Israel’s economic mission in New York has launched a new initiative, in which Israeli executives in US technology, pharmaceuticals, banking, media, and venture capital companies will open doors and offer advice for new companies trying to break into the US market. The first meeting of this executives network with three recently founded companies was described by the participants as a great success.
The meeting was held in the Nixon Peabody LLC law firm, under the aegis of Nixon Peabody’s Israeli Business Team, headed by Mitchell C. Shelowitz. Israel Minister for Economic Affairs to North America Zohar Pery and Israel Economic Mission to North America director of high tech business development Roi Tzur are coordinating the program.
The three companies were Svivot Ltd., which develops and markets intelligence inference systems that analyze commonalities between groups for military and police intelligence units; Dynasec Ltd., develops platform that enables organizations to efficiently manage risk, governance and compliancy processes, such as under the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act; and Applicure Technologies Ltd., which has Internet security solutions.
The participating Israeli executives came from Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA), Integrated Device Technology (NYSE:IDT), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), SAP (NYSE; LSE: SAP; XETRA:SAPG), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX), Bank Hapoalim USA, VocalTec Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: VOCL), Giza, GlobalTech Research, and other companies.
Some executives declined to publicly reveal their identities.
Svivot VP Sam Roth said, “The executives willing to help are not people who have nothing else to do; they simply want to help. They not only shared their wisdom and experience with us, but also provided critical connections. They didn’t just tell us whom to approach; they opened the first doors.”
Another participant said doors were opened for Svivot to the New York Police Department and the Office of Homeland Security in Washington.
GlobalTech Research managing director Etan J. Ayalon said the forum was naturally limited, numbering 15 to 30 people at each meeting, where there was group pressure and an effort to talk in a practical way. This was in contrast to investment conferences with hundreds of participants, where it is possible to avoid commitments to act. He said US consultancy firms charged tens of thousands of dollars for providing services of this kind, including retainers and expenses.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 12, 2005