Last Updated on September 15, 2021
Start-up Nation or Unicorn Nation? Now More Israeli Unicorns Than Ever.
For those that do not know, a unicorn is not just a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its head. In financial terms unicorns are defined as businesses which are independently owned and valued at over $1 billion. Known as ‘unicorns’ for their rarity, there are currently only 750 such businesses in the world according to cbinsights.com – a technology insights platform including many Israeli unicorns.
Recently Money.co.uk set out to find out which countries, and sectors, produce the start-ups that reach a $1 billion valuation fastest by analyzing every unicorn company’s start date and the date of its $1 billion valuation.
Naturally the USA and China have the most unicorn companies with 378 and 155 respectively. It takes an average of 6 years and 11 months to reach unicorn status in the USA but China leads the way in this regard – taking an average of only 5 years and 10 months to become unicorns.
Industry Sectors
In terms of time to reach unicorn status, it’s fastest to become a unicorn in the auto and transportation sector wherein takes just under 4.5 years on average.
If you are in the AI sector, it will take you about 5.5 years to reach unicorn status.
Cybersecurity, one of Israel’s fast advancing sectors and it takes almost 7 years while Fintech companies take just over 7 years.
Israeli Unicorns
Stats revealed that Israel is the seventh best country in the world for unicorn start-ups. With 17 businesses currently valued at over $1 billion, it has taken Israel’s unicorn an average of 7 years and 3 months to reach the valuation of $1 billion.
Israeli company, Transmit Security in the cybersecurity field, which is currently valued at a little under $3 billion dollars, took 6.9 years to become an unicorn while Earnix (Fintech) took 19.5 years to get a $1 billion valuation.
It took Gett, the taxi transport service, 5.5 years to become an unicorn.
Over the ears other Israeli companies you may be familiar with, have become unicorns and gone public; Taboola, OrCam, WalkMe, Insightec, Lemonade, SimilarWeb and others.
If you’re a new oleh, these unicorns could be on your list of desirable places to work. Check out their website job boards for the latest openings.
Best careers for hiring in 2021
It’s no surprise, because of corona, if you’re a nurse, in the medical profession or in healthcare support, you can expect to be snapped up really fast.
LinkedIn says that frontline ecommerce workers are in top demand. Digital marketers, content creators, developers and AI practitioners are too.
Get your CV or resume up-to-date or hone your entrepreneurial skills – you never know where your latest idea will take you – you could be the next Israeli unicorn.
