18 Israeli firms rocking financial technology
There are more than 430 Israeli companies developing products for moving and protecting money in the digital age. ISRAEL21c takes a look at 18 making headlines
Fintech is strong and growing in Israel. Tzido Sun/Shutterstock.com
If it has been a long time since you’ve waited for a bank teller, called your stockbroker or mailed a check, you can thank financial technology (fintech). And much of that innovation in how we move and protect our money is coming from Israel.
If it has been a long time since you’ve waited for a bank teller, called your stockbroker or mailed a check, you can thank financial technology (fintech). And much of that innovation in how we move and protect our money is coming from Israel. According to The Floor fintech startup hub in Tel Aviv, at least 430 Israeli fintech companies are developing products for needs ranging from digital banking to fundraising.
Israel’s reputation in deep data science has lured some $650 million in venture capital for the fintech sector. Financial institutions including Citibank to Barclays have established innovation labs and accelerators in the startup nation.
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“Technology for financial institutions has to be extremely robust and that’s where Israel excels,” says Liat Aaronson, a partner in Marker, a Herzliya- and New York-based venture capital and growth equity firm.
“We’re far from the market and that makes it hard to do validation and proof of concept, but despite that, over the last few years we’re seeing more and more banks and other fintech players coming here to offer open innovation projects and scouting innovation in Israel.”
Here are 18 of many Israeli fintech companies changing the finance world:
Reading the description of these companies, I'm impressed with their creativity. (And I've never heard of any of them before!)
I don't use a smartphone because I'm just not that techno-adept. However, I have watched many (especially young) people using them to pay at restaurants and supermarkets. They call up a symbol and the store scans it with the bar-code scanner, and in that way they have paid the bill. The symbols look like this:
I sure as hell hope they don't stop using cash and bank card payment while I'm still alive.
I use a stupid phone, on purpose and I have had the same one for about 6 or 7 years. It makes and receives calls and takes really crappy pictures, so I don't take any with it. I think I can get onto the internet with it, but I'm not really sure and I don't know what I'd do if I could. I have it turned off nearly all of the time unless I am expecting a call from someone or want to make a call and turn it on to check for messages a couple times a day. If someone calls and they don't leave a message they don't get a call back and if I don't recognize the number they don't get a call back. Even the ringer on it is set to make the same ringing sound as a home phone.
My wife and I are thinking about getting new phones because ours have both been fading out lately (she has a smart phone, but uses her's like I use my stupid one), so maybe I'll actually use it for some other things.
The new Apple iphones cost about the equivalent of US$1.000 here. My very simple mobile phone has lots of features but uses a keypad, with a regular non-touch screen and no wifi, has a camera I don't use, and a built-in flashlight. I use it for making and receiving calls and text messages and it cost me the equivalent of US$40. Hardly anyone has a land line here.
The new Apple iphones cost about the equivalent of US$1.000 here.
I assume you mean $1,000 (one thousand dollars?).
Some people here want the latest features so they buy the latest model. But some buy older, previous models. They still have a lot of great features and are cheaper.
Some people used to buy Samsungs which were supposedly very good, but then they developped a problem-- some of them had batteries that caught fire!
There are also other brands of smart phones, but I'm not familiar with them.
I can't use Apple operating system, I need windows, so I have a Samsung laptop. I really like it (But I heard Samsung actually stopped making laptops! I guess with all the developments in cellphone tech logy, some people consider laptops to be obsolete).
I had a few Toshiba's for awhile through a few upgrades and I always liked them, but I accidentally spilled scotch on my last one, distressing me greatly. My wife was less then sympathetic. My wife had an older Acer (that she bought because she could get it in purple...not kidding) that I started to reset up as mine, but she bought me a new Dell laptop last year. It's a bizarre little machine that doesn't even have a CD/DVD drive of any kind. No slot on the side at all, so I bought on on Amazon for a few bucks. Besides I still have my old Dell desktop touch screen in my home office that has most of my important papers on (all backed up to a separate removable hard drive), but it is slow as hell and I don't have a TV in my office. In fact since I am retired I have no idea why I even HAVE a home office?.
I don't think I want something as fancy as an iphone. I have never been an Apple-phile who spends a lot more money to do things on an Apple computer that I can do on a much more inexpensive PC, so I don't see myself doing the same for a phone. Besides I still want something small enough that I can carry in the front pocket of my jeans like I can my current phone. Actually flip phone are making a big comeback here and I might get one of those. My current one slides open and has a Blackberry type keyboard on it. If I can get the something in a flip phone I'll be happy. My wife and I go out to breakfast or lunch and we see people take their phones out and actually set up a small cradle for them so they are angled up at them like a computer. I think that's just weird. I can't think of anything I want to do on a computer that can't wait until I get home.
What gets me is when I walk by the Starbucks where I live and see a boy and girl sitting at a table each looking into their own mobile phones. Back in my day we would be talking to each other. There have been lots of cartoons about that issue, like one of the grandchildren visiting their grandmother - she is sitting there looking at the kids, and all the kids are looking at their individual mobile phones.
I've noticed the same thing. I see people in a restaurant on Saturday night. Many aren't even relating to each other--they are busy with their phones. I imagine some are on a Saturday night date-- strange!
(Of course even if they are married couples-- or just friends-- why bother to go to a restaurant if you're not really "present"?).
I agree and some of them have really large phones or small tablets and I don't know how they put them in a pocket? I sometimes wonder if they're texting each other? My wife and I have a rule about our phones being turned off when we go anywhere together, even just grocery shopping and only have them for car break downs, flat tires, etc. and never ever when eating. If we're paying a small fortune to eat at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant I'm concentrating on the meal!
I agree and some of them have really large phones or small tablets and I don't know how they put them in a pocket?
I've seen some people not ever put them in a pocket-- they seem to always keep them in one hand! (At least the cellphones-- I imagine they have to put the tablets down on a surface from tie to time....?
Some people appear to have their cellphones in their hand-- and keep glancing at it-- from the time they leave their house 'till the time they return.
I can't use Apple operating system, I need windows, so I have a Samsung laptop. I really like it (But I heard Samsung actually stopped making laptops! I guess with all the developments in cellphone tech logy, some people consider laptops to be obsolete).