Israel, the Startup Nation, has more startups per capita than any nation in the world thanks to its tight-knit entrepreneurial community, impressive R&D capabilities, educated population, and strong government support. Tel Aviv is the heart of this red-hot ecosystem, with a significant majority of the country’s tech ventures concentrated within its greater metropolitan area, and nearly 3,000 within the city limits. Startup Genome ranked Tel Aviv #2 in the 2021 GSER: Cleantech Edition and #4 in its GSER: Agtech and New Food Edition.

Tel Aviv’s startups have together been valued at $120 billion. The city’s startups raised a record-breaking $20 billion in 2021 — a whopping 63% of the national total. The same year, Tel Aviv gained 30 new unicorns, and 20 of its scaling companies went public, raising $4 billion. With hundreds of active investors and venture capital funds in the country’s central region, the message is clear: watch this space.

Diverse Multinationals including Volkswagon, Anheuser-Bosch, Apple, Citibank, and over 130 others have established innovation centers in Tel Aviv. In addition to the high concentration of talent, the companies enjoy over 30 different grants and tax incentive programs for R&D activity, including conditional grants, reduced tax rates, tax exemption, and other tax-related benefits offered by the state.   Overall, Israel is ranked #2 in the world in R&D expenditure per capita. Israel invests about 4.1% of its GDP in R&D, twice the OECD average.

In January 2022, Israel launched a $70 million program to promote entrepreneurship among Arab communities, and is advancing numerous initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion.