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Tel Aviv (dpa) - European investments in Israeli start-ups were higher than ever in the past year despite the Corona crisis.
In 2020, 195 European sponsors invested the equivalent of more than one billion euros in start-up companies in Israel, according to an analysis by the market research company IVC Research Center.
That is almost four times as much as in 2015.
The figures were collected ahead of the “Europe Days” online conference taking place in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Initiator Gilli Cegla, an Israeli IT entrepreneur, sees several reasons for the steady increase in investments in the high-tech country and for the all-time high last year.
“These are processes that had already started and that were fruitful in 2020,” says Cegla.
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"Europe is under heavy commercial pressure from the US, for example Amazon is facing European retailers."
The pressure from China is also very high.
At the same time, digitization is advancing far too slowly in Europe.
This became even clearer during the Corona crisis.
"When it comes to digitization, Europe lags far behind in all sectors."
Israel, on the other hand, is known for its innovative strength and is therefore attractive for investors, says Cegla.
The small start-up nation of Israel with a good nine million inhabitants is considered to be very progressive in terms of digitization.
According to the information, particular investments have recently been made in cybersecurity, financial technology and the so-called Internet of Things.
The aim of the “Europe Days” is to promote European investments in Israel and to enable Israeli founders to make the leap to Europe.
It is specifically about expansion opportunities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH).
Participants at the conference include Telekom CEO Tim Höttges, Swiss investor Daniel Gutenberg and German founder and start-up investor Sebastian Pollok.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210315-99-828295 / 2
Europe Days 2021