Mapping out the Startup Nation: The 12 most popular Tech Hubs in Israel

Israel has been recognized globally for some time now as a leading hub for innovation and technology, with many ranking the startup nation second only to Silicon Valley. Indeed, the startup scene is spread across the whole country! Here’s a quick overview of the 12 most popular tech hubs in Israel:

Viola-Notes
Created by Viola-Notes (User Generated Content*)User Generated Content is not posted by anyone affiliated with, or on behalf of, Playbuzz.com.
On Dec 11, 2015
2

Tel Aviv: Rothschild Boulevard

The mother of all that’s cool, the area in and around Rothschild Boulevard is now THE place to be, and is especially popular with consumer companies and young entrepreneurs. A little bit like SOMA in San Francisco, Rothschild is attracting startups, VC funds, and even larger companies like eBay and Facebook.

3

Tel Aviv: Ramat Hachayal

The older brother of cool Rothschild Bouldevard, Ramat Hachayal is more like a tech park. In some ways, if Rothschild is San Francisco, Ramat Hachayal is San Mateo. The tech concentration in this area is high (and growing), but the crowd is a bit older.

4

Tel Aviv: Train Station/Ramat Gan/”Bursa” area

If Ramat Hachayal is the older brother of Rothschild, then the train station (right next to a tech hub surrounding Israel's Diamond Exchange, also known in Hebrew as the "Bursa") - is the step brother. It’s closer to the center of Tel Aviv than Ramat Hachayal, so it’s a lot more relevant to people coming from the north & south. In some ways, it makes sense that Facebook is in Rothschild, but Google is near the train station.

5

Herzliya

The grandmother of Israel's high-tech scene, Herzliya was already a high-tech park back in the late 80s and is still very relevant. It’s home to many of Israel's VCs, including veteran VCs like us (wiser thanks to our many years of experience but still young at heart!). As expected, it’s also home to some of the bigger, more established tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, and EMC.

6

Netanya

Combined with Yakum, this hub is attractive to those who live in the Sharon area of Israel (situated between the center and the north of the country) and there are many startups here. Unfortunately despite being convenient, the Netanya hub has very little style. After all, how much style can you expect at a city that’s also home to IKEA? Still, what the area lacks in style, some of the startups make up for with awesomeness, including our own Outbrain.

7

Caesarea

A small high-tech park, mostly hosting hardware and medical companies, with a unique representation of the very cool Nielsen incubator. Probably a source of innovation 3,000 years ago, it’s a small park, but still worth a mention.

8

Haifa

Haifa is a real high-tech mystery. On one hand, it has it all: A great tech university (the Technion), a nice tech park (Matam), big tech corporations (Qualcomm, Intel, Microsoft and even Google), plus it’s a truly beautiful area, yet very few companies sit in Haifa. Someone needs to think of how to put Haifa on the startup map. Definitely a missed opportunity.

9

Petah Tikva

This rather large tech hub about half an hour to an hour from Tel-Aviv (depending on the traffic) is home to many startups, but sadly it has zero ‘coolness’. Perhaps the only thing to recommend it is that it’s a cheaper alternative to Tel-Aviv.

10

Rehovot

Close to the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot used to be primarily a biotech/medical hub, but it has emerged as a place for some cool innovations, both in printing (Stratasys, Landa Labs) and even consumer products (Moovit, Conduit). Probably underrated, it’s a place with real creativity.

11

Yokne'am

Representing the north, Yokne'am is the most important tech park in the northern part of Israel, hosting many medical companies (Given Imaging), and semiconductor companies (Mellanox).

12

Be'er Sheva (a.k.a. Beersheba)

The new kid on the block, Beer Sheva is a great example of how government can incentivize and build a high-tech scene. A few years ago, Beer Sheva had very few companies, but it’s now considered the cyber security capital of Israel. Amazing how it has become a must-stop for any Startup Nation tour.

13

Jerusalem

Last but not least, Jerusalem is always the up-and-coming tech hub of... next year. There has always been technology in Jersualem, but not enough great startups have emerged from there. Maybe the new MassChallenge opening will make a difference, or maybe our own portfolio company Lightricks will do the trick ;)

These are 10 of the World CRAZIEST Ice Cream Flavors
Created by Tal Garner
On Nov 18, 2021