Wired magazine published a great spread on its print version, covering Europe’s hottest startup capitals, including Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Paris and Berlin (as well as some smaller hubs), ranking the hottest startups in each of the cities (link to the pdf version after the jump).
Below are the 10 hottest startups in Tel Aviv according to Wired:
The selection criteria wasn’t disclosed, but interestingly, many of these startups have very recently raised funding. See VC Cafe’s post on Q2 2011 investment highlights.
Saul Klein (Index Ventures) is quoted in the article, saying that Israeli startups lack two of the three D’s: developers, designers and distributors. Israel has great developer talent but is weaker on the other two, which in his mind, creates an opportunity for joint ventures with the UK, who excels in both.
What can Israel learn from the hotel capitals? Well, frankly a lot, but I really liked the quarterly poker game in Stockholm, where 100 entrepreneurs and VCs meet in a secret venue to play and network. Another attractive one is Berlin, which is a candidate to becoming the startup hub in Europe for its cheap rents, and relatively low cost and high supply of developers – something that Israel suffers from more and more (hence the ‘tent revolution in Rotchild street).
For a PDF of the print version, visit this link.
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.
