Margalit Startup City Galil – Israel’s International Foodtech Center – will address some of the world’s most urgent problems, including global and local food security and safety, as well as the battle against climate change and global warming
The International Foodtech Center, partnering with international giants and joins other global cyber centers opened by Margalit in New York, Beersheba and Jerusalem, and will be a magnet for large companies and startups, as well as research and education institutes
In his speech, Margalit calls for cross border cooperation with the young entrepreneurs and start-ups of Lebanon and the region
2nd September, KIRYAT SHMONA, ISRAEL – Hitech entrepreneur and investor, Erel Margalit, today launched the International Foodtech Center in Kiryat Shmona – Margalit Startup City Galil. The launch event was attended by senior ministers, ambassadors and diplomats, business leaders, the Israeli hi-tech and research community, together with the Galilee leadership.
The International Foodtech Center opened its gates today to technology giants and startups, alongside investment groups, international brands, and even research and academic centers. Dozens of companies have already joined, and will open their first northern branch in the new building located at the entrance to the city, on the famous Route 90. This is Margalit’s fourth innovation center (Start-up City), joining cyber centers in New York, Beersheba, Jerusalem. Margalit also has planned centers opening up in Paris and Dubai.
Israel’s International Foodtech Center in the Galilee operates in strategic cooperation with Jewish National Fund – USA and the host of ecosystem players; public bodies and corporations – Kiryat Shmona Municipality, Upper Galilee Regional Council, and the Galilee Development Company, local and international business and technological bodies that are opening a branch the Galilee for the first time: JVP, Cisco, Deloitte, Luzzatto Group, Bank Hapoalim, Fischer & Fischer Law Firm. Leading Academic bodies in the Galilee: Migal Research Institute and Tel Hai Academic College, local and international philanthropic foundations: Rothschild Foundation, Foundation Ica, Keren Hayesod France, startups and technology companies: Solato, WITI, Grasshopper, Digital Valley, and the program at Digital Valley – Galil Studio.
Erel Margalit, founder and chair of the venture capital firm JVP, said: “We are witnessing the next revolution in Israel. Foodtech is the next cyber, and I believe Israel is on its way to becoming a superpower in the field.” Margalit added, “Together with our wonderful partners, including CISCO & Deloitte, we are creating an economic growth engine which will change the lives of young people and families, with 30,000 high-paying technology jobs like in the center of the country, and another 70,000 ancillary positions. And all this is happening together with the area’s schools, as part of the process of building an incredible and ground-breaking ecosystem, because the pupils of today are the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”
Margalit Startup City Galil will address the burning problems of the world, including global warming, hunger, drought, and a shortage of healthy food, while integrating the technological revolution with agricultural methods. With the MIGAL Galilee Research Institution, high quality agriculture, vast reserves of knowledge, as well as a large community of young people who want to move to the north and enjoy a quality job with a high salary, the Galilee is the perfect ecosystem for agritech and foodtech.
The launch event of Margalit Startup City Galil hosted an impressive innovation food festival representing the ecosystem of the Israeli food technology and agritech industry. Fourteen companies presented their technologies and unique tasting experiences: Innovopro, Kinoko, Green Eye, Agrint, Solato , Blue Huna, Hargol Foodtech, Witi, Blue Tree, PleanTeam, Solveat, OrganOzone, Verstill, Save-it. Alongside the startups, schools from the Galilee presented their innovation projects, including schools from Kiryat Shmona, Majdal Shams, as well as the kibbutzim and moshavim in the area.
In recent years, Margalit adopted schools in the Galilee and Kiryat Shmona, promoting entrepreneurship, mathematics, English, and innovation. These children have won international prizes in the biggest competitions, and represented the Galilee with pride. Now the intention is to integrate all the schools in Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee for a unique program in collaboration with the Ministry of Education for startups, entrepreneurship, innovation and foodtech. This will already begin during the upcoming school year.
JVP will become the first venture capital fund in the world to work in the Galilee and to invest such impressive funds. Similarly, over 30 ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from around the world toured the foodtech boulevard which was established at the event complex, where 15 foodtech and agritech companies presented ground-breaking Israeli innovations in the areas of food, agriculture and technology, including personal experiences and tastings. There was also a tour of the innovation avenue – a display of innovation projects by Jewish and Druze schools from the Galilee, as well as kibbutzim and moshavim.
About Erel Margalit: Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of JVP and Margalit Startup City, is an international entrepreneur and investor, as well as one of the chief architects of the “Start-Up Nation”. In 1993, he founded Jerusalem Venture Partners, a VC fund, which focuses on building international companies. Under Erel’s leadership, JVP created more than 150 companies, facilitated 12 IPOs on NASDAQ, and orchestrated over 30 start-up exits. Erel has raised over $1.5B from the world’s leading investors, and JVP continues to be ranked as one of the top performing funds in the world. After building JVP’s high-tech ecosystem In Jerusalem, Erel established innovation centers in other regions of Israel including a Cyber Center in Be’er Sheva, Foodtech Center in the Galilee, Digital Health Center in Haifa and an International Cyber Center in New York.
Erel’s entrepreneurial success focuses on regional and socio-economic development. Margalit Startup City establishes innovation centers that connect tech/business entrepreneurship with social and cultural entrepreneurship. Each innovation center creates an ecosystem focused on a particular area, drawing cooperation between the various players in the region. Over the years, Margalit Startup City’s Centers of Excellence have created tens of thousands of jobs and changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Margalit’s regional development initiatives also target Israel’s younger generation, through “Margalit Startup City in the Community,” an NGO he founded together with his wife Debbie. The organization aims to reduce social and economic gaps among youth by offering educational and leadership development programs. “In the Community” has served around 40,000 children and youth over the years, with the help of about 800 volunteers working across the country.
