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Proud to have two of our founder’s on this list. Congrats To Flytrex and Evinced!
Israel: From “Start-up Nation” to “Scale-Up Nation”
Have you used instant messaging lately? What about VOIP technology? Been protected by a firewall, or plugged in a flash drive? Then you’ve used an Israeli invention. And there are many, many more to come, because the Israeli tech sector is roaring. Israeli tech firms raised over $25 billion last year, up 136 percent from the previous year—nearly twice the growth rate of the U.S.
Israel has long boasted more start-ups per capita than any other country, but only a few years ago Israel-watchers fretted about whether companies in the tiny Middle Eastern nation could get beyond seed rounds. Today the “Start-up Nation” would be better known as Scale-Up Nation, or perhaps Unicorn Country. In 2021 the number of Israeli unicorns—private companies valued at over $1 billion—more than doubled to 53, according to Start-up Nation Central, a nonprofit focused on Israeli innovation. The number of financing mega-rounds have more than tripled, creating a handful of “decacorns” valued at $10 billion or more.
Not much bigger than the state of New Jersey and with just 9 million people, Israel now has more unicorns than all of Europe. Last year investment more than doubled in its strongest areas including enterprise and data infrastructure, cybersecurity and fintech. But Israel is also making a real impact in sustainability, thanks in part to the challenges it has faced etching a first-world nation out of the desert. The country that invented drip irrigation is at the forefront of areas including biological pest control and water conservation.
How does Israel manage to consistently rank near the top in global business innovation and entrepreneurship rankings? Perhaps it is the fact that most citizens serve in its high-tech, high-stakes, highly collaborative military. Perhaps it’s the cutting-edge educational system, which has produced the world’s highest concentration of engineers and PhDs. Perhaps it’s systematic government support for innovation—including risk-free grants to entrepreneurs—or the thriving tech ecosystem. Or perhaps it’s something more intangible: If you know Israelis, you’re probably aware of their boldness and confidence embodied by the Yiddish word chutzpah.
Whatever the reason, Israel is unique first and foremost because of its people. As our list of “100 Israeli Tech Leaders You Need to Know” demonstrates, Israeli entrepreneurs have long been moving seamlessly from large corporations to start-ups. Now they’re turning those start-ups into major players themselves, disrupting fields in almost every industry. Israel is still a small country, but it’s making an increasingly big impact on a global stage.
