Last Thursday, Israel celebrated its 74th Independence Day. This is a great opportunity to review how the local high-tech scene has reached its global status.
For the past decade, Israel has been known as the ‘start-up nation,’ for its high percentage of entrepreneurs, start-ups, venture capital and R&D centers in proportion to the population. In the 2020s, the times are evolving, and the start-up nation is becoming the ‘scale-up nation.’
In recent years, dozens of Israeli unicorns (a privately held start-up company valued at over $1 billion) have emerged. Today, Israel has more unicorns per capita than any other country. It is estimated that some 90 unicorns exist in Israel today, with a combined valuation of $250 billion.
Some of the most inventive and disruptive global technologies were introduced by local startups who scaled up, in a very wide area of activity . IT technology and cybersecurity is one of the most advanced sectors, with giant Check Point who developed the modern commercial computer network firewall, information security company CyberArk – developer of identity and access management security, and Palo Alto – developer of advanced firewalls.
Other interesting companies include the genius app Waze, which provides traffic information in real time, that was bought by Google in 2013, cloud-based web development services WIX which enables users to create websites and mobile sites independently, and digital entertainment company Playtika, which specializes in developing mobile games.
Some of Israel’s leading tech companies that are popular on our platform, include SolarEdge – the developer of smart energy technology, Nano Dimension – developer of 3D printers for the electronics industry, Insuretech leader Lemonade, online marketplace for freelance services Fiverr, Saas Provider Monday and many others .
So far, 2022 has been characterized by volatility in global markets. We believe in taking a long-term approach to investments, and that the future is full of possibilities. The scale-up nation’s fintech industry is sizzling with hundreds of companies, from trading & investing, payments, insurtech, blockchain, banking and much more.
Companies and unicorns mature and can keep growing and evolving as long as they keep their vision clear, mission defined and make sure they are well equipped to identify and approach the different challenges that will be presented to them.
Our StartupNations Smart Portfolio consists of tech-oriented companies from “startup friendly” nations that have been public for five years or less. They all hail from smaller nations where technological advancements are driving their economies forward, and whose innovative practices aim to enhance the lives of people from all over the world. Countries are assessed according to their Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), Startup Friendliness (SFI) and IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) rankings. Countries which appear in all three fields, and have a population of 20 million people or less, are considered. Almost 50% of this portfolio’s holdings are Israeli companies.
Our growth story at eToro is inseparable from the start-up-to-scale-up nation story, and we are proud of this. When we established eToro in 2007, the local ecosystem provided us with the right climate to grow. Israel, in general, and Tel Aviv, specifically, are characterized by a cultural mentality of openness to change, to new ideas and to moving fast.
Back then, the idea of democratizing the investment world was novel and the fact that we grew and evolved as a start-up within a local VC and developer community that embraced disruption, proved critical. Since then, we have been fortunate enough to enjoy the support of talented, experienced investors, advisors, and partners both locally and globally.
Our accelerated growth in the past two years is linked to global trends of accelerated digital adoption and the rise of the retail investor. The world has become even more connected since 2020 and these trends are here to stay.
Happy birthday scale-up nation! We are looking forward to seeing us all continue to grow together!
Yoni
Yoni Assia is eToro Co-Founder and CEO
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