Israel is known as the ‘start up nation’, a wonderful compliment for a country which is 50% and whose economy was effectively bankrupt back in 1985.

And today? Just look at the news for the past week alone:

A) Hexadite, a cyber company set up in 2014 and which employs 35 people, was bought out by Microsoft for US$100.

B) NSO, which is contracted by governments to protect mobiles, is now valued at around US$1 billion, after several high profile contracts in the past year or so.

IVC Online, which has been tracking investments in Israeli corporates for some years, released in April a fascinating survey of the progress of the ‘start up nation’ over the past decade and beyond.

According to figures prepared by the high-tech research firm for ‘The Marker’ (newspaper), 653 start-ups that had been in business for at least four years closed up shop in Israel in 2014 – the latest year for which there are figures – up from 630 in 2013. By comparison, the number of companies started was 1,290.

Now, it must be said that these ratios are similar to other countries like America. But I would like to summarise some of the other findings:

Just under half of all start ups are located in Tel Aviv. And over 90% of the entrepreneurs are male.

In 2005, 553 starts ups set off on the path to glory, where as 236 closed down. By 2014 as noted above, the respective figures were 1,290 and 653.

Of the approximately 10,000 companies created since 1999, 54% are still in operation. A further 6% have been bought out. Of the later, just under half were sold at a loss.

Looking solely at 2016, 54% of the exits were valued at under US$5 million. A further 9% at over US$100 million.

And where did the money go to in 2016? 35% – software; 18% – telecomm; 17% – life sciences; 16% – internet; Much of the rest went to cleantech.

What are the takeaways from all of these and other statistics? Naturally, everyone has an opinion on what could have been and what still needs to be done better. However, I think there is another way to consider the situation, viewing it as a ‘work in progress’.

Last week, Israel hosted its annual Biomed conference in Tel Aviv. In the first week of June, Geektime will be operating a major Techfest over four days. ISDEF, one of the world’s most prominent HS conferences, will also be held in Tel Aviv. And Techcrunch are hosting a ‘pitchoff’ on 27th June.

In other words, the party is nowhere near over. There is more to come. And it is not too late for others to learn about Israeli society’s box of innovative tools.