Israeli tech's exit boom is quietly funding local charities
A new survey from Temura ties this year's wave of acquisitions, including Apple's purchase of Q.ai, to roughly $4 million in donations to Israeli nonprofits.
After a year of high-profile acquisitions, Israeli technology companies have generated roughly NIS 12 million ($4 million) in donations to local nonprofits, according to a new survey by Temura, an Israeli fund that converts startup stock-option pledges into charitable donations. The amount is Temura’s second-highest annual total since it was founded in 2002.
The donations followed a series of major Israeli tech exits, including Apple’s roughly $1.5 billion acquisition of AI startup Q.ai, Cisco’s approximately $400 million purchase of Astrix Security, and Molex’s roughly $430 million acquisition of Teramount. The year also saw smaller acquisitions of Doti AI by Salesforce, CardinalOps by Cribl, Arpalus by Instacart and Cymbio by PayPal.
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In 2026, Apple acquired Israeli AI startup Q.ai for roughly $1.5 billion.
(Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman)
What makes Temura’s model unusual is that the charitable contribution is effectively arranged long before a startup knows whether it will have an exit.
Companies pledge unvested stock options to Temura while they are still private and years before those options may have any value. If the company is eventually acquired, Temura’s stake is converted into cash, with the proceeds distributed to nonprofits selected by the donor company and, in many cases, its employees.
More than 50 nonprofits shared this year’s donations, including Connection 20-80, NATAL, Variety Israel, Matzmichim, SAHAR, Shavot, Amitek, HaGal Sheli and Lehoshit Yad.
The pipeline for future donations is continuing to grow. Forty-three new startups joined Temura this year, including Qedma, Hyro, Backdrop, Bold and Xtend, adding another potential source of charitable contributions if those companies eventually produce liquidity events.
Baruch Lipner, Temura’s CEO, said the donations offer another way of measuring the impact of Israel’s technology industry.
“It’s encouraging to see how the industry’s success is measured not only by acquisition value, but also by its contribution to the society in which it grows,” he said.
Temura was founded in 2002 by venture capitalist Yadin Kaufmann, who remains its chairman. Since its founding, the organization has distributed more than NIS 135 million ($45 million) to education and community programs in Israel.
