Thursday, March 28, 2019

Israel’s AI Ecosystem Comes Together to Toast NVIDIA’s Proposed Mellanox Acquisition

More than 400 CEOs, entrepreneurs, VCs and other members of Israel’s booming AI ecosystem crammed Tuesday night into one of Tel Aviv’s hottest night venues to mark the announcement of a deal by NVIDIA to acquire Mellanox, the nation’s second-largest acquisition.

Highlighted by intros from the two companies’ leaders at the seaside club, attendees also celebrated the vibrancy of Israel’s AI and startup scene. An estimated 1,200 fledgling companies go into business each year in this country of nearly 9 million — a ratio of one for every 1,400 people, according to Forbes magazine. By comparison, France has 0.11 startup for every 1,400 people and Germany has about half that number.