Innovate Israel Conference - 4 December 2013, Central London Chaired by Yossi Vardi & Marc Worth Organised by AcreWhite in partnership with UK Israel Business

1. international
BUSINESS review
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2. 1
@stephhospital
Bravo to the
@israel_innovate team...
Well done!
#innovateisrael13
event synopsis
There were many highlights and
achievements at Innovate Israel
2013. However, perhaps it was
Israel’s Ambassador to the UK,
Daniel Taub, who put it best when
he said that, “the second Innovate
Israel Conference, it is more
remarkable than the first. The first
time you do something, it is an
event, the second time you do
something it is already a tradition.”
And some tradition this is proving to be. Building
on the success of last year, Innovate Israel
2013 welcomed over 550 attendees, 50 Israeli
companies, and a delegation of 40 visitors from
Lithuania to the Hilton, Park Lane in Central
London on December 4th.
While the wind blew a bitter chill outside, the
atmosphere inside was warm – probably for the best
for those more used to Israel’s climate – as the day
began with a typically enthusiastic welcome from
co-Chairman Yossi Vardi & Marc Worth.
In the exhibition hall, the companies on display
welcomed hundreds of investors, corporate
executives, entrepreneurs and industry experts.
While in the auditorium, the panels included
discussions on gaming, publishing, advertising,
ecommerce, video technology and how best to
invest in Israeli companies.
Key themes throughout the day were the need for
adaptability, and the importance of cross platform
compatibility, as well as the challenges faced when
bridging cultural gaps, and attracting international
consumers and partners. In the gaming panel,
we heard that Facebook now receives over fifty per
cent of its revenue through mobile - up from zero
just fifteen months earlier. In the conversation
on the future of publishing, we heard about the
battle to balance editorial independence with paid
@ericsalama
content, while the discussion on advertising
raised the issues of generating personalised
promotions and customer engagements without
being intrusive. In addition, the panel on TV &
video addressed the challenges posed by new
platforms and the need to protect copyright, while
still creating cutting edge content, at an affordable
price for the widest possible audience.
Crucially however, Innovate Israel 2013
succeeded in bringing together Israeli companies
not just with investors, but with international
corporations. It was that vertical as well as
horizontal networking opportunity that made
the day so unique, and full of opportunity. And
it wasn’t just those in the hall who found the
day interesting. When interviewed on the BBC
World News in the evening, following a short clip
filmed during the day, Amit Shafrir was asked by
BBC Business presenter Jamie Robertson, why
Israel produced such a high number of start-ups and
technologies!
CLICK TO PLAY
His answer was that Israeli society was an
environment which encouraged thinking ‘out
of the box’. He pointed to both the influence
of the serving in the military, and the influx of
immigrants from around the world as being key
factors in the entrepreneurial nature of Israel.
He was also asked why though there was not yet
a brand name like Samsung from Israel, and why
many technologies preferred to sell rather than
become larger independent corporations. Amit
answered, that ‘yet’ was the key word, and that he
believed this was the next logical step in the StartUp Nation’s story.
So watch this space for the next Innovate Israel in December 2014.
For more information, contact info@acrewhite.com
great event and lively
panel on advertising with
@RechtmanLondon
@stephhospital
@YoncaBrunini
#innovateisrael13

3. Panel 1
Panel 2
The Future of
Gaming
Moderated By:
Frank Meehan,
General Partner, SparksLabs Global
Noam Korin, Director, Zynga
Shaul Olmert, CEO, Playbuzz
Julien Codorniou, Director, EMEA
Platform, Facebook
Tom Cheshire, Associate Editor,
WIRED magazine
PUBLISHING AND
ECOMMERCE
click to play
Everyone is interested in the future of gaming,
and this panel explored Israel’s innovation in the
field. Trivia game Quizup was first out of the
blocks as one to watch for the panellists, but of
course Candy Crush was not far behind.
The secret for these applications was identified as
the emphasis placed on cross platform playability
– indeed the panel said this was not even a
choice for new technologies. The dominant role
of mobile was highlighted to the extent that
PC or desktop compliancy was now considered
redundant. Julien Codorniou said that over 70%
of Facebook traffic now came through mobile.
Panellists discussed the increasing competition
between Googel and Microsoft to become
the leading platform for gaming and home
entertainment systems. But where to put your
resources in 2014? Shaul Olmert said he was
looking to the open platforms instead, which
perhaps may benefit Google with the ‘deployability’ of Android and ChromeS on other OEMs.
He said the old business model of the platform
as the gatekeeper is becoming obsolete and we
should expect more independent platforms,
really opening up the door to new innovation.
Moderated By:
David Osborne,
Partner, Yigal Arnon Co. Law Firm
Ken Bronfin, Managing Director,
Hearst Ventures
James Bilefield, Advisor, Condé
Nast International
Marc Worth, Chairman
CEO Stylus
Alison Loehnis, President, Net a
Porter
Jonathan Wall, Group e-Commerce
Director, Shop Direct
Playtech, Sidekick and others were credited with
being the industry leaders in a space that in the
past ten years has blossomed. Israelis no longer
typically sought to create the next Cisco, but
instead want to find the next Instagram or
Candy Crush.
Moderated By:
Yossi Vardi,
Co-Chairman, Innovate Israel
Nathalie Boulanger, Senior Vice
President, Orange
Saul Klein, Partner, Index Ventures
Mark Hughes, CEO, BT Security
The trend was noted as being very clear, the
gap between editorial content and commerce
is shrinking. People increasingly wanted a
streamlined one day delivery from an on-screen
purchase. Media companies were seeking to get
closer to the transaction, creating partnerships
between media and retailers to enable a new and
exciting purchasing experience.
The panel also discussed the dangers of blurring
the lines between editorial and advertising,
with concern that once revenues become more
heavily based in the affiliate and revenue sharing
with commerce, instead of subscriptions and
readership, there would be issues of integrity as
far as which advertisements one may accept.
The panel spoke about the trend in ecommerce
and media partnerships focussing on the US,
however, as a result of the RD and technologies
in Israel focussed on ecommerce and advertising,
there were growing global firms with Israel based
media partners, enabling them to utilise cross
platform ecommerce opportunities.
The areas to watch for our panellists were a reemergence of curated content, and an emphasis
on multi-channel ecommerce, combining online
advertising with physical locations, while using
publishing technologies to unify the branding and
messaging of a retailer from mobile, to desktop,
to in-store.
There was also an emphasis placed on the
separation of editorial and advertising decision
making process.
Conversation
Why major
media
technology
corporations
see Israel as a
great source
of innovation
click to play
Panel 3
ADVERTISING
Moderated By:
Rene Rechtman,
Internet Entrepreneur
click to play
Today there are around 300 international
companies with RD centres in Israel, yet
Israel’s population is less than 8 million and
has few ongoing political challenges.
Yet, as the audience heard, and as noted in
the book ‘Stat-Up Nation’, Israel has a high
percentage of RD per capita, a high number
of VCs and patents per capita, its IPOs on
NASDAQ are equal to those of France, UK and
Germany combined and around 40% GDP per
capita is now from the tech sector. This was
noted as even more significant when considered
that just decades ago, Israel was focussed on
agriculture.
Israel was considered the key place to be outside
of Silicon Valley, which was why the UK had
established the UK-Israel Tech Hub, and why
the brightest companies from the US and Asia
especially, were establishing a presence in Israel.
The adaptability and speed of Israeli companies
and researchers especially was key to this growth.
Aside from the quality of the products which
attracts global companies, notably in the area
of security, the innovation from the research
to the lab, to the production environment was
considerably shorter than in other companies in
other countries.
Orca as a company was noted to have made
the leap of integrating with a global company
following investment, as was MyThings, both
of which were invested in by Orange. Indeed
Orange have announced a new accelerator in
Israel at the beginning of 2014.
Stephanie Hospital, Executive Vice
President, Orange
Eric Salama, Chairman CEO ,
Kantar
Yonca Brunini, Vice President of
Marketing, Google
click to play
Israeli start up MyThings was given as an example
of leading the field of personalisation and data, as
the industry recognised that retailers and advertisers
required partners to make investment into
technologies that maximised their understanding of
why people behave the way they do and measuring
trends. Israel was noted to have had more
energy and excitement around developing these
technologies outside of Silicon Valley.
