WHY ISRAELI UNICORNS ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR COUNTRY'S DEMOCRACY

For the past seven months, Israel has been locked in a political crisis, creating uncertainty that is doing little to inspire confidence in the future among hi-tech executives.

- JOHN DOBSON

Just a few streets away from Tel Aviv’s magnificent Great Synagogue lies a high-rise building where I learned about unicorns. Not the mythical sort, you understand, but companies that are valued at over $1 billion. There I met Jeremy Kletzkine, vice president of a company called Start-Up Nation Central, who told me about the Israeli Innovation eco-system. Believe me, it is astonishing. It Is also in danger because of the current machinations of Israel’s coalition government.

Israel is not called the “Startup Nation” for nothing. The term originates from a book published in 2009— “Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle”. This examined and explained how Israel, then a 60-year-old nation with a population of 7.1 million, was able to reach such economic growth that at the time of publication, some 63 Israeli companies were listed on America’s NASDAQ, more than any other foreign country. Israel, a country surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding and with no natural resources, produces more startup companies on a per capita basis than large, peaceful and stable nations and regions like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and all of Europe. At the time, the Economist noted that Israel had more hi-tech start-ups and a larger venture capital industry per capita than any other country in the world.

Consider a few facts. Over 11 percent of salaried employees in Israel work in the hi-tech industry. Hi-tech makes up 18 percent of Israel’s GDP, over 50 percent of total exports and about 30 percent of income tax revenues. One out of three cybersecurity unicorns in the world is an Israeli company. All of which explains why hi-tech is dubbed “the growth engine” of Israel’s economy.