The headline news in Israel these days floats between elections, the Prime Minister’s altercations with the legal system, and the customary threats of Hamas. Somewhere amongst all of this cloud and noise is a very vibrant economy.

The problem is how to find out what is going on and how to present that news effectively to investors. After all:

IVC has seen a number ‎of trends over 2018 which might continue into the beginning of 2019: the Israeli high-tech ‎market emerges as more attractive to foreign investors over the years, especially VC funds. ‎ Their numbers might grow, thereby driving first investments in Israeli startups, since quite a ‎few foreign VCs establish Israeli-dedicated funds. While the ‎majority of funds originate in the US and Asia, European VCs lag behind, as Israeli tech ‎companies are mostly USA market oriented.”‎

The software sector is the clear favorite in capital investments, it is even ‎more evident among VC funds, as first investment shares in this sector grew from 29% in ‎‎2013 to 54% in 2018. The cyber security technology vertical is leading globally, and Israeli ‎companies in this field will continue to attract due attention in raising capital through 2019.

Thus surmised Marianna Shapira, Research Manager at IVC Research Center and quoted on ATID-EDI’s biweekly survey of economic news in the Middle East.

Their review is one of the best I have seen. Just on Israeli life sciences, it detailed 18 separate items in its latest issue. I was also taken by its info on the cyber community in the Holy Land.

Israeli cybersecurity companies and startups raised over $1 billion equity investment in 117 funding rounds in 2018, setting a new record and marking a 47% increase from 2017, according to a new report on Israel’s cyber sector by Start-Up Nation Central (SNC). The total sum of $1.19 billion in investments constitutes nearly 20% of the overall cyber investments made worldwide in 2018, second only to the US, according to the report…..There were also significant initiatives and collaborations in the cybersecurity industry, including the establishment of a new $85 million fund by cybersecurity think tank and foundry Team8, backed by Walmart, Softbank, Scotiabank, Barclays, and Airbus, among others;

It is worth pointing out that Israel yet again has been recognised yet again by Bloomberg as one of the world leaders in innovation. Samsung investing another US$150 million in the local economy. And Freedom House has ranked the Israeli economy as really the only true free economy in the region.

So, as Europe sneezes loudly over Brexit and as America freezes while its President blows hot and cold, where would you consider is a warm safe haven to place a safe investment?

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