The future of advertising itself however, required a
rebranding. Advertising was considered intrusive,
and new technologies were looking to create an
interactive and more engaging personalised content
for the consumer.
Within a decade, 6 billion people would be online,
with the majority on mobile. Advertising as an
industry would need to adapt to this to establish the
right sales relationship between clients and service
providers. Key to this would be local advertising
being driven by mobile devices. Indeed, there is
a growing trend of investing in video, especially
with the majority of television content consumed
on digital platforms. As such, companies were
investing heavily in YouTube and Dailymotion.
While retailers were however looking to increase
one-to-one advertising, there would still be the big
investment in mass marketing such as Super Bowl
commercials. There were questions raised as to
whether consumers will continue appreciate value
exchange as they have over the past decades, and
doubts were expressed over the ability for retailers
to be able to scale native advertising to create a less
intrusive way of engaging customers.

4. Israeli
innovation
showcase
Panel 4
The future of
tv video
click to play
Moderated By:
Amit Shafrir,
Internet Entrepreneur
@brenthoberman
good to see old friends
and some new great
startups. What was the
best one?
Guy Avshalom, Chief Operating
Officer, Lionsgate Films
Josh Berger, President,
Warner Bros. UK, Ireland Spain
Oded Vardi, Internet Entrepreneur
Thomas Benski, CEO, Pulse Films
The key aspect of developing TV and video
technologies was allowing innovators the space
to experiment and take risks. The recently
released movie ‘Gravity’ was noted as having
been an example of how such risks in the areas
of graphics and effects could produce significant
returns on the investment.
With the threat of piracy, as has been experienced
in the music industry, there were several views
as to how to protect the future of video content.
First was to ensure availability on cross platforms
including iTunes, Netflix and Blinkbox for
example, which in addition brought down prices
of video content as competition increases. It was
noted that the digital era had already significantly
brought down prices for consumers.
#innovateisrael13
Whereas, what drove down prices for physical
DVDs was the involvement of retailers such
as Tesco who sold DVDs at a loss to attract
consumers. That was very different for the
digital content market which was experiencing
more competition from different platforms.
The industry therefore would need to segment
content to maximise revenues in the new reality
of the subscription versus the ownership model.
The issue of ‘cord cutting’ was also addressed,
while it was noted one needed a better
understanding of technology. However, this was
a growing trend, and questions were asked as
to how content producers would replace lost
revenues on the part of the cable providers.
The key question raised was the importance of
copyright enforcement.
Conversation
Investing
in israeli
technology. is
this the right
time?
Moderated By:
Toby Coppel,
Partner, Virgin Management
Gilad Novik, CTO, Horizons
Ventures
Daniel Waterhouse, Partner,
Balderton Capital
Mattias Ljungman, Partner,
Atomico
Harry Nelis, Partner, Accel
click to play
With regard to now being the right time to
invest in Israel – we heard a resounding (if
unsurprising), yes. Panellists noted that Israel’s
entrepreneurs are famed for their level of
expertise – something that was credited to the
support of the Government, and significantly to
the military service, where a culture of building,
not only new and innovative technologies, but
an ecosystem and network of skills and creativity
exist. Waze, Hola and Magisto were given as
good examples.
This was also reflected in the growing number
of US tech giants seeking to harness the Israeli
creativity with presences in Israel.
While for many, the tendency for Israelis to be
strongly opinionated, and of course blessed with
a healthy helping of Chutzpah, the investors on
the panel said they felt it was quite easy to work
with Israelis, and because of the pro-active and
entrepreneurial styles, Israel was a great place to
do business.
They found people were engaged and informed.
Difficulties did include the small domestic
market, and the need to become international
early on to ensure referenceable clients for
growth abroad. In addition, there were many
people on the ground in Israel with international
experience who were able to bridge the cultural
gap.
As for the up and coming, panellists pointed to
Hola.org, eToro, Gigya and Wix.

