
2. ZenGo
Industry: Cryptocurrency
Headquarters: Tel Aviv
Founders: Ouriel Ohayon, Tal Be’ery, Omer Shlomovits
Founding Date: 2018
ZenGo’s keyless non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet allows users to buy, sell, trade, and earn cryptocurrencies through a simplified app. It recently secured US$20 million in a Series A funding round.
3. TipRanks
Industry: Investment
Headquarters: Tel Aviv
Founders: Gilad Gat, Uri Gruenbaum
Founding Date: 2012
TipRanks is a platform that ranks financial analysts and bloggers based on the accuracy and performance of stock recommended by them. The company helps users make informed investment decisions, and recently raised US$77 million towards this mission.
4. Empathy
Industry: Personal Finance
Headquarters: New York/Tel Aviv
Founders: Yonatan Bergman, Ron Gura
Founding Date: 2020
Empathy’s digital platform helps bereaved families dealing with a loss to manage financial, legal, emotional, and logistical processes and challenges. The startup came out of stealth this year with an investment of US$13 million.
5. Melio
Industry: Payments
Headquarters: New York
Founders: Matan Bar, Ilan Atias, Ziv Paz
Founding Date: 2018
Melio is an Israeli-founded B2B payments startup that helps SMEs manage their payables and receivables through a digital platform. The company kicked the year off with a US$110 million C2 round, with a valuation of US$1.3 billion.
6. Papaya Global
Industry: Payroll
Headquarters: New York
Founders: Eynat Guez, Ruben Drong, Ofer Herman
Founding Date: 2016
This Israeli-founded payroll and payment management company raised US$100 million in a Series C round this year, with a valuation of US$1 billion. The company’s automated, cloud-based SaaS platform provides an end-to-end payroll management system, from onboarding and on-going management, to cross-border payments.
7. Rapyd
Industry: Payments
Headquarters: London
Founders: Arik Shtilman, Arkady Karpman, Omer Priel
Founding Date: 2016
Armed with a US$5 billion valuation, Israeli-founded Rapyd raised US$300 million in one of the biggest funding rounds this year so far. The payments platform, which has clients such as Uber and Ikea, helps to integrate local payments methods, stylising itself as a fintech-as-a-service platform.
8. Fireblocks
Industry: Digital assets
Headquarters: New York
Founders: Idan Ofrat, Michael Shaulov, Pavel Berengoltz
Founding Date: 2018
Fireblocks raised another substantial funding round amongst Israeli fintech startups this year, when it announced its US$310 million Series D funding. The Israeli-founded digital asset custody, transfer and settlement platform allows enterprise clients to store, transfer, and issue digital assets across their ecosystem.
9. Behalf
Industry: Alternative financing
Headquarters: New York
Founders: Benjy Feinberg, Shai Feinberg, Jeremy Esekow
Founding Date: 2011
Israeli-founded Behalf is an alternative financing platform for B2B clients, offering in-purchase financing solutions for both sellers and buyers. The company also provides managed sales and invoicing solutions. The company recently raised US$100 million in a funding round.
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