A group of American health-tech investors with at least $25 billion of investment capital will be in Israel this week to connect with industry members and show their support for the Startup Nation.
The privately arranged mission, spearheaded by the chief business officer of a health-tech accelerator in New York together with a local business consultant, will take travelers to Start-Up Nation Central, to meet with Team8, AION Labs, and aMoon Fund, and to tours at hospitals and med-tech accelerators.
The group of about a dozen travelers arrives on Monday. It includes a documentary team, which will make a short film about how the country's health-tech industry is surviving and thriving in the shadow of October 7 and the Gaza war.
"Every soldier that is called to get back on his uniform needs to go, and every civilian who is not drafted needs to make sure that the economy, the society and every infrastructure in this country not only continues to survive but gets even stronger and flourishes," said Ido Hadari, owner of Hadari Consulting, who is helping to organize the missions. "I feel like it is a mitzvah to bring more and more businessmen and businesswomen to see how Israeli society is still alive and kicking" despite the war.
He said, "The world is very important for Israel, and Israel is very important to the world, especially in the field of innovation, and even more so in the field of healthcare innovation."
Israel is a leader in health-tech for these reasons
Firstly, Israel boasts one of the world's top-tier healthcare systems. Secondly, as early as 1993, Israeli healthcare began computerizing. This early adoption has been advantageous for developing technologies reliant on vast amounts of data, like AI and machine learning. Thirdly, Israeli companies can access this data anonymously, which includes around 150 million collective years of records or more.
Finally, most Israeli entrepreneurs first serve in the army, where they meet "amazing technology that they can then bring with them for civil implementation," Hadari said.
Since the war, Israel has been struggling to achieve international support. The mission hopes to take Israel's health-tech arena out of politics and showcase why it does not matter what is happening on the battlefield; it is always worth investing in Israel.
"This is not about whether you agree with Israel or not," said Adam Rosenwach, chief business officer for Deerfield Catalyst, a health-tech accelerator in New York. He helped arrange the mission. "This is about Israel being a really important place for health-tech, and we need to support it to make sure that it continues to exist."
He admitted that even before October 7, the investment community was nervous about investing in Israel because of the judicial reform protests.
"We want to show people that Israel is still working, pushing their companies forward, even during wartime," Rosenwach stressed.
Joe Mullings, chairman and CEO of Mullings Group Companies, also helped plan the mission and is bringing the documentary crew.
"The Israeli people have always had agility and perseverance regardless of what they have faced," Mullings said. "I think it is important that believers in the Israeli med-tech, health-tech, and life sciences ecosystems create a voice of strength and aggregate message – whether bankers, executives, venture capitalists, or owners.
Mullings said his own LinkedIn has 170,000 eyes on it daily, and he plans to disseminate the mini-documentary on that platform and elsewhere. He also believes that people will listen to what he and the other travelers say.
"We cannot let the spirit of innovation pause any longer than it should based on support for Israel," Mullings concluded.
The mission will run through end-of-day Wednesday.