5. Conversation
what’s next
and who to
watch
Moderated By:
Eze Vidra,
Head of Campus London Google
for Entrepreneurs European
Outreach
Eyal Gura, Partner, Pitango
Jeff Pulver, Internet Entrepreneur
Brent Hoberman, Internet
Entrepreneur
Zack Weisfeld, Senior Director,
Microsoft Ventures
Bhavneet Singh, President CEO,
Pearson eLearning
Jersey. For business. For life.
click to play
Healthcare featured strongly as panellists gave
their insight into the new technologies emerging.
One such technology was devices which allowed
doctors to monitor our behaviour and engage
with users, advising them on their behaviour.
One to watch in this space was Tiktrac.
There was also an emphasis on healthcare IT, and
new technologies around genome sequencing
and the storage of the related data. These were
labelled as both proactive as well as reactive
medicine solutions which enabled medicines and
prescriptions to be more personalised. Similarly
edtech, technology around education, was
highlighted as an area where new technologies
were emerging.
In terms of the investors, it was felt that
traditional VCs would continue to make revenues
an interview with:
nathalie
Boulanger
svp, orange
Representing Orange, one of
Innovate Israel’s key sponsors
was Nathalie Boulanger, Senior
Vice President, in charge of the
Orange Start-up Ecosystem within
the Orange Group. First thing we
have to do in Israel, is to explain
who we are!
NB: Orange is a strong brand in Israel, but it is a
franchise not a direct part of the company, so that
can cause confusion. We are however building
strong ties in Israel, with start-ups and new
technologies especially.
IBR: Well the question must of course then be
why Israel?
NB: Israel has a real culture of entrepreneurship,
and a genuine ability to think outside the box.
We have seen this not once, not twice, but
hundreds of times, with Israeli technologies
providing hi-tech solutions.
IBR: Is that because of the education system or the
military perhaps?
NB: It is certainly due to the higher education.
Orange is now working with Ben Gurion University,
with plans to launch the Orange Fab accelerator
in order to learn and nurture this very high level
of innovation. Indeed San Francisco and Israel
are working very closely, and share a tremendous
amount in their approach to innovation.
IBR: Ok, so what mistakes do the Israeli start-ups
make? What would you best advise they do?
NB: Overall I would give the Israeli start-ups full
marks, A+. There is an area which needs careful
investing in new technologies, but that crowd
sourcing platforms were greatly impacting the
ability of companies to get off the ground. It was
felt however that the accelerator and incubator
models was likely to be the best way for more
traditional investors to be able to filter out the
better investment opportunities. Equally, there
was a need for greater transparency on the side
of the investors which was provided by the closer
engagement through being involved in the
accelerator or incubator process.
Panellists concluded that the developing
markets in Africa and Asia were good areas for
investment, alongside edtech, and health tech
as mentioned. The question remained however,
would edtech generate the same returns as the
gaming or ecommerce?
consideration, and that is the expansion abroad.
Israel has a small domestic market and often the
strategies for expansion there are not appropriate
for wider growth. That is where Orange comes
in, we have the expertise on an international
level to allow these companies to maximise their
impact and return on investment.
There is a real need for companies to ensure they
do bridge the culture gap – not just in terms of
around the office – but as international firms.
Orange has a track record of developing new
technologies and presenting them on a global
stage, tailoring their use in each relevant market
and maximising the potential. This can be very
difficult for new technologies, especially from
smaller countries such as Israel.
IBR: And finally, what would you say to a young
Israeli entrepreneur? What is the top area to
explore when seeking that next start-up idea.
NB: We are focussing our growth on
technologies that deal with cyber security for
sure, and also optimisation and Big Data and
analysis technologies are important. As we are
hearing today at Innovate Israel, the future of
advertising especially is all about personalisation,
and there is a need for the technologies to best
enable that.
IBR: That is interesting, so you are saying that
you know we all use our mobile devices, and
that we shop and play games etc. But you are
saying the area that still needs developing is the
ability to best secure that interaction, and allow
companies to best use the data gathered.
