21 November 2014 Press releases

GvW Graf von Westphalen creates a successful platform for the German/Israeli start-up scene and investors

Yesterday, the “German-Israeli StartHub - Connecting Innovation” event took place in Berlin. Organized and in part hosted by law firm GvW Graf von Westphalen, more than 100 investors and participants of the German and Israeli start-up scene met in Berlin in order to discuss the future of the German-Israeli cooperation in particular in the high-tech industry. The event was initiated by members of the firm’s Israel Desk (Christian Kusulis, Nora Thies) and Startup-Initiative (Sven Donner, Felix Wolf).

At the same time, the event served as a “kick-off event” of the Berlin-Tel Aviv Technology & Entrepreneurship Committee (BETATEC) in Germany. BETATEC was initiated by the German-Israeli Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Israel) in order to bring together German and Israeli start-ups and to strengthen the business relations between the two countries.

Dr Cornelia Yzer, senator for economics, technology and research of the Federal State Berlin, gave the opening speech and emphasized Berlin’s important role as a Mecca for German and Israeli entrepreneurs. Other top speakers such as Avraham Nir-Feldklein (delegate of the Israeli embassy), Mickey Steiner (BETATEC chairman), Wolfgang Hisserich (VP Business Development and Venturing at Deutsche Telekom), Dr Sebastian Muschter (McKinsey) and Shelly Hod Moyal (founding partner of iAngels) made for a varied program.

For GvW, the head of the Israel Desk and