Despite the pandemic, Israel’s startup ecosystem raised record amounts of funding and produced 19 IPOs in 2020. Now tech companies across industries are poised for an even better year, according to more than a dozen investors we talked to in the country. Mainstay sectors like cybersecurity continue to matter, they said, but are maturing (more about that here). Some people are more excited by emerging areas like artificial intelligence, which has been a focus of the country’s military for years, and cybersecurity is now producing many new teams of founders. Other investors felt that a broader range of industries, like fintech and biotech, would eventually make the biggest companies in the country.
Overall, local investors cited the country’s focus on global markets from day one, general support from the Israeli government, and deep relationships with Silicon Valley and other global tech centers as additional factors that power it forward today. In their own words, here are the investors for any TechCrunch reader interested in hiring, investing, or founding a company in the country. Oh, and one more thing. We just launched Extra Crunch in Israel. Subscribe to access all of our investor surveys, company profiles, and other inside tech coverage for startups everywhere. Save 25% off a one- or two-year Extra Crunch membership by entering this discount code: THANKYOUISRAEL.
The investors:
- Boaz Dinte, managing general partner, Qumra Capital
- Rafi Carmeli, partner, Viola Growth
- Yonatan Mandelbaum, principal, TLV Partners
- Natalie Refuah, partner, Viola Growth
- Daniel Cohen, partner, Viola Ventures
- Ben Wiener, partner, Jumpspeed Ventures
- Inbal Perlman, partner, TAU Ventures
- David (Dede) Goldschmidt, partner, Samsung Catalyst Fund
- Dror Nahumi, partner, Norwest Venture Partners
- Sharin Fisher, partner, Fort Ross Ventures
- Adi Levanon Chazan, partner, Flint Capital
- Chaim Meir Tessler, partner, OurCrowd
- Noam Kaiser, partner, Intel Capital
- Tal Slobodkin, partner, StageOne Ventures
- Ayal Itzkoviz, partner, Pitango First
- Ittai Harel, partner, Pitango HealthTech
Boaz Dinte, Qumra Capital
What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
At Qumra, we get excited about companies that disrupt traditional industries while doing good and improving their quality of life. Our portfolio includes some great examples, such as Fiverr, which has disrupted the labor market by unlocking the global talent pool, or Talkspace, which provides access to therapy.
