In 2014, Foreign Direct Investment into Israel slumped by around 50%, to just over US$6 billon. Has Israel’s high-tech, start-up nation halo broken down?

Looking at five pieces of anecdotal evidence from the newspapers and beyond, the answer must be a resounding no.

1) Google: Last week, Fernando Delgado, the senior director of product manger at Yahoo turned up in Israel. His mission? Simple. As he was quoted in the Hebrew press: “Yahoo is looking at places from where it can learn and give them an advantage.” In other words, that is why Yahoo has a major r&d lab in Haifa and Delgado had come to check things out.

2) Amazon: The day before Delgado turned up, Amazon announced that it was opening an r&d centre in Israel for its Prime Air project, alternatively known as the drone delivery service. Eventually, around 100 engineers will be recruited. As Google CEO, Eric Schmidt stated on his recent visit to the Holy Land:

Israel is booming in terms of entrepreneurship because you have a culture that allows you to challenge authority and question everything. You don’t follow the rules.

3) J&J or Merck: On a hill top in the Galilee lies a 6-person medical start up called cCam. Already in Phase One to test the development of novel cancer immunotherapies, the company is rumoured to have caught the eye of both J&J and Merck. One report estimates that the Israeli side is looking for a US$20 million investment from one of the pharma giants.

4) Emerson Electric: Spectronix is no start up. With 170 workers and a corporate structure established in the 1970s, the company delivers specialised fire-fighting services with civilian and military applications. Emerson Electric has seized the moment and bought the Israeli unit for a bargain US$79 million.

5) H2 Energy Now: The problems with storing energy effectively has been one of the main drawbacks impacting on replacement techs of fossil-based fuels. H2 Energy Now has just such a solution. I have been working with this small team, based on the edge of the Negev desert, for some years. In the past month, the company has received a significant fillip. The CEO, Sonya Davidson has been asked to attend arguably on of the most prestigious tech shows in the world – the Alpine High-tech Venture Forum, sponsored by the EU. In addition, they were one of the main presenters to Kyocera, the Japanese conglomerate, at a select invite in Tel Aviv this week. 

And what next? Just today, I was discussing two potential investment proposals in the bio and internet areas, both involving money from overseas. The smart investor has definitely not withdrawn from the Holy Land, and the world is set to benefit further.