The BUBBLE came to Israel too, with a record $4.2 billion in exits, averaging $83 million. While there were IPOs (notably Wix in November), most of the acquisitions were made by global technology companies with R&D Centers (and their corporate M&A teams) in Israel, including Apple, Google, EMC, AOL, Cisco, IBM and now Facebook.
Corporate accelerators are a recent phenomenon, both in Israel and globally. Microsoft selected Israel last year to launch its very first accelerator program. The company takes no equity, with the emphasis on business and technical mentoring.
Francois Hollande, President of France, led a delegation this week of 260 senior French executives and government officials to Israel for the 2nd annual France-Israel Innovation Day. The objective was to connect French companies with innovative Israeli startups.
Next month, one of the leading European operators is expected to announce a dedicated, Israel-focused venture capital fund. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation clusters, some telcos are getting a better ROI from Israel than others.
* This is a guest post by Levi Shapiro Stephanie Hospital, EVP Digital Audience and Advertising Division at Orange, oversees all digital partnerships, services and advertising related to Orange’s 133 million subscribers. We chatted with Stephanie at last month’s DLD Tel Aviv…
Weekly Firgun Newsletter
Join founders and investors reading the weekly Firgun newsletter by Eze Vidra.