Leaving the comfort of the incubator
01 December 2009
Israel’s Kinrot Ventures is the first major attempt to use the incubator model to advance seed-stage water-related startups.Based in Zemach in the Jordan Valley,Kinrot claims to be the first to utilize the incubator model in the field of water, and is part of a growing local trend to invest in water technologies.
The sector has witnessed rapid growth,and despite the global recession, Israeli exports of water-related technologies have nearly doubled in the past three years to $1.4 billion. Privately owned Kinrot is focused on trying to find the most promising ideas and commercialize them.
The incubator model was successfully developed in the early 1990s by the office of the chief scientist of Israel’s industry and trade ministry to foster the development of early-stage high-tech startups. 24 incubators have been established throughout Israel for developing conceptual ideas into start-up companies. Each seedstage company receives up to $500,000 from the chief scientist’s office, while the management of the incubator provides physical premises for R&D work, as well as professional guidance and administrative services. Several incubators have been privatized in recent years, and after Kinrot was sold to Canadian based Stern Partners in 2006, the new owners decided to focus exclusively on water-related technologies.
The team, headed by CEO Assaf Barnea, can afford to be picky. “So far, we’ve reviewed about 100 projects and invested in 12 early-stage companies,” he told GWI. The ideas come from top Israeli academic institutions, including the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as from local entrepreneurs. Barnea notes that the selection process focuses mainly on the potential market for the product, and whether the intellectual property can be protected...
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