JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel is known as the “Startup Nation,” but the number of companies launched there has dwindled in the past few years.
The Globes financial news website reported that the number of startups has decreased to 700 in 2017 from 1,000 in 2014, according to data from Startup Nation Central, an Israeli NGO. Meanwhile, the number of startup closures rose to 468 in 2016 from 221 in 2014. Last year, 408 startups were shut down.
Meir Valman, an analyst for Startup Nation Central, told Globes that he believed that many entrepreneurs were unable to obtain the necessary capital to open startups prior to 2014 due to the 2008 recession, but that year more capital began to become available.
However, despite the recovering economy, he believes there were fewer new companies in 2017 than in earlier years because “many of the good ideas already received financing and companies were founded, and the good entrepreneurs are active in the already existing companies.”
