Red Herring’s latest issue reports that the VC market is burning hot in Israel, with many technology companies being funded.

How hot is Israel? So hot Lehman Brothers’ Tel Aviv office did six deals in less than two weeks in April—so hot, in fact, Lehman has to add three more investment bankers to the 10 it already has on deck. The tiny Middle Eastern country, with a population smaller than Manhattan’s, has become a global player in innovation, thanks to its thriving venture capital scene and many home-grown startups. There are now 75 Israeli companies listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq—more listings than any other foreign country but Canada. What’s more, Israel is in a better position now than it was in the tech boom as IT company valuations are more closely tied to fundamentals, the country is less dependent on U.S. venture money, and it has a wider range of tech strengths. Among those growing strengths include medical technology, biotech, and nanotech. But the country hasn’t lost its edge in security and the Internet, either, with a bevy of startups attracting VC investment by focusing on next-generation web applications. Find out more about why Israel is such a happening place for VCs and startups alike in this week’s Red Herring cover story, “The Stars of David,” on newsstands Monday.

Maybe instead of discussing the Orthodox-secular rift we should be focusing on technology?

Hat tip to Ynet.

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themiddle

4 Comments

  • “The tiny Middle Eastern country, with a population smaller than Manhattan’s”

    Err, no. Don’t these magazines have fact checkers? Manhattan has about 1.5M residents. Israel has 6.2M. Which is more?

  • I don’t know if it’s true at the moment, but in recent years Israeli startups have received more VC funding than all of continental Europe *put* *together*!

  • Israelis are good at innovation (aka, pulling stuff out of their asses — albeit sometimes really really good stuff like voice mail and firewalls) but not good at development or marketing.