A record number of Israeli startups are becoming billion-dollar unicorns or going public on the stock market.

That’s one of many positive findings in the 2021 Innovation Report released by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) on June 16.

Israeli high-tech entered the 2020 pandemic year in a strong position: “It withstood the shockwaves of the crisis — and in many ways, flourished more than ever.”

High-tech employees have made a significant contribution to rehabilitating an economy recovering from the economic, social, and health crises of 2020, generating new sources of income to reduce the budget deficit, the report notes.

The IIA found that the total amount of capital raised by Israeli startups quadrupled within a decade to as much as $11.5 billion in 2020, while the number of investments exceeding $100 million has increased almost sevenfold in the last five years. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, there were 20 investments of over $100 million.

“The value of high-tech exports is growing steadily, reaching almost $50 billion in 2020 – more than 40% of total exports,” the report states.