TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Israel's high-tech companies raised 53% more money from venture-capital investors in the third quarter than they did a year earlier, a trade group said Monday. The startups raised $522 million in Q3 from local and foreign investors against $341 million in the third quarter of 2010, the Israel Venture Capital Research Center and KPMG Somekh Chaikin Israel said in a statement. The latest figure fell 8.3% from the second quarter of 2011's $569 million. A total of 137 companies raised money in the third quarter, up 43% from 96 a year earlier, the IVC center said. Through the first three quarters of 2011, foreign VC investors have strengthened their presence in Israel while the contribution from local VCs has "markedly declined," said Kobi Simana, the research center's chief executive. The third-quarter funds raised went 22% each to software and to communications companies while Internet-related businesses got 18% and life sciences got 16%, the IVC said.
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