FX tech startups set to benefit as Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and NASDAQ team up to drive innovators toward listing rather than exit

Israel has been heralded as the ‘Start Up Nation’ ever since Saul Singer and Dan Senor published their famous book detailing why a country with just 6.5 million people at the time had more NASDAQ-listed start-ups than all of Europe with its half a billion population.

Whilst this publication opened the eyes of many and placed Israel on a relative par with Silicon Valley in California for developments in areas such as medical science, fintech and new media technology, what was omitted was that most Israeli startups do not make it as far as public listing on any stock exchange, instead being sold to larger firms once the product gains enough attention, in order that bootstrapped young entrepreneurs can monetize it all in one go.

Many startups in Israel have recently focused on fintech, and in particular FX trading with many interactive digital marketing firms such as Optimove, and technology vendors like Tradency, as well as algorithmic trading system developers being the brainchild of entrepreneurs in Israel.

Whilst some start-ups have listed on NASDAQ, nowhere near the amount that should be going toward IPO have done so over the last ten years, a matter which is about to be partially addressed by an alliance which was announced today between the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and NASDAQ which offers a whole host of services to help firms choose to list rather than seek a quick exit.

The new platform will take the form of a market place in which firms can find institutional investors and it will also offer strategic advice, mentoring, important networking opportunities and a secondary market for increasing liquidity and debt financing services.

Interestingly, FX technology firms may well benefit from such a tailored service in more ways than simply finding it easier to list, as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is chaired by an industry professional who understands the FX business very clearly indeed.

Yossi Beinart is the Chief Executive of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, having joined the venue in this leadership position two years ago from IG Group’s Chicago-based binary options exchange NADEX.

Mr. Beinart yesterday stated

“For the first time we can offer Israeli companies a real solution to challenges in their growth and give them a real alternative to an exit, so that they will continue to operate as independent companies with significant operations in Israel.”

Those committed to researching the performance of FX industry giants in North America, the Far East and Europe may well be used to seeing the ubiquitous ticker symbols on their reports each month, however we may well be entering an era in which Israel’s innovators which continue to push the boundaries of new technological development may well be reported monthly with a ticker symbol of their own.

Photograph: Downtown Tel Aviv, Copyright Andrew Saks-McLeod