Indianapolis-based Prolific—a marketing, strategy and investment firm with strong connections to Israel—has set its sights on attracting more Israeli companies to Indiana.
To Prolific CEO Brad Benbow, the idea makes a lot of sense—Israel’s economy is about the same size as Indiana’s, and both economies have strengths in some of the same business sectors: technology, agricultural, and medical and pharmaceuticals.
So for emerging Israeli companies that want to come to America, “I think it’s completely coherent for Indiana to be the best state in the U.S.,” Benbow said.
Prolific’s strategy is specifically tied to an Israel-based venture fund, Iron Nation, that was established to support Israeli startups during the country’s ongoing war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Iron Nation’s first fund, established just days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, raised $20 million. That fund, Iron Nation I, invested in about 20 Israeli tech, software, health and medical startups.
Iron Nation’s managing partners are now raising money for Iron Nation II, a second investment fund aiming for $100 million. Some of that money will be invested in a new group of Israeli companies, and some will go toward additional investments in Iron Nation I portfolio companies.
Benbow said Prolific intends to invest in the Iron Nation fund, though he declined to say how much. He also sees Iron Nation as a way that Prolific and other Indiana business entities can connect with Israeli startups that might someday be looking to expand or move to the United States.
The connection between Prolific and Iron Nation comes through Johnnie Moore, the Washington, D.C.-based president of JDA Worldwide, a marketing and public relations firm that is owned by Prolific. Moore is also an evangelical Christian, and it was during a mission trip to Israel that Moore and Iron Nation’s partners first met.
“When we met Johnnie, it was like, ‘Here’s an alignment of missions,’” said Gil Friedlander, one of Iron Nation’s three managing partners. “You can do a lot on the philanthropic side. But if you know Israel and how strong Israel is economically, high-tech wise, there’s an opportunity here to bring a lot of sympathetic money to Israel and bring a lot of returns, financial returns, to the U.S. in general. That’s the beginning. And then it just got deeper and deeper.”
‘A lot of opportunities’
Earlier this month, Friedlander and another of Iron Nation’s managing partners, Jason Wolf, came to Indianapolis as part of a larger U.S. visit to meet with potential investors across the country.
The two had a series of meetings while in town, including with the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Elevate Ventures, which acts as the IEDC’s venture investing arm.
During an interview with IBJ during their visit here, Friedlander and Wolf said their whirlwind trip to Indiana had been an eye-opener. “I have to admit that us as [venture capitalists], we were not aware about the tech scene in Indiana,” Friedlander said. “We were deeply impressed—in the less than 24 hours that we’re spending here—what’s going on here. And we believe there’s a lot of opportunities to connect Israel and Indiana.”
Wolf, who lived in California for 25 years, said he was struck by Indiana’s strengths in life sciences and in various tech sectors, including defense, automotive, food and agriculture. All of those, he said, are also areas of strength in Israel. “I’m stunned by how much opportunity there is here.”
The United States in general is important to Israeli startups, the partners said, because companies looking for growth need to think internationally—and that typically means entering the U.S. market.
“As a fund, we want the company [we invest in] to grow. We want them to look beyond,” Wolf said.
That was the playbook for ag-tech company Taranis, which moved its headquarters from Israel to Westfield in 2020. The company offers a crop intelligence platform that uses artificial intelligence to analyze satellite imagery and drone photos from agricultural fields, helping farmers spot early signs of disease, pests and other crop problems.
Taranis launched in 2015. In 2019, the company decided it was time to move to the United States. (Taranis is not connected to Iron Nation.)
“Israel is a very small market,” said Opher Flohr, Taranis’ Washington, D.C.-based CEO. Israeli startups “all eventually want to enter the main markets, the U.S. being the primary market for pretty much any industry. It’s no different for ag. In agriculture, the U.S. is the major market in the world.”
Flohr said Taranis considered several U.S. locations in addition to Indiana, including St. Louis; Des Moines, Iowa; and the Raleigh/Durham/Greensboro area of North Carolina. After weighing factors that included proximity to agricultural customers, talent availability and the overall business climate, Taranis decided on Indiana, Flohr said. The company has about 100 employees in the United States, Israel and Brazil, including about 25 based in central Indiana.
Expanding connections
At least nine companies with Israeli roots already have operations in Indiana, and former Gov. Eric Holcomb took multiple trips to Israel during his two terms.
The IEDC’s network of international offices includes a location in Israel.
Christopher Day, CEO of Elevate Ventures, said he sees Iron Nation as a source for learning about additional Israeli companies that might be interested in expanding or moving to Indiana.
As a way to develop that pipeline, Day said, Elevate Ventures plans to invite an Israeli delegation to attend this year’s Rally innovation conference to be held in September in Indianapolis.
This will be the third year for Rally, an Elevate Ventures event that aims to spur innovation and entrepreneurship by bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and others from a variety of industries. The event has drawn about 3,000 attendees each year from Indiana, other states and other countries.
Day said foreign entrepreneurs who want to come to the U.S. probably think about the big cities they’ve already heard of—places like New York, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles.
But if these entrepreneurs have a chance to learn about Indiana, Day said, they might decide they prefer the business climate and friendly vibe of the Hoosier state. “We are actually nice people who want to be proactively helpful.”
During their recent visit to the U.S., Wolf and Friedlander also spent time in New York City, Milwaukee, Chicago and San Francisco.
As they look toward U.S. expansion, not all of Iron Nation’s portfolio companies will gravitate to Indiana, Wolf said. For some, a traditional tech hub like San Franciso or New York City might be a better fit.
But Indiana will definitely be in the mix, Friedlander said.
“It’s still early-stage. Maybe there’s other states that this could work as well, but business at the end of the day is relationships between people, and we’re building a very strong relationship here,” he said.
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