Israeli high-tech companies raised nearly $1 billion during the first quarter of 2015, according to the most recent report by IVC Research Center, the Israeli tech website Geektime reported Monday.

According to a recently published report from IVC Research Center, Israel’s leading research group on the country’s high tech companies and venture capital investment, Israel’s first quarter this year was the second most successful quarter for high tech fundraising in a decade, 48% higher than Q1 of 2014 and more than twice what was raised in Q1 of 2013. What’s more, it was only 10% less than the decade’s most successful quarter for high tech fundraising: Q4 of 2014. …

In the last few years, Israeli internet startups such as Waze and Wix have been all the rage, and that trend is not abating any time soon: With $343 million raised, the country’s Internet sector experienced its most successful fundraising quarter ever in Q1. According to Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Research Center, the high funding rounds of Taboola ($117 million) and Quixey ($60 million) largely contributed to this quarter’s success, as well as the maturation of the sector, with investors willing to raise larger average rounds. In a statement, he explained, “Up to a year ago we were accustomed to seeing average financing rounds of $3 million to $4 million, in the Internet sector. In recent quarters though, we’ve been observing a distinct rise in the average Internet financing round. This trend is even more evident among growth stage Internet companies for which the average deal jumped from $6 million about a year ago to $16.3 million in the first quarter of 2015.”

In 2014, Israeli startups were worth nearly $15 billion in initial public offerings and buyouts. The first-quarter success of Israeli high-tech companies suggests that the sector is poised for another big year in 2015.

[Photo: Orel Cohen/FLASH90 ]