Where is Israel? (Maybe in Europe...)

On Friday I participated in a panel at the AlwaysOn Venture Summit. I am a big fan of the Always On Conferences (Stanford Summit is a must-attend event). I took part in a panel called "Why Invest in Europe & Israel". I thought we had a very good discussion as Paul Deninger was an excellent moderator, asking tough, yet interesting questions. His best one: "Here is your opportunity to bash the United States. Go for it". What a great moment – a legitimate opportunity to promote one thing at the expense of another…

Through my participation in the panel I learned a few things about the VC Scene in Europe. This was especially relevant as I am currently in Paris, getting ready for the Le Web Conference. The 3 main takeaways:

1. Europe is also seeing an increase in the number of serial entrepreneurs (Although not as much as in Israel).
2. The amount of $$ spent online in Europe is larger than the US, and is growing at a faster pace.
3. It seems that that VCs can invest in companies that will focus on a single European market (Germany or UK) and still become very substantial (I wish that was true in Israel as well).

Talking about Israel, I was a bit out of place on that panel. All the panel members came from Europe, and the discussion was mostly about the various opportunities across the European nations. The reason I was on the panel was quite obvious. On one hand, Israel cannot be ignored. On the other hand, there is no real natural fit for Israel (China? America? Middle East? Maybe in 20 years, when peace will be established...)

As a country with such great activity ($2Bn invested in Israel per year, compared to $6bn in all of Europe). With such a unique culture (probably different than all the other regions), we probably deserve our own dedicated panel. I am sure there enough investors (VCs and LPs) out there that will be interested to hear (and debate) about Israel.

Comments

[Olivier F]

a good restaurant near le Web 3 : le garage 138 av du President Wilson in la plaine St denis (ask For Fadi mentionning his cousin Olivier)