![]() ![]() ![]() So when I met Micha Kaufman, the CEO and co-founder, for the first time, I offered to invest as part of the angel financing, however, they didn’t need the money just yet.įiverr’s spiking traffic was enough of a signal for us to keep a close eye on the company. The marketplace for $5 digital services had launched four months earlier and was already handling 45,000 monthly transactions. "If needed, we'll assess the situation and decide to do what's right for the company," Eilam added.In the summer of 2010, my then associate, Ophir Reshef sent me an Alexa chart of a little-known Internet company called Fiverr whose daily traffic was impossible to ignore. But he added: "I have a fiduciary responsibility to my shareholders." "I care very much about Israel," said Eilam, explaining the unease which prompted him to write to NICE's 8,500-strong workforce outlining his fears. Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges which he denies, was forced this week by the Supreme Court to sack the interior minister over a tax conviction.įor some of those running tech businesses in Israel the judicial reforms plans may have tipped the scales. There is also a deeper unease about the widening divisions between liberal Tel Aviv with its fast-paced style and plethora of tech start ups and the nationalist tone of the new government and its pro-settler and religious parties. Of that, $51 billion came between 20, with a record year of $26 billion in 2021.įisher said he worried a government that controlled the bench could defy world opinion, harm Israel's reputation abroad and make life less friendly at home for some. Since 2015, globally-oriented Israeli high-tech firms have raised some $77 billion, mostly from foreign investors. "We worked really, really hard so that Israel is considered a top place to invest and it's not because of any government policy, or tax treatment, it was the entrepreneurs themselves," said Adam Fisher, a partner at investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. ![]() In a country rife with divisions over the conflict with the Palestinians and matters of synagogue and state, Israel's tech sector has generally stayed out of sensitive political debates.īut for many in an industry that accounts for 15% of the country's overall economic output, 10% of its workforce, more than half of its exports and a quarter of its tax income, the judicial reform proposals have created palpable alarm. Israel's shekel, which weakened 1.1% against the dollar on Friday, is still 2.1% higher against the U.S. If people pull money then it's their loss, not ours", he said. "We are still building the best tech in the world. Hillel Fuld, a start-up marketing adviser, also dismissed the outcry as "unnecessary hysteria". "Nobody will harm intellectual property rights and the honouring of agreements, values which are sacred to us and which are the critical test," Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Netanyahu's administration says the overhaul is needed to rein in activist judges who it says have encroached into political decision making. "But now we're adding this reform which is ultimately emerging as harming democracy, that's a fatal blow." "Everybody knows Israel is never on safe ground because of the complicated diplomatic issues," Guez told Reuters. On Thursday, a day after Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed concerns that the proposals would harm the economy, Eynat Guez CEO of Papaya Global announced she was taking her payroll systems group's money out of Israel. "Implementation of such changes would clearly be negative for our assessment of the strength of institutions and governance, which we have so far considered to be a positive feature of Israel's sovereign credit profile," the reports said.įor Israel's tech companies, an independent legal system is crucial to protecting their main asset, intellectual property (IP), with some executives saying they may consider domiciling abroad as a result of the Netanyahu government's plans. It noted some of the proposed judicial changes that are now being discussed in parliament. 3 research report, published two days after Netanyahu's election victory. On Friday, Moody's credit rating agency pointed Reuters to its Nov. ![]()
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