Not for nothing is Israel the #2 startup ecosystem in the world: it has more high-tech startups and a larger venture capital industry per capita than any other country. Silicon Wadi has become a world leader in startup success, and its numerous achievements have not gone unnoticed by the global community.
Over the last month, Israeli startups have received a lot of recognition for their innovative accomplishments — from prestigious awards to competitions, and from top ranking entrepreneurs to international reports — in a variety of fields and in the broader startup ecosystem. These recent achievements reflect what turned out to be a stellar year for the Startup Nation in terms of investments, M&As, and technological breakthroughs.
Here is a quick recap of some notable awards, influencers, technologies, and more from the past month:
Eight Israeli companies included on KPMG/H2Ventures ‘2015 Fintech 100 List’
Investment firm H2 Ventures and KPMG recently published its second annual Fintech 100 report, spotlighting the leading global Fintech innovators. This list featured eight Israeli companies considered some of the most exciting startups reshaping financial services industry: OurCrowd, its portfolio company BioCatch, eToro, BLender, Colu, Credit Hood, Credorax, and Personetics.
OurCrowd was voted the 10th most innovative Fintech company worldwide, the sole crowdfunding platform and the only Israeli company named among the top ten listed. This represents a significant leap from last year, when OurCrowd was ranked #22.
The 100 most influential people in Israeli high-tech in 2015
Leading Israeli tech blog, Geektime, identified and mapped key figures in Startup Nation, producing a list of the 100 most influential people in the world of Israeli startups in 2015.
The list features various entrepreneurs, investors, founders, journalists, and startup professionals who are shaping Israeli high-tech, including our very own CEO, Jon Medved, portfolio company reps Hillel Fuld (Zula) and Eyal Gura (Zebra Medical Vision), and OurCrowd’s Israeli outside council, Barry Levenfeld.
See the full list here.
3 Israeli startups on Mashable’s 100 best iPhone apps
Three Israeli-made apps — Waze, Meerkat, and Yo – were ranked on Mashable’s 100 best iPhone apps of all time.
Navigation application Waze was impressively ranked as 22nd, Israeli-American video-streaming app Meerkat as 86th, and Moshe Hogeg’s trend-setter ‘dumb’ app ranked 91st place on the list.
The future of Israeli innovation
As 2015 comes to a close, the general expectation of Israeli startups continues – their success will carry on straight through 2016. Hundreds of new Israeli technologies, inventions, and initiatives are launching into the market right now and OurCrowd has ringside seats for watching what’s trending and uncovering some of the strongest investment opportunities the Startup Nation has to offer.
