Over the years, Tech It Forward has scouted Israeli tech startups for International brands such as Avon, Natura, Cartier and more. Why do giant beauty and retail corporations want to have eyes (and feet) on the Startup Nation? Israel has become a very important contributor, expert, and innovator to the future of beauty, retail, and wellness industries worldwide, and here is why.
Jessica Rosner and Jennifer Elias, Founders of Tech It Forward *Photo: Eduardo Feldman Photography
Israel, a unique cultural beauty background
One of the strongest historical factors to this success is the local knowledge of Dead Sea minerals. History tells us that Cleopatra used mud and Dead Sea water as an exfoliant in her legendary skin treatments. Since then, the tradition has continued and taken new shapes through many different beauty brands in Israel.
In addition to that, very old ground products (such as olive oil, pomegranate, almonds), have been used by the locals for their wellness and beauty for millennials and contributed to a culture and tradition of wellness, nature and beauty.
When you pair this culture to the level of our dynamic technology, innovation and R&D ecosystem, this leads to the most disruptive solutions.
Something important to know about our tiny country is that 13% of Israel's GDP is due to the technology market, and 38% of its total annual export is tech. This is an undeniable number! In addition, Israel hosts the highest density of startups per capita in the world and has gained much acclaim for the technological marvels that have been instrumental in bettering our world.
Thanks to the strength of the innovation and beauty culture in Israel, international corporations are jumping at the opportunity to establish R&D centers, scouting teams, labs, production facilities and VC branches in order to be the first to adopt the newest technologies created here. The number of corporate investments or M&A with Israeli startups was over $25.6 million in 2021, breaking records for innovation in this country.
How is Israel leading the beauty-tech Revolution? The global presence of beauty here is ever-expanding, including retail giants such as Natura, L'Oréal, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, P&G, Unilever, Fosun, and more. These companies have found major success in investing and implementing tech from Israeli startups. These corporations are just a few of many that have prospered because of the Israeli startup ecosystem, and many more are coming and diving in the ecosystem.
The unique diversity of beauty-innovation
The subsegments of Israeli beauty tech are expansive, impressive, and diverse. From personalized medicine, progressive wellness, preventative medicine, regenerative medicine, and AgeTech to VR/AR, biotechnologies, IoT or even sustainable packaging and customers’ mental health solutions, Israel has hundreds of startups working towards this common goal. For example, there are over 10 R&D centers and 180 startups involved with AgeTech, and all 7 Israeli universities have research centers dedicated to this topic, which cannot be said about anywhere else in the world.
There is no beauty without retail and retail has been able to find a big place in Israel.
In today’s post-pandemic world, some key trends have been accelerated. Corporations and consumers are looking for personalization of products to adapt to diversity, sustainable products and packaging to have a positive impact on the environment, wellness and mental health support technologies and metaverse solutions. In addition, the presence of ecommerce and retail online have become necessary to the success of any business. Most multinational retailers find a majority of their success online, making retail-tech a very important investment for their companies. Israel has recognized this need and is constantly innovating with new technologies to improve the process.
To date, there are around 460 retail-tech startups in Israel. They have been vital in the expansion of large international corporations by providing leading capabilities in AI, ML, computer vision, and robotics and are constantly implemented into more companies.
Tech It Forward’s work with top worldwide retailers: Natura, Avon, Cartier, and more!
At Tech It Forward, we make it our mission to connect top Israeli startups with large corporations. In the past we have worked with various wellness companies looking to invest in Israeli technology. One of these was Avon, a multinational cosmetics company, to help them gain traction in the Israeli market and integrate some technologies. Tech it Forward helped to promote and manage a women startup competition, where Israeli innovations won the Grand Finale in London. Additionally, we partnered with Natura, a Brazilian personal care and cosmetics company that turned to Tech it Forward to help run a corporate innovation program. Through this process, over 62 startups applied and 13 were selected to participate in a private pitching session. Cartier's interest in science and technology impact startups, diversity, equity and inclusion startups, social impact business, led by women in Israel has been a success and we are proud to be representing them on the ground as their scouting team. And there is much much more. Through our work with beauty and retail giants, we have our eyes on top of new inventions, and are able to bring innovative Israeli technology to the international market and promote more partnerships with brands. There is a lot coming, stay tuned!
If you are a corporation looking to be connected to the best of beauty, retail, wellness, and the future of impact in Israel, Tech it Forward is here to help! Reach out to contact@techitforward.com with any inquiries.