“My perception was that Israel trailed Silicon Valley by 6 months. What I'm feeling is the opposite.”
“My perception was that Israel trailed Silicon Valley by 6 months. What I'm feeling is the opposite.”
Prominent VCs and entrepreneurs gathered in Tel Aviv to learn about the Israeli tech ecosystem thanks to a delegation arranged by Israel Tech Mission and J-Ventures.
"I'm still ingesting what's going on in Israel for the last 24-48 hours. So I can give you my initial reaction," said Buddy Arnheim, founding partner at Lobby Capital. "It feels much more vibrant and much stronger than I was expecting. Having been in Silicon Valley in the last few years and having not come to Israel in the last few years… I think my mindset was, and has, been influenced by what we've seen in Silicon Valley."
Arnheim was speaking on a panel highlighting a Silicon Valley perspective on the VC space in Israel during a trip here. In an event arranged by J-Ventures, an early-stage VC based in Silicon Valley, and Israel Tech Mission, he was speaking to a room of LPs and investors that have invested in J-Ventures and were visiting Israel on a 4-day trip arranged by Israel Tech Mission.
The panel was part of a special event held in Tel Aviv at Shibolet & Co., one of Israel's largest full-service corporate law firms. He was joined by Mark Siegal, Partner at Menlo Ventures, Maurice Werdegar, Chairman and Partner at WTI, Jim Scheinman, Founding Managing Partner at Maven Ventures, and Alison Pincus, Partner at Short List Capital.
"It's been a tough year in Silicon Valley where plans were not met and funding has been harder," he continued, speaking to the moderator, J-Ventures co-founder and managing partner Oded Hermoni. "We know the strong survive, and so I would say over the last three to six months, we're starting to see those companies that weathered this one well start emerging with strength. I came to Israel expecting to see maybe the same thing, trailing us in Silicon Valley by six months. Because historically, my perception has been that Israel has trailed Silicon Valley by six months and what I'm feeling is the opposite."
Israel Tech Mission invites groups of entrepreneurs and investors to Israel on 3-4 day delegation trips where they meet with prominent founders in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They are also tour around the country to explore the potential tech opportunities in the north while also honoring the south and the kibbutzim that were impacted by the October 7 attacks in 2023.
Founded by David Siegel with David Nakar serving as Executive Chairman, the nonprofit organizes approximately eight trips a year to act as a window into Israeli tech and foster meaningful relationships and business opportunities.
"This trip for me has been monumental," added Werdegar. "The message I'll be bringing back is that it's the best time in my eyes in terms of company creation, startups, attitude, and the future. I've been coming here investing for now 15 years and I didn't expect to go this way. It just feels like the ecosystem is maturing and rounding out."
Scheinman, who was one of the first investors in Zoom and who coined its name, pointed at Israel’s dominance as an AI powerhouse as a reason to look at Startup Nation. "I’m always looking to invest in early startups from a Silicon Valley standpoint, it's a very exciting time to be an early-stage startup," he said. "This is now the fourth wave. Since ChatGPT came out, there has been a massive shift, especially in consumer AI, but in general. When you see shifts like this, whether it's the Internet, or mobile, or cloud, or now AI, there are massive opportunities for wealth creation and new businesses that can never be dreamed of."
Much of the work of the delegation is to promote economic opportunities between the delegates and the companies they meet. Israel Tech Mission takes a ‘hands-off’ approach when introducing members, but hopes that the investment both in time and energy can ultimately pay off.
"I didn't think about investing in Israel as something critically important. If the best company in a certain area we're looking at happens to be Israeli, that's great," said Siegel. "A big shift that's happened for me since October 7th is I view the tech ecosystem here as critical to Israel's survival. Our investment, whether we're talking about Menlo Ventures or us personally investing here… it’s almost a duty as a Jew to make sure that this ecosystem continues to thrive.”
