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As we reflect back on an exciting 2021, it’s clear to see that it was a record-breaking year for Israel and its startup and tech industry. Viola Group’s 2021 End of Year Report highlights some of the achievements of Israel’s tech ecosystem.
The oldest way to learn tech is pursuing an academic degree in a college or university. While three to four year academic degrees are profound and desired, this path is no longer the only one to enter the world of technology!
Additionally, the material taught in academic institutions is sometimes outdated or focuses on theoretical concepts. As the industry advances in programming languages and software tools at an astounding pace, higher education institutions are not moving as fast in adapting their courses and matching them to industry needs. When transitioning into the tech world, fresh college graduates should make sure to get additional dedicated training in practical coding and readily usable technical skills.
Finally, having an academic degree is no longer required in today’s job market. Employers prefer hands-on experience over degrees. Nowadays, bachelor’s degrees or diplomas no longer guarantee employment.
A “unicorn” is tech slang for a startup whose valuation is over $1 billion. Israel, the Startup Nation, is one of the unicorn capitals of the world. In 2021 alone, 48 new unicorns emerged in Israel. Israel, a country of 9 million people, has surpassed much larger countries, such as the United Kingdom, India, and China! If you think about it, Israel now also has the world’s highest unicorn per capita ratio!
Source: Viola Group
Israel’s tech ecosystems bounced back from a challenging year in 2020, with more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings (IPOs). 153 M&As occurred in 2021, with startups such as Guardicore (cybersecurity), Chorus (Sales AI), and Epsagon (application monitoring) being acquired for over US$500M each.
Israeli companies led 25 IPOs in stock exchanges (mostly NASDAQ and NYSE), which had a combined market cap of US$84Bn, 9 times higher than 2020! Among the startups that IPOed are known brands and tools such as ironSource, SentinelOne, and monday.com.
Some of the top Israeli IPOs of 2021 (Source: NoCamels)
Israel has been a force in the global technology space for many decades, and 2021 has signified its increasing strength. The technology expertise, entrepreneurial mindset, and constant innovation coming out of Israel make it a guiding light for tech ecosystems and startups across the world.
With Wawiwa Tech, you can bring the Israeli tech know-how to your ecosystem. We work with partners around the world to open tech training centers and offer tech training programs that reskill and upskill people to tech professions in high demand, including Software Developers, Cybersecurity Analysts, and many more.
We would help you implement training methodologies, developed and perfected in Israel over the past few decades, to reskill people with no experience into tech jobs in a matter of months. Together, we can help you play an active role in reskilling your local ecosystem to tech and closing the tech skills shortage in your country!
You can read more insights about the Israeli tech ecosystem in 2021 in the Viola report:
https://www.viola-group.com/violanotes/breaking-records-in-a-records-break-year/