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Israeli venture capital funds raise $1.1bn in 200707/04/2008. Source: AltAssets. 
 Israeli venture capital funds raised $1.1bn in 2007, a 21 per cent increase from the $903m raised in 2006, according to information published in the IVC Research Center's IVC 2008 Yearbook.
Vintage 2007 funds include Pitango's fifth fund, which closed on $330m; the $85m Pontifax II fund; 7Health Ventures, a new $70m life sciences fund; and the $45m Wanaka Capital Partners.
In addition, six Israeli venture capital funds announced first closings in 2007. These include cleantech funds AquAgro and Israel Cleantech and medical device fund Agate Investments.
Included in the statistics are also Aviv Venture's second fund and two funds established by Israeli firms in partnership with foreign investors, SCP Vitalife and DFJ Tamir Fishman.
Guy Holtzman, CEO, IVC, said, 'The current economic climate is affecting both VC funds and high tech companies. Still, the level of foreign institutional investor interest and activity continues high, and Israeli institutional investors are increasing their allocations to Israeli VC and private equity funds.
'Concurrently, uncertainty in the capital markets and the weakness of the dollar are causing Israeli high tech companies to seek more funds in order to meet their financial needs,' Holtzman added.
The IVC Research Center estimates that currently there is $2bn in capital available for investment by Israeli venture capitalists, of which $1.2bn is intended for first investments in high tech companies and the remainder reserved for follow-on investments.
In 2008, a further $800m is expected to be raised for investment in Israeli high tech.
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