Israeli tech companies face severe economic repercussions as Israel’s war with Hamas continues. In response, Geomatrix, an R&D company specializing in various sectors, has initiated “Startup Envelope,” a project which aims to mitigate the conflict’s economic fallout on the tech sector. It offers a comprehensive support package including equipment, facilities, human resources, and financial investments for affected startups based in the Gaza border area and throughout the country.
While Geomatrix has long been supporting startups, the outbreak of war on October 7 brought about new challenges, particularly a noticeable hesitancy among overseas investors to engage with Israeli startups due to geopolitical concerns.
“We saw that the overseas investors, VCs, angels and so on were afraid to invest in Israel now,” said Geomatrix Group founder Aviv Antebi. “They’re afraid that their investment will go up in smoke.”
The important roles of investors
Geomatrix recognized the pivotal role investors play in sustaining the tech industry and is actively forming a network of both Israeli and international investors willing to provide financial backing for startups facing challenges.
“We’re making a global call to investors everywhere — not just Israel — to bring new blood to Israel, and explaining that now is an opportunity for investors who were previously afraid to invest because the valuation of these Israeli companies was very high. Now there are lots of opportunities for them, so it’s a win-win situation for both sides,” Antebi explained.
Additionally, the initiative offers office spaces and access to equipment, such as labs and laser printers, at no cost. With many tech companies grappling with office closures, “Startup Envelope” is establishing offices and development labs in central Israel for startups from the southern and northern regions.
Addressing the pressing issue of a shortage of skilled manpower, Geomatrix is leveraging available personnel, including reserve duty veterans, to assist companies in need of engineers, software developers, hardware specialists, product designers, and more.
The initiative is not only focusing on immediate support but also aims to expedite product development and investments in critical sectors like security, medical equipment, and education. By facilitating a swift product development process, the organizers intend to contribute to the recovery efforts and make a lasting impact on Israel’s tech landscape.
“Once in a while there’s a big unicorn that sells and brings billions of dollars into Israel — in order to support that, we need to invest in good infrastructure,” Antebi concluded. “Before you can harvest the corn, you need to tend the land and sow good seeds. So now we need to invest in the infrastructure for the next day — for the next generation.”
