Israeli high-tech firms raised $483 million in venture capital in the first quarter, after raising $2.14 billion in 2011, the Israel Venture Capital (IVC) Research Center said on Monday. The amount raised in the January-March period was 15 percent lower than the fourth quarter but flat versus the first quarter of 2011, IVC, in cooperation with the Israeli office of consultancy KPMG, said in a report. “We’ve seen another strong quarter of technology investments,” said Ofer Sela, a partner at KPMG’s technology group. “The drought that everyone feared hasn’t materialized,” Sela said, referring to the impact of an uncertain global economic outlook. “Local industry is receiving significant reinforcement from foreign investors who are steadily increasing their investments in Israeli technology companies.”