NB: Yes, that is right. This is the way forward
for expansion, and many Israeli start-ups here at
Innovate Israel are exactly aiming to do just that.
Jersey is growing and diversifying. We welcome propositions
from businesses engaged in high-value activity looking to move
their future global operations offshore.
✚
Pro-Business
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Low Taxation
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Quality of Life
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Independent government with
a strong and stable economy
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No corporate tax for nonfinancial services businesses
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An enviable work-life balance
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Robust yet pragmatic approach
to regulation
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10% corporate tax for
financial services businesses
Strong sense of community with
an international outlook
n
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Proactive support for inward
investment with aftercare
n
No capital gains tax
Beautiful island setting with stunning
beaches, coast and countryside
n
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Jersey ranks as the top
offshore finance centre in
four independent reviews
No inheritance tax
n
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Low personal tax rates
Extensive leisure and sporting
opportunities with an outdoor focus
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Low stamp duty on property
Excellent, modern services in
education and healthcare
locatejersey.com
Locate Jersey provides free advice and support to you and your business
in relocating to Jersey. Please contact Wayne Gallichan, Director, Inward
Investment and International Trade Development: w.gallichan@gov.je
3457 Post Innovate Israel Report1 1
12/12/13 10:31:14

6. A word from our
partners:
MAZARS
level 39
Innovate Israel:
Destination
London
your international partner
Mazars is a global partnership providing audit, tax and
advisory services to clients in more than 70 countries.
Our integrated partnership enables us to offer local
expertise, coordinated at a local or global level.
We draw on the expertise of more than 13,500
professionals worldwide to assist listed companies,
major international groups, SMEs and entrepreneurs
at every stage of their development.
Eric Van Der Kleij,
CEO
Level 39
After another successful Innovate Israel conference, now is a good
time to reflect on how Israeli companies can take advantage of
London’s tech boom.
In the past, Israel’s leading TMT firms would
often choose to list on the Nasdaq as habitually
the most progressive and disruptive Israeli tech
companies would head straight to the USA when
the time came for super-growth, A-Rounds and
possible IPOs.
This procedure sentenced founders and their
development teams to years of nocturnal
Stateside engagement in preparation for
the big move. This well-trodden route was
becoming extremely common, until London
seriously began to establish itself as a major
tech location, capable of supporting high growth
companies.Israel is home to one of the world’s
most well developed and exciting technology
hubs, with home-grown technology companies
intermingling with global brands to lead
thinking in many tech industries. You will be
familiar with the statistic that Israel produces
more startups per-capita than any other nation in
the world, this impressive stat demonstrates the
entrepreneurial predilection and technological
literacy of the Israeli population, and the benefits
that nurturing a world-leading technology
ecosystem can have to a nation’s economy.
These are all contributory factors to the strong
international reputation, market-position and
industry caché that Israel’s tech scene has gained.
The UK can undoubtedly rival the USA as a place
where aspirational fintech companies come to
grow. London has a strong financial legacy, and
a new focus and appetite for innovative finance
technologies. This has become apparent at
Level39, as the established banks are showing
a genuine interest in our efforts to help young
finance technology companies realise their highgrowth potential, by participating in accelerator
programmes and hackathons.
Additionally, with the launch of the Fintech Fifty
Watchlist, which shines alight on a very strong
pipeline of companies considering flotation on
the London Stock Exchange, London has just
become an even more interesting proposition for
ambitious tech companies that are innovating
in the financial services industry. When these
factors are added to London’s convenient timezone - which extends the working day for a tech
company with global aspirations to incorporate
conversations with Asia and the USA, and
allows for the easy-maintenance of an open
dialogue with Israel - London’s place as the global
destination for the growth of fintech is further
cemented.
In the UK, we operate out of 18 offices.
Whether you’re opening new offices, looking for a
merger partner or seeking investment opportunities
or funding, we can help. We support Israeli-based
companies with their UK growth plans and UK
companies with interests in Israel.
