Israeli Companies Can Scale Up Because Market Changed Dramatically, Says Qumra Capital's Erez Shachar

Israeli companies are scaling up not because of capital investments, but because going to market has changed dramatically in recent years, said Erez Shachar, managing partner at Tel Aviv-based late-stage venture capital firm Qumra Capital. Shachar spoke Tuesday at CTech by Calcalist's investors' event, It Tech Two to Tango, held at the events space of Labs, a coworking space located on the top floors of the Azrieli Sarona Tower in Tel Aviv.

Discussing the growth of Israeli companies in the digital age, Shachar said that a decade ago no one believed Israeli companies could successfully enter new consumer markets because they lacked people on-the-ground. "The digital age has created a new go-to-market that didn't exist before," he said. "The greatest difficulty about being away from your market is understanding their needs and cultural difference," he said.

Qumra launched its first $100 million fund in 2014. The fund invested in eight startups, including online service marketplace Fiverr Int. Ltd. and online payments fraud prevention startup Riskified Ltd.