When it Comes to Israeli Innovation, Social Impact and ROI Unite
Now is the Best Time to Invest in Israel’s Wellness and Health Sectors
In the aftermath of the October 7th terror attacks, world attention on Israel and the Middle East intensified. Some shake their heads aggrieved at the unexpected level of violence. Others rally to help by answering the call to action through philanthropy. I suggest another avenue that addresses Israel’s most pressing needs — a pathway that matches the country’s call for unity and resilience and provides concrete support that benefits potentially all people. This is the right time to invest in the “Startup Nation’s” ever vibrant health and wellness economy.
Despite intense focus on the war in Gaza, Israel and its Abraham Accords neighbors continue to focus on “what is next,” vigilantly working toward regional prosperity benefiting citizens of the world — including those most impacted now. Not long ago, Israel’s Bank Governor Amir Yaron reinforced with global news network Reuters the perspective of national resilience sharing “We (Israel) have known how to recover from difficult periods in the past and to return rapidly to prosperity. I do not doubt it will do so this time.’ Matching that public confidence, the Israeli stock market shows an economic rebound, by returning to its pre-October 7th valuations. Money has always been a nation’s indicator of bounce-back strength.
Israel: A Nation of Innovators
Israel is already an established global leader in wellness and health innovation. In 2022, it ranked sixth in the World Index of Healthcare Innovation sandwiched between Ireland and Singapore. Despite recent challenge, its abundance of entrepreneurs continually give birth to new ideas empowering medicine, technology, transportation, and more. There are practical reasons for this steady cadence: the Israeli ecosystem is continuously curious, has world renown higher education institutions, a health system that is efficient and delivers on one of the world’s highest life expectancies — and yes –home-grown and global investors that fuel improvements that are exported and rewarded.
According to Israeli daily business newspaper TheMarker, Israel had 71 billionaires in 2021, with one of the highest per capita rates in the world, at 6.7 billionaires for every million people. That increased wealth is the outcome of bold ideas embraced by the world as innovations that improve the human condition and converted into economic progress.
Problems Turned Into Life-Improving Opportunities
Long before the recent conflict, Israel has been turning challenge into opportunity. From solar power to drip irrigation to “big data” to guiding therapies to their needed location.
During COVID-19, there was significant focus on mental health and access. Obviously, now, that conversation on emotional well-being has taken on new urgency. Mental health has long been a neglected stepchild of medicine and the payer system. During the Corona era there was a significant shift as the stressors of isolation and uncertainty impacted young and old. Then pressing need translated into new ways for consumers to access care from telehealth to social media systems. October 7th has given people in Israel new perspectives too. What happens when the needs of the population outstrip the care supply chain?
Enter new approaches to mental wellness and new technologies. As we learned with transportation technology — that the car follows your eyes — we recognize that your life direction — including clarity in the workplace and home — track to your mental well-being. Gamification approaches open doors to therapeutic methods that are based on established neuroscience research and make supervised self-care readily accessible. Investors are knocking on the doors to accelerate these new pathways to care.
Biology, Technology and Data Find Harmony
At the heart of Israel’s wellness and health tech revolution is bioconvergence — the confluence of biology, engineering and data analytics. The next wave of great ideas and innovations will unleash the great potential offered by uniting these once siloed STEM approaches. Bioconvergence is now woven into the Israeli higher education system and economic engine producing a new wave of innovators. This is a practical transformative approach provides great potential to redefine health outcomes and investor ROI.
Consider the urgencies to develop new technologies enabling the disabled to regain physical momentum. Neuro technologies will enable people to improve their quality of life through physicians and allied professions understanding, predicting and improving their patients electrophysiological patterns.
From a personal perspective, having been deeply involved in the Israeli-based wellness, health and bio-convergence investment sectors, I’ve seen how the transformative power of purpose-driven investment from these once solo and now combined sectors improves people’s health and delivers economic returns. The fusion of technological approaches linked to a support system for startups is crafting a new narrative in the health space. There are good reasons for this heightened performance.
This nation’s blend of high-tech talent, stable health infrastructure, and supportive government policies enable companies to commercialize globally through mega-global partnerships. Quietly, through the decades, bioconvergence ideas have turned into practical medical products that improve lives.
Remember the left ventricular heart assist device or the micro camera that transverses the digestive system? The combination of engineering and cardiovascular knowledge led to the first human implantation of the heart assist device in a 64-year-old Israeli man at Sheba Medical Center in Israel. This device is a life-extender for people waiting for a valuable heart transplant. This is among Israel’s greatest cultural strengths — tapping the power of curiosity and collaboration. The same with PillCam providing gastroenterologists with detailed patient information. This is where Israeli technology and science savvy will shine.
The Birth of Jewish Social Impact Investing
Jewish philanthropic community has always supported Israel willingly. Once that generosity funded everything from hospital clinics to cultural centers and centers of learning. Now, more than ever, outside investment fuels the health and wellness innovation sector in its mission to sustain human life. Like the support system created by Israel Bonds, there is a great potential to do well by doing good.
As Israel navigates the complexities of its current geopolitical situation, strategic investment in wellness and health tech — from mental health to the merger of humanity and machine working in biophysical harmony — is crucial. These investments go beyond the traditional financial paradigm; they endorse a nation’s ability to innovate under pressure and benefit the many.
Consider the possibilities of measuring and tracking common health concerns such as ADHD, depression, anxiety, PPD and stress. Innovators are already demonstrating an ability to deliver impressive accuracy rates in identifying and tracking these conditions, including 89% for depression, 94% for anxiety, 76% for ADHD, 91% for PPD and 98% for stress. This is just the beginning of a wave of new approaches to care.
In these investments lies the potential of a healthier, resilient world that recognizes the potential to heal both people and influence societal perspectives about Israel’s contributions to the world. Here, Jewish philanthropists are key to contributing to societal advances with multiple returns on investment — people working together across communities and nations in ways that reach others in developed and emerging countries.
The 13th-century rabbi, physician and philosopher leader, Maimonides, prophetically outlined the greatest form of social impact giving. He looked to the future with a vision we can incorporate into philanthropic-oriented investment strategies: “…the greatest level, above which there is no greater, is to support a fellow Jew by endowing him with entering into a partnership with him, to strengthen his hand…”
A healer of ancient times offers a remedy to those looking at recent events with an eye toward making a difference Certainly, by adjusting Israel-oriented investment strategies will produce for innovators and investors the greatest returns for humanity.
Amir Alroy is co-founder of Welltech Ventures. Amir is a highly accomplished wellness professional with vast experience in both investments and wellness.
Prior to founding Welltech Ventures, Amir served as the CEO of AYRAD Investments, a family investment arm that over the past 25 years has invested in dozens of early stage and growth hi-tech companies. Before that, Amir founded and served as CEO of Cloud9 Wellness Clubs, which focused on fitness and nutrition.
Amir is a board member of the Global Wellness Summit Advisory Board, the heart of the multi-trillion-dollar global wellness economy that facilitates collaboration between leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of wellness worldwide.
Amir’s remarkable achievements have been recognized globally, and he was selected as one of the top 30 influencers transforming wellness in 2022–2023 by Medika Life.
Amir holds an M.Sc (with honors) in Sports Management from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, and a B.A from Reichman University in Israel.
