All the warnings about the threat to Israeli high-tech from China and India were apparently not crying wolf: A report released over the weekend by the research department of Dow Jones VentureSource says the two giant emerging economies combined have now passed Israel in the amount of venture capital invested in high-tech startups in the first quarter of 2008.
The two Asian nations together also had the same number of such deals in the quarter as Israel, according to Dow Jones. Some $818 million was invested in Chinese and Indian startups combined, compared to only $572 million in Israeli firms.
The number of deals for the quarter was 55 for Israel, totaling the same as India, with 16, and China, 39, together.
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The U.S. still leads by far in all parameters concerning high-tech venture capital investments: $6.835 billion and 603 deals in the first quarter of the year.
European numbers were $1.53 billion and 180 deals.
However, the first quarter was not a good one for the India's high-tech industry. While the number of deals was similar to last year, the total amount of investment dropped 80% compared to the first quarter of 2007, and 27% from the previous quarter. This translates into a median investment of $4.1 million in an Indian startup, down from $8.3 million for the same period of last year. However, according to Dow Jones, 2007 was an extremely good year for the Indian high-tech sector, and overall the trend in India is still positive.
China, on the other hand, is something different. The number of deals there is the lowest in three years, though the amounts invested grew by 46% compared to the first quarter of 2007.
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