For more information about how we can support your
business, please contact:
Gavriel Lebens
T: +44(0)20 7063 5036
E: gavriel.lebens@mazars.co.uk
A word from
our partners:
mischon de reya
What Israeli
companies need
to know about
the EU’s data
protection law
Adam Rose,
Corporate Partner
Mishcon de Reya
www.mazars.co.uk
The European Union is moving closer to adopting new data
protection laws. Israel is one of a small number of countries which
the EU recognises as currently having suitably stringent data
protection laws.
But as European laws change, Israeli companies
will need to be aware of the impact this will have.
So, what does that mean in practice for Israeli
companies?
Adam Rose, Corporate Partner at independent
law firm, Mishcon de Reya highlights some of
the key proposals.
It means that those Israeli companies, even if
only based in Israel, that process data relating
to individuals based in the European Union,
will need to comply with the new EU minimum
standards; and those that provide services to
companies based within the European Union
will need to understand what obligations those
companies face. For example, if an Israeli
software company is looking to license its
software to an EU company, the EU company
will be seeking to ensure that the software
enables it to comply with the new rules. This
may require the data controller (EU company)
to erase personal data, to allow the individuals
to enforce their rights to know what data is held
about them, and to enable the individual to move
their data to an alternative provider.
Introduction of significantly increased fines for
breaching the new law of up to 100 million or 5%
of annual worldwide turnover.
Organisations based outside of the EU which
provide services to consumers inside the
EU – such as cloud providers, for example –
will be expected to comply with the new law
(regardless of whether they are data controllers
or providing processing services for controllers)
requiring individuals to give their consent to
data processing, where that data processing is
not strictly needed for the services being sought
by a consumer, won’t count as being freely given
new rules will govern the handling of a range
of personal data, including pseudonymous data
and encrypted data existing adequacy findings
(such as those applicable to Israel) will need to be
reapplied for after 5 years.
The new rules are now expected to be passed into
law in 2015, and will come into force in 2017.
Companies working in or with EU member
states should begin preparations now to ensure
they comply.

7. A word from our
partners:
etoro
social trading
Innovation is probably one of the most overused words of our time.
Especially in a country that is well known for being a “start-up
nation”, being innovative is almost mandatory.
However, there are two major types of innovation
we feel need to be distinguished here. The
first type of innovation is the kind that makes
the ordinary that much better and enables
technology to make our lives simpler, easier and
more connected.
The second type belongs to the innovation that
knows no borders. It is limitless and concerns
itself with disrupting the status quo and shaking
our belief systems. This kind of innovation
has a vision, is revolutionary, and enables us to
discover something we never thought could exist.
Yoni Assia,
CEO
eToro
However, there is also a third type of innovation.
It is a combination of the previous two as this
type of innovation takes something we think we
know and breaks it down into pieces. The result
is the creation of something completely new and
unfathomable.
This type of innovation is what eToro is
all about.
We all grew up believing that the financial world
is a given fact of life and that we shouldn’t hope
to have any sort of control over our financial
future. We are taught that the complicated
stuff should just be left to the guys in suits and
they’ll take care of us while also taking care of
themselves, of course.
Well, as we all know by now, that pipe dream
has been proven wrong in ways we couldn’t
anticipate. Therefore, the solution would have to
be something completely new that we could not
imagine as well. That is, connecting the social
revolution to this secretive world of finance in
order to transform it into something that was
never seen before- an open, transparent, equal,
and of course global community of people that
believe it’s time for a change in the financial
echo-system.
And sometimes, knowing that you need a change
is the only step you need to take to create it.. with
3 million users, almost a 100M trades executed
in the system to date, and thousands of new
users joining us every day, we can safely say that
the change is already here.
What will you do about it? Well, that’s entirely
up to you.
A word from our
partners:
JT Labs
Island innovators
Mark Stutchfield,
Head of Strategy Innovation
JT Labs
You wouldn’t necessarily expect a telecommunications company from
an island measuring just nine-miles-by-five to be installing an awardwinning fibre-optic network that will connect 45,000 premises by 2016,
to become the fastest ubiquitous fibre network in the western world.
