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VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

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Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#41
post #12
post #8

What the article misses is that London with roughly 1% of Europe's population get's 30-40% of the VC financing in Europe. So based on those figures London's VC per capita is in the region of $200-$300 (London has a similar population size to Israel).

What does that look like if we just do the valley?

The flipside of this is that Europe should probably not be compared to single countries like the US or Israel.

The comparable entities are North America, the Middle East and Europe. Then things would change.

Individual countries in Europe, particularly the Scandanavians, have loads of small IT companies funded from VC capital and as others have said government grants. The Dutch, the UK and Germany would probably also do reasonalbly well.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#42
post #25
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, an order of magnitude larger per capita than Israel, as expected. I wasn't aware of the 50% number and too lazy to Google it!

I don't think that's surprising is it? Silicon Valley is known to be the best place for VC in the world. I'm sure if you draw arbitrary lines around the hottest investment communities in Israel the numbers would also be much more even. That Israel as a country beats us in per capita investment is an interesting figure which we should all consider.

On the other hand the population of the bay area is quite comparable to that of Israel.

Smaller countries tend to have more specialized and targeted economies. If Israel were to attempt to play in all the industries that the US does, they would do very poorly at almost all of them.

Much of the US economy is in large established technology and manufacturing companies, where VC no longer has a role.

I would expect that for every possible region of Israel, it is possible to find a region of similar population in the bay area that has a higher per capita VC investment.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#43
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's surprising is it? Silicon Valley is known to be the best place for VC in the world. I'm sure if you draw arbitrary lines around the hottest investment communities in Israel the numbers would also be much more even. That Israel as a country beats us in per capita investment is an interesting figure which we should all consider.

On the other hand the population of the bay area is quite comparable to that of Israel. Smaller countries tend to have more specialized and targeted economies. If Israel were to attempt to play in all the industries that the US does, they would do very poorly at almost all of them. Much of the US economy is in large established technology and manufacturing companies, where VC no longer has a role. I would expect that…

But Silicon Valley is still far more specialized than Israel.

Most Israelis are not in hi-tech industries, so it is unfair to compare SV to Israel.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#44
post #27
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, an order of magnitude larger per capita than Israel, as expected. I wasn't aware of the 50% number and too lazy to Google it!

Well, what's the VC per capita for Haifa? Why do you think it's interesting to compare the area with the highest concentration of startups in the US to another entire country? Either compare country-to-country or highly concentrated startup area-to-highly concentrated startup area. I doubt there are more startups in Eilat than there are in Boise.

The number for the valley would be even higher if you just took the counties from San Jose to SF, and excluded all of the East Bay, Marin, etc.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#45
post #41
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that look like if we just do the valley?

The flipside of this is that Europe should probably not be compared to single countries like the US or Israel. The comparable entities are North America, the Middle East and Europe. Then things would change. Individual countries in Europe, particularly the Scandanavians, have loads of small IT companies funded from VC capital and as others have said government grants. The Dutch, the UK and Germany would probably also…

The comparable entities are North America, the Middle East and Europe. Then things would change. <-- No, here is why, if you're in Israel you have access to all that it has to offer, same for the US, and same for Europe (EU). The point is 'how much money is there to go around / potential recipient.'

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#46
post #19
post #8

What the article misses is that London with roughly 1% of Europe's population get's 30-40% of the VC financing in Europe. So based on those figures London's VC per capita is in the region of $200-$300 (London has a similar population size to Israel).

So what you're saying is that for the majority of cities in the UK the situation is even worse. Well, that makes me feel better.

London's the heart of the UK's economy. That's why businesses put their sales offices in London, while the real work is done cheaply elsewhere in the country.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume VC per capita is a used as a metric because it's a useful way of assessing how much economic value the whole country can extract from the startup scene, in the same way that GDP per capita is a more useful measurement than total GDP at assessing a country's quality of life. Israel may have a similar concentration of startup companies in a city (like Tel-Aviv) and the math would then work out to a higher per…

Actually the start ups in Israel are pretty spread out, the consequence of Tel Aviv's rent being high. Really high.

It's true that most of them are not in Tel Aviv, but they are far from being spread out - they are almost entirely within the a small section that includes Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Herzeliya, Natanya and the south end of Haifa - I guess that would cover 90% of Israeli startups (as well as established high tech companies), and about 15% of the Israeli population.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#48
post #6
post #3

I wonder how much of Israel's VC money is domestic and how much pours in from the US.

There's some info here but the relevant part seems garbled. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital_in_Israel#Chara... Israel’s venture capital industry has about 70 active venture capital funds, of which 14 international VCs with Israeli offices. Additionally, there are some 220 international funds, including Polaris Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Greylock Partners, that do not have branches in Israel, bu…

> Greylock Partners, that do not have branches in Israel

I'm not sure when that was last updated, but Greylock has had an active Israeli office for more than two years now.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#49
post #30
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, what's the VC per capita for Haifa? Why do you think it's interesting to compare the area with the highest concentration of startups in the US to another entire country? Either compare country-to-country or highly concentrated startup area-to-highly concentrated startup area. I doubt there are more startups in Eilat than there are in Boise.

What is the number for Haifa? I genuinely would like to know. Separately, I am not trying to be a valley-partisan, just noting that the number for silicon valley is much higher than for the country of Israel, as you would expect. I don't even live anywhere near the valley.

Yes, but it's a silly comparison. Israel has areas like the Valley too.

Re: VC per capita, Europe: $7, U.S.: $72, Israel: $144.

#50
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The flipside of this is that Europe should probably not be compared to single countries like the US or Israel. The comparable entities are North America, the Middle East and Europe. Then things would change. Individual countries in Europe, particularly the Scandanavians, have loads of small IT companies funded from VC capital and as others have said government grants. The Dutch, the UK and Germany would probably also…

The comparable entities are North America, the Middle East and Europe. Then things would change. <-- No, here is why, if you're in Israel you have access to all that it has to offer, same for the US, and same for Europe (EU). The point is 'how much money is there to go around / potential recipient.'

Europe is far less a single economic block than the US or Israel. An American VC is far more likely to invest in a London based startup than one in say Germany, purely because of cultural and language barriers.
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