JERUSALEM, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The annual fundraising by Israeli startup companies engaged in desert technologies has reached a record high in 2022, the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement on Tuesday.
In 2021, the total fundraising by Israeli desert technology reached 49 million U.S. dollars, compared to 42 million dollars in 2020, and only 8 million dollars in 2019, according to the report written by the DeserTech community, headquartered in the southern Negev desert city of Beer Sheva, and the Israeli non-profit organization Start-Up Nation Central.
The record was broken in 2022, after the construction materials startup Gauzy, which develops functional glass coatings, raised 60 million dollars in February, it added.
The report stated that from 2006 to March this year, a total of 347 million dollars was raised by 22 of 66 Israeli desert tech startups.
The 66 companies deal with 26 areas including smart irrigation; construction materials for thermal comfort, resilience and energy efficiency; and indoor climate control and energy optimization.
The DeserTech community is a joint venture between the ministry, the Israel Innovation Institute, Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva and the Merage Foundation.
It focuses on desert challenges of extreme climate, remote and marginal living, water scarcity and land degradation. ■