You probably wouldn’t expect it to be hosting
world leading technology companies from
around the world at its revolutionary ‘JT Lab’
test bed facility either, or at the forefront in
the Machine-to-Machine market and you may
not even expect the CEO of a publicly-owned
organisation from an island of fewer than 100,000
people to be speaking at prestigious Silicon Valley
conferences.
It’s the fact that you wouldn’t expect all of
those things from a company like JT that make
them possible, because the truth is that there
aren’t many Tier 1 telcos like JT at all. Being
small makes us quicker to adapt, more agile and
therefore able to innovate – all key factors in the
modern telecommunications industry, especially
when you have the vision to see the opportunities
all around you.
JT’s size is one asset; its location is another.
Based in the Channel Island of Jersey, off the
south coast of England, we are 20 milliseconds
away from the UK and mainland Europe – but
we’re not bound by UK or EU legislation. The
Island is English-speaking and is best-known
for its world-leading international offshore
finance industry, which has spawned a strong
professional services sector – there’s also a new
government agency, Digital Jersey, backing
tech innovation and seeking to develop this
growing new strand to Jersey’s economy.
However, it’s the fibre-to-the-home network
that makes JT and JT Lab stand out. JT Lab
provides companies with the opportunity to
test, research, develop and launch products
on a real network, on real customers and in
real time. We’ve been in talks with some of the
leading software and hardware firms in the
world about trying out their new products and
services in our unique testing facility, which is
currently already being used by a world-leading
hardware company and a top Israeli internetsecurity firm. This is all down to our agility
– for some major global players, arranging and
carrying out testing can take months or years,
our size means that we can make that happen
in a timescale that better fits the fast-moving
modern telecommunications sector.
Whatever the future trends and new product/
sector innovations may be, for all areas of
telecommunications whether it be fibre,
mobile and the Machine-to-Machine markets,
JT is perfectly placed for them. Our vision
is to become the partner of choice for global
telecommunications innovation which we will
deliver through unique propositions such as JT
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8. an interview with:
yossi Vardi
high-tech
entrepreneur
When he went eventually back to the private
sector, he continued to take on high-profile tasks
for the government, including roles in the region’s
peace negotiations. But he also began his series of
investments in high-tech companies— funding
young entrepreneurs and growing businesses
such as Answers.com, Foxytunes and Starnet.
‘I shifted from creating and running my own
companies to funding and empowering young
people,’ he says. ‘This is a common pattern with
entrepreneurs: having realised some financial
gains from their successful businesses, they
become angel investors to invest their money
while continuing to be involved in start-ups.
‘As I expanded my portfolio, I found that I had
much less time for each company. But I could
still meet the needs of entrepreneurs who require
funding at the most risky stage of their young
businesses. Institutional investors are unwilling
to invest at this point because of what they believe
are their fiduciary duties to avoid risk. Personally
I think they should be investing to fulfil their
fiduciary responsibilities, because although the
risks of investing seed capital are greater, the
rewards are higher.’
An article
taken from
Pictet Report
Summer 2013
The Israeli investor has founded and helped build
more than 60 high-tech companies since 1969,
in fields such as software, the internet and mobile
applications. He attributes Israel’s record of
innovation to its entrepreneurial ecosystem—and
an open culture of risk versus failure.
‘You are born with it, and it takes you over,’ he
says. ‘You wake up in the morning and you want
to start something new. Most people are hesitant
about diving into new territories, but some
are very curious. It can be manifested in many
ways, such as scientific research, geographical
discovery or architectural design. I belong to the
group of entrepreneurs who enjoy exploring new
business opportunities to see where they will go.
Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fall
flat on your face—but it is not a rational decision
like becoming a carpenter or a banker.’
Born in Tel Aviv in 1942, his interest in technology
and its applications began at high school. He
studied for a degree in industrial management
engineering at Technion, the Israel Institute of
Technology, going on to take a master’s and a
doctorate in operations research. At the age of
26, he and six partners co-founded Tekem, one of
Israel’s first software houses, with just USD 5000
of capital. The business was bought by a much
larger company and in 1970, he joined Israel’s
public service, as Director General of the Ministry
of Development—at the time, the youngest ever
appointed. He went on to hold a variety of senior
positions in state enterprises and in the US before
becoming first director-general of the Ministry of
Energy during the time when Israel discovered
and develop oilfields in the Gulf of Suez.
