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Edmonton Jewish News
Five predictions about investment in Israeli tech for 2019 By Abigail Klein Leichman (ISRAELl21c) – Israeli innovations in AI, medical cannabis, blockchain and advanced manufacturing will be among the hot sectors in 2019. Israel21C asked Haggai Ravid, CEO of investment house Cukierman & Co., headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in London, Paris, Lausanne, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Changzhou, Singapore, Italy and Poland: What are the key trends in investments in Israeli high-tech for 2019? “The main differences between 2018 and 2019 will be the sectors of interest to investors,” replied Ravid. “We believe certain sectors will go out of vogue and other sectors will become trendy. For instance, the hype around crypto and digital could be replaced by the cannabis trend. Deep-tech, cybersecurity and fintech are big in Israel too. “It’s not always about the new technologies being developed; it’s also about innovation.” Prediction #1: US will be in an M&A mood Ravid predicts that the United States will remain the main source of investment in Israeli companies as it has been for the past 50 years. But he also sees a growing preference for merger-andacquisition transactions with Israeli companies. “The trend of listings of Israeli companies on Nasdaq will continue, with emphasis on mature companies,” he says. Prediction #2: Shift from Europe to Far East The European market will remain important to Israel but the level of investment will depend on the pace of economic recovery. “The Europeans are very interested in the fields of water, automotive, life sciences, cybersecurity and more,” says Ravid. “The low valuations of Israeli startups versus their counterparts in the US and Europe also encourage European investors to invest in Israeli technologies in a variety of fields.” However, as many European countries struggle to recover from an economic downturn, Israeli entrepreneurs are increasingly looking in the direction of huge markets and funding sources in the Far East – especially Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan, Ravid says. Prediction #3: Israel could be US-China investment bridge There’s a good reason why Jack Ma, chairman and founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, visited Israel twice in 2018. “In Israel, innovation is everywhere, like water and food, it’s so natural,” Ma declared at the October Prime Minister’s Innovation Summit in Tel Aviv. While the number of Chinese investments in Israeli venture capital funds has declined overall since 2014, Tel
January 28, 2019
Trudeau condemns the BDS Movement
Aviv-based IVC Research Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently Center reports Chinese reaffirmed his condemnation of the Boycott, investment activity in Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Israeli tech startups "I will continue to condemn the BDS movement," increased over the past two Trudeau said during a town hall at Brock University years, mainly in software and life-science companies. in St. Catharines on January 15, 2019. In 2018, Chinese The movement, a focus of debate on many investors participated in six university and college campuses, calls for economic of the 17 largest funding boycotts of Israel's goods and services over its deals in Israel. For example, treatment of Palestinians. China Minsheng Financial Trudeau said the anti-Semitism that was Prime Minister Justin invested $100 million in commonplace decades ago still exists, as evidenced by Trudeau Israeli social trading hate crimes against Jewish Canadians. company eToro. "We need to understand, as well, that anti-Semitism has also manifested itself In June, more than 500 not just as in targeting of individuals, but it is also targeting a new condemnation Chinese investors had 800 one-on-one meetings with or an anti-Semitism against the very state of Israel," he said. 100 Israeli entrepreneurs at “It’s not right to discriminate or to make someone feel unsafe on campus the annual Goforbecause of their religion, and unfortunately the BDS movement is often linked to Israel conference initiated those kinds of frames,” he said. by Cukierman & Co. with The prime minister added that Canada must be very careful "not to sanction Catalyst CEL Fund in this new frame around anti-Semitism and undue criticism of Israel." Foshan. Results of these meetings included MicroPort "When you have movements like BDS that single out Israel, that seek to of Shanghai becoming the delegitimize and in some cases demonize, when you have students on campus lead investor in a September dealing with things like Israel apartheid weeks that make them fearful of funding round for Valcare actually attending campus events because of their religion in Canada, we have Medical of Herzliya Pituah. to recognize that there are things that aren't acceptable, not because of foreign Ravid says he is policy concerns but because of Canadian values," Trudeau said. cautiously optimistic about 2019. He cites the “trade mix. war” between China and the United States as one of the “This sector’s vital signs are positive: AI capital raising possible drivers. has grown significantly since 2013, both in the number of “Israel may be used as the ‘investment bridge’ between deals and amounts. AI exits in the first half of 2018 were China and the United States, and therefore there will be higher than for all of 2017,” IVC reports. more interest from the Chinese side to invest in Israeli IVC names Outbrain, Gong.io, Twiggle, Lemonade, technologies. The question is whether deals will be allowed to Mobileye and Gett as the Israeli companies that have raised move forward based on free-market forces.” the most money in the AI sector. Ravid expects to see more Israeli companies following in Medical cannabis will continue to attract investment in the footsteps of Alma Lasers, which was acquired by China’s Israel. Ravid pinpoints Canada, one of the largest cannabis Fosun Pharmaceuticals in 2013 and listed on the Hong Kong exporters in the world, as one of the countries most Stock Exchange in 2017. interested in Israeli technologies related to growth, He says the Chinese are most interested in medicine, development and distribution of the herb. advanced production, automation and robotics — fields in And despite the decline in the value of Bitcoin, the which Israeli startups are considered outstanding. demand for blockchain technologies will continue to grow, Prediction #4: Cannabis, AI, blockchain hot for 2019 predicts Ravid. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) Prediction #5: Africa could be the new China technologies for sectors such as automotive, finance, real Israel has growing ties in emerging markets such as estate, transportation and advanced manufacturing will be Africa and Brazil. high on investors’ lists in 2019, he adds. “In the emerging markets, Africa is becoming an According to IVC Research, AI is one of the biggest trends attractive target and now has significant drive,” says Ravid. in Israeli high-tech. More than 1,200 AI companies have In Latin America, he says, Israeli agri-tech and clean-tech been established in Israel since 2010, of which 79% are still active and 6% have been acquired. Data science and technologies are in increasing demand for agriculture and chatbots/robotic assistants are increasingly part of the AI water management. “The close tie between Israel and Brazil is expected to encourage investment in Israeli high-tech, and early initiatives in the field are already gaining momentum. For example, the annual Spin Summit investment conference was held in Sao Paulo, and for the first time, Israeli startups presented themselves to funds from Brazil and the US.”