International corporations have become key players in investing in Israeli startups, according to entrepreneur and investor Ed Frank, founder of Axis Innovation. That’s why Frank organized Axis Tel Aviv: Corporate Edition, an event at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that drew together over 25 investors of global Corporate VC – including Ford Motors, Kimberly-Clark, Master Card, Intel, Citi, Samsung, Deutsche Telekom –and 15 Israeli startup companies seeking funding.
“The large investments made throughout the year in startups were actually international corporations which have become key players in the industry,” said Frank, who specializes in forming relationships and support business opportunities between start-ups and Corporate VC’s. “Entrepreneurs who aim corporate investments must change the concept of ‘changing the world ‘- to a realistic vision, one that sees the complex mechanism of the corporation and its needs.”
According to Frank, there are significant differences between the investments of private venture capital to corporations’ investments. “Many VC’s are mainly looking for an exit,” said Frank. “However, they also examine the investment according the quality of startup technology and how it can serve their business objectives. Therefore, startups should change their approach accordingly.”
The startups each gave a five minute pitch about their technological developments in the areas of cyber, electronic commerce, mobile, digital media, Internet of Things (IoT), and healthcare.
“We are looking to identify Israeli startups who are interested in ‘getting in the car’ meaning extending their current native app use cases into a car friendly safe experience. My reason for participating in this event is not from a VC or investment perspective but rather in exploring new routes to market for applicable companies we at Ford may want to work with. The Connected Car is a hot topic at the moment and many companies are looking at ways they can take advantage of this which is where I come in,” said Scott Lyons, Business and Partner Development , Connected Services at Ford Motors.
“The event enabled reaching high potential start-ups within a short time and check out new opportunities to collaborate. We were definitely impressed with the level of participating companies, the dynamics of the event and the ability to work meetings for the future in a broad array of technological fields,” said Dov Yarkoni, VP of business development at Nielsen Innovate.