Just returned from Israel after meeting with some government officials, start-ups, and other quasi-government organizations. The current Israeli tech ecosystem is thriving, with well over 6500 start-ups, with 1000 new start-ups registering each year, which equates to around 1 new start-up every 8 hours. The Israeli Ambassador to Japan mentioned that Israel ranks #1 globally in terms of R&D researches per capita. By the way, the current population of Israel is just north of 9 million.  Israel also boasts the highest density of start-ups in the world - 1 start-up for every 1350 persons.   GDP per capita is also very high at over $42,000 per person.  Unemployment was strong at only 3.7% while GDP growth in 2018 ran at a healthy clip of 3.3%.  Fitch, S&P, and Moody's all rate Israel's outlook as either stable or positive.   With immigrants from over 170 countries, their citizens are very knowledgeable globally and considered the global market from Day 0. 

A handy site that we found very useful for Israeli startups was this one from the Start-Up Nation Central called the Start-up Nation Finder: https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/

A number of very well-known names in business have spoken very highly of Israel in the past.  Warren Buffett is quoted to have said, "If you are looking for brains - stop in Israel. There is no need to go further. " Eric Schmidt said, "The decision to invest in Israel was one of the best that Google has ever made." Bill Gates commented that " the Innovation going on in Israel is critical to the future of the technology business."  Li Ka-Shing, Hong Kong's most prominent tycoon, said that "It(Israel) is a country that is a wellspring of knowledge and skill as well as a fascinating place that offers unlimited opportunity. "   Lastly, Larry Elison, co-founder of Oracle, and Brian Krzanich, have also mentioned how Israel has a "wealth of intellectual talent" and how it is "about the only place where you have a complete cross-section of the company in one country". 

There were 14 unicorns in 2019 alone, with more in the pipeline for 2020 and beyond.   Many of the companies that we visited were decently capitalized while others were very much in search of strategic capital and partners to assist them not only in their R&D investment needs, but in scaling and expanding their tech overseas. 

If you are considering an investment/scouting trip to Israel, please do let us know.

Thank you and until next time, Shalom!