London and Tel Aviv could not be more different. The home of cricket, where it is supposed to rain 11 months of the year, or the sweltering humidity of costal Israel, where people are constantly on their mobiles. Take your pick.

When it comes down to business, London has the historical advantage. Last week, it emerged that “London houses 36 of UK’s 60 Unicorn startups, representing more than a fifth of all unicorns in Europe at a total valuation of $132bn. In comparison, Berlin holds the second biggest city spot with just eight unicorn startups, worth $32bn.”

Impressive. Yet two days previously, I was reading an article in The Sunday Times newspaper, which asked who are the alternative Silicon Valleys in the sun. At the top of their list appears Tel Aviv. And the reasons?

• 6-12% corporation tax for tech companies
• Well regarded research universities on hand, with multilingual students in abundance.
• Young population.
• Highly cosmopolitan scene.
• Great rentals available, even if prices are not the cheapest.

Neither item is a conclusive statement as to where you should go to open up your start up. That said

Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.55 billion in 131 financing rounds in the third quarter of 2018, according to a quarterly report on high-tech financing rounds by IVC and ZAG. This is a slight decline in comparison with the $1.65 billion raised in the second quarter and the $1.6 billion raised in the third quarter of 2017. $4.54 billion was raised in 444 rounds in the first three quarters of 2018, the most ever raised in Israeli high tech during a nine-month period.