COVID-19 supply disruption could be opportunity for Israeli start-ups

By EYTAN HALON

JUNE 19, 2020 15:50

FILE PHOTO: Containers are loaded onto a ship, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in the Port of Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 16, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON/FILE PHOTO) — FILE PHOTO: Containers are loaded onto a ship, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in the Port of Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 16, 2020

(photo credit: REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON/FILE PHOTO)

Israeli start-ups, focused on going global from day one, have already attracted many large companies to invest and establish a permanent presence in the country.

Disruption caused to global supply chains by the coronavirus pandemic could enable ambitious Israeli start-ups to seize new opportunities to grow, according to a leading industry expert.

In the current era of Amazon Prime and rapid delivery, supply chain logistics have become a critical element in business operations, capable of determining whether major corporations thrive or fail.

Israeli start-ups, focused on going global from day one, have already attracted many large companies to invest and establish a permanent presence in the country.

“One of the major reasons why big corporates come, and why Israel is so successful, is because start-ups have a common word with supply chain people – which is scale,” said Neil Ackerman, head of advanced technologies, global supply chain, Middle East and Africa at American healthcare product giant Johnson & Johnson.

“Every start-up in Israel is built to scale. They are built for the world. Multinationals like Israel and have brought people like me to live here to seek out the ecosystem, understand where there is value and scale within the supply chain and where we could partner with them to take advantage of that scale.”

As the coronavirus outbreak caused wide-scale disruption to the mechanics of economies worldwide, supply chains and logistics were not spared.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post ahead of addressing the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference on Monday, former Amazon manager Ackerman said he believes the same disruption will also provide “rampant opportunities” for innovators in Israel.

“There are opportunities to make an impact end-to-end,” he said. “There are multiple innovation areas that can make an impact, from smarter artificial intelligence and machine learning, to approved demand forecasting, all the way to sensors, 3D printing and more.”

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Start-ups that focus on what customers want and identify innovation in ways that enterprises failed to find, Ackerman believes, will ultimately be those who take advantage of the current need to reorient supply chains.

Neil Ackerman, Senior Director of Global Supply Chain Innovation at American healthcare product giant Johnson & Johnson (Credit: Dale Photography)

Israeli technologies, he added, have a long track record of helping enterprises improve connections with their customers.

“A key reason why Johnson & Johnson and other companies have come to Israel is because the Israeli ecosystem deeply understands customers,” said Ackerman.

“There is a lot of experience in understanding how to create new wants and needs. Israeli start-ups really think of the customer. In the past, they were all about tech. Now they are about tech with scale – because tech alone, without knowledge of scale, is a waste.”

Jerusalem-headquartered OurCrowd will introduce its $100 million “Pandemic Innovation Fund” at the online conference, highlighting the crowdfunding investment platform’s faith in start-ups answering medical, business, educational and social needs emerging from health emergencies.

OurCrowd CEO and founder Jon Medved told the Post that investors are currently presented with a “spectacular opportunity” due to the convergence of three key factors: a financial crisis ensuring lower valuations, a crisis requiring technological solutions and the rapid acceleration of societal trends.

“In the venture world, you would previously talk about edtech, and people would yawn – and now it is all hot,” said Medved, highlighting 29 portfolio companies which have successfully raised funds during the current crisis.

“To be in a moment like that, when the hockey stick takes off, that is what every venture capitalist looks for. They look for exponential growth. Suddenly, you have that across a whole array of technologies that venture capitalists are investing in.”