Over the last 20 years, Yossi Vardi has invested in
more than 60 businesses, many of which have
gone public or been acquired by large internet
companies such as Microsoft, Cisco and eBay.
He believes that such a large portfolio reduces
the risk of early-stage high-tech investments: ‘I
am investing in the whole industry, not single
companies. Unless you are prone to investing in
bad prospects, this reduces the risks. And since
I had a very strong belief 15 years ago that the
internet would grow fast, I decided to bet on the
whole industry.’
He regards his greatest investment success was in
grooming his children for adult life. His eldest son
Arik founded Mirabilis in 1996, which created
ICQ, the first instant messaging application
released to the web. Sold 19 months later to AOL
for USD400 million, it inspired a new generation
of young Israelis to start their own high-tech
companies.
‘He came to me with his three friends and needed
funding, so I invested some money—which
turned out to be my most successful business
investment. ICQ took off and was downloaded in
enormous numbers never seen before.’
Why is it that Israel has proved to be such a
successful economy for technological innovation?
Yossi Vardi says that a social ecosystem has
developed that brings together all the elements
needed for entrepreneurs, in much the same way
as California’s Silicon Valley does. It provides a
way for entrepreneurs, angels and investors to
interact through meetings and conferences, giving
the entrepreneurs confidence and putting them in
touch with role models. ‘Entrepreneurship is not
just about money: it is a state of mind,’ he adds.
‘School education, technology, army service,
higher education—all of these have provided the
fuel for Israel’s high-tech innovation. But they are
not enough without an ignition system, and the
spark plug has been the entrepreneurial spirit, a
state of mind manifested in the history of Israel
over the last hundred years. For the Jewish people
to leave the places where they lived to come here
was a huge start-up: Theodore Hertzl arrived with
the business plan that all entrepreneurs need to
win backing; and the early settlers built cities,
farms, industries, defence capabilities, homes—
establishing smuggling routes when the British
blocked Jewish immigration.’
Israel is, of course, a small country with less
than 8 million people, compared with the 300
million in the US. Despite its record of creating
high-tech start-ups, its size and distance from
the largest markets makes it hard to scale up its
operations. ‘We cannot launch an armada, so we
practise “commando entrepreneurship”,’ says
Yossi Vardi. ‘Then we create alliances with the
largest companies which are always searching for
innovations—we become their long arm of RD.
As a result, we have been a leading country for
non-US listings on Nasdaq.’
He cites as an example Intel which is the biggest
foreign investor in Israel and the largest high-tech
employer. It has 8,500 staff in the country—
double the number Intel employs in Germany,
reflecting Israel’s strengths in internet sectors
such as cyber protection, data communications,
mobile, video and e-commerce. As with hightech centres such as Silicon Valley, Boston,
Texas and Cambridge in the UK, the small size
of Israel creates a high-tech hub where all the
entrepreneurs and early-stage financiers are in
constant touch. ‘Compactness is an advantage,’ as
he puts it.
There is also strong government support across
political lines. With the workforce and close to
40 per cent of exports, there is extensive public
funding which mitigates risk for investors. And
governments of all colours work to reduce barriers
to success by cutting red tape and negotiating
free-trade agreements with Israel’s main export
markets.
‘I always brag that over the
last 16 years I have had
22 very nice exits from the
companies I have invested
in, some of them fantastic.
But I always admit that
I had 27 failures, which
led to the entrepreneurs
closing 27 companies. If
you are not willing to take
these losses, you won’t be
able to invest.’
It is important, he adds, to remember that the risks
are much greater for the young entrepreneur than
for the investors. ‘Unless you are totally stupid,
you invest only part of your portfolio in a single
venture, and your funds can always be replenished.
But a guy of 26 who spends three years in trying
to create a start-up which fails has lost those three
years forever. I always tell the entrepreneurs who
have failed not to worry about me: I can recover.
I urge them to go and try again and don’t let the
experience of failure paralyse them.’
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9. Thank you to
all our partners
and our
israeli delegation