VC Cafe wishes you, the Israeli start up and venture capital industries, a very healthy, successful and prosperous new year. May you have many Eureka moments with brilliant ideas, find your perfect partner, sign amazing deals, prosper from fat exits and make the world a better place. Amen.
Looking back
I started VC Cafe in 2005 to expel the notion that there were too many dollar bills chasing too few ideas, as my ‘labor of love’ after my own experience with a startup in Israel. It was hard for Israeli startups to get professional coverage in English, and reach international investors and partners that would help the company scale, unless you got on a plane. I started VC Cafe while living in New York, continued with it as I moved to San Francisco, got married, moved to London, finished an MBA, etc. Thank you all for your ongoing support.
The present
The Israeli startup industry has been going from strength to strength, supplying a daily flow of news and world-changing milestones. To name a few, this year we saw PrimeSense partner with Microsoft on Kinnect, Google making its first Israeli acquisition (LabPixies), Shai Agasy getting several steps closer to make the world a Better Place and numerous other achievements and awards. Israel officially joined the OECD and we even got first book dedicated to Israeli startups published in several languages. We’ve come a long way.
Next year
On one hand, the coming year brings with it many challenges to the Israeli startup industry. A struggling local venture capital industry, talent leakage to the US and Europe and growing concerns about security, economy on a broader level. On the other hand, signs of recovery are everywhere. Angels and international investors increasingly show more interest in Israeli startups, the IPO market is slowly defrosting and M&A of Israeli tech-companies is almost hotter than ever.
On a personal forward-looking note
I would also like to take the opportunity to share with you some of my new year resolutions:
1) Increase the overall activity on VC Cafe: this means new look, more coverage and YOUR contributions.
2) Help five deserving early stage startups get funding from qualified investors
3) Grow the VC Cafe community both online and offline: Connect with VC Cafe members and get the latest updates on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
I wish us much more for this year, but if this humble list comes through, I’ll be satisfied.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
