For Gili Elkin, Boulder is more than a prime destination for spirited recreationalists. When the transplanted Israeli looks out the window, she envisions the future capital of tech innovation in her own backyard.
“The entrepreneurial ecosystem is very strong in Boulder and is growing rapidly,” says Elkin, founder of the Israel-Colorado Innovation Fund.
The fund matches Israeli startups in the energy and water sectors with US funders.
“It’s unbelievable,” she says. “Look at the accelerators that are coming here, as well as a large venture capital framework.
“Boulder is an entrepreneur’s dream.”
Elkin should know.
The purpose of the ICI Fund, which had been swirling around her cutting-edge mind for years, is linking US investors with the most innovative Israeli technologies in the water and energy sectors.
“We also want to stimulate economic impact by supporting Israeli startups and bringing them to Colorado,” she says.
Israel has earned a global reputation as the startup nation. Boasting the largest number of startups per capita in the world, Israel launches 1,400 companies per year.
Elkin and Mike Freeman, CEO of the technology incubator and ICI Fund partner Innosphere, are the fund’s general partners. Venture capitalist Eran Wagner identifies and negotiates with Israeli startups on their home turf.
“According to a recent Harvard study, the inability to access new markets is a key risk factor for Israeli companies,” Elkin says. “Often an Israeli entrepreneur develops a product but has no comprehensive access to the US market.
“Considering its strong network of investors and major players in the energy and water fields, we believe Innosphere is uniquely qualified to help Israeli companies with their market planning and execution.”
Innosphere operates a demanding program for startups that brings them to commercialization in two years. Between 2009 and 2015, the program’s participating startups have raised $220 million, generated more than $63 million in revenue and established thousands of jobs.
The ICI Fund will invest approximately $500,000 in each Israeli startup that passes its rigorous standards.
“Our goal is to select Israeli companies that will generate high revenue streams within two years,” Elkin says. “We will only invest in startups that can reach these targets in a short period of time.”
The ICI Fund will be fully operational in February or March of this year — in Boulder, Colorado.
Elkin, a Stanford University MBA who spent six years in Silicon Valley and moved to Boulder less than three years ago, does not let her Israeli accent interfere with her effortless articulation of industry jargon.
She was born in Berkeley, Calif., where her father was studying for his PhD in material science and engineering.
“But we returned to Israel when I was a year-and-a-half old. I was raised there and served in the military.
“I am definitely an Israeli!”
Prior to her exposure to the entrepreneurial universe, Elkin was a lawyer at Ernst & Young in Israel and later San Francisco, representing US venture capitalists investing in Israeli companies.
“That’s when I started thinking of forming a fund that would do the same,” she says.
Elkin, who relocated to Silicon Valley to pursue her MBA, joined the Stanford Alumni Consulting Team and did pro bono consulting work for nonprofits seeking to increase and expand their business.
After her tenure in Silicon Valley, she went back to Israel and ran her own company — but the vision of forming an innovation fund for Israeli startups led her to Boulder.
“I was looking for a place where the entrepreneurial ecosystem was growing rapidly but wasn’t too crowded for startups,” Elkin says. “Boulder is the perfect place for startups to stand out and multiply.”
Ori Elkin quickly followed his wife to this new land of innovative plenty.
“Ori was offered a position at DigitalGlobe, a private US vendor of space energy and geospatial content,” she says. “It’s the largest employer in the area.
“So it really worked out for the two of us.”
Focused on the ICI Fund, Elkin confesses that she is also a snowboarding addict, climbs Fourteeners, loves being in the mountains and hikes the grandest peaks.
“Every time Israelis come to Boulder, even for business, I take them hiking up Bear Peak — 8,650 ft. — two hours after their plane lands,” she laughs.
Elkin is on the board of B’nai B’rith Denver (in the process of renaming itself B’nai B’rith of the Rocky Mountains), where she promotes business ties between Colorado and Israel.
The ICI Fund utilizes a stringent screening process for potential Israeli startups. Their genesis in the startup nation does not necessarily guarantee approval.
“Energy and water incubators in Israel look at hundreds, sometimes a thousand companies, each year,” Elkin says. “They only select a dozen in which to invest and incubate within a two-year time frame,” Elkin says.
The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) examines each startup for six months and reserves its final blessing for companies that prove their technological promise.
Elkin says the ICI Fund, which converses daily with the IIA, “will look primarily at the companies recommended by the authority. We don’t invest anything until we receive all the feedback from Innosphere’s partners.” The fund will select two to three companies to invest in every year.
The fund is currently reviewing new energy-efficient developments at Synvertec, Siga, SolView, MercuRemoval and ElectRoad (which offers a wireless electrification system for vehicles).
Israeli startups accepted by the fund will join Innosphere’s 24-month program, which also connects them to Innosphere corporate and investor partners. “This eliminates the three risks faced by every startup: team, technology and market access,” she says.
The ICI fund invests in the fields of water, renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, smart grids, smart mobility, smart manufacturing, predictive maintenance, cyber security for critical infrastructures, green buildings, oil and gas, environmental solutions and others.
Colorado representatives have held meetings, gone on missions and signed agreements with their Israeli counterparts to learn how the country transformed a shrinking water supply into an enviable commodity.
“As we all know, necessity is the mother of invention,” Elkin says. “Because Israel has scarce water resources, it became a leader in water innovation. Colorado is arid and faces the same challenges.”
Israeli systems account for 50% of the world’s low-pressure irrigation systems, reducing water consumption by one-third. Israeli companies have installed more than 400 desalinization plants in 40 countries.
Israel is ranked number one in the world for reclaiming 86% of its wastewater for agricultural purposes. Spain, which comes in at a distant second, reclaims only 17%.
“We believe Israeli startups can solve Colorado’s water problem,” Elkin says.
Google, the popular search engine that’s achieved verb status, broke ground on a new 333,000 sq. ft. Boulder campus in 2015. Robots invented by Monarch High’s Shazbots robotic team helped shovel dirt out of the ground.
“If you’re searching — or Googling — for proof that Colorado is a national leader of innovation and technology and continues to be a draw for business, look no further than Boulder and Google’s decision to expand here,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said at the groundbreaking.
Gili Elkin couldn’t agree more.
“Colorado has one of the highest densities of startups in the US,” she says. “It’s also a leading state in renewable and traditional energy.
“There’s a huge pool of talent in Boulder because of CU. Big corporates are showing interest in the local ecosystem by opening offices and headquarters here.”
Elkin introduces a non-business segue.
“It’s interesting that I lived in Boulder when I was 10, while my father was working at NIST Laboratories. I guess I was compelled by the Boulder Valley curse to return here — you know, the old story that says once you see the mountains you always come back.”
Elkin describes the Boulder community as accessible, intimate and “quite similar to Israel. You can reach people easily, and they are happy to meet you.
“Almost everyone knows everyone else. In Israel, they say people are separated by one half of a degree; in Boulder, it’s one degree of separation,” she laughs.
“And despite the cold weather, the people are very warm and kind.”
Concluding on a prophetic note, Elkin invokes a personal metaphor that illustrates her future hopes for Boulder. “I think in a very few years — maybe three or four —Boulder’s Silicon Mountain will replace Silicon Valley,” she declares. “The only thing that’s missing here is strong Israeli innovation, and that’s what I’m bringing.”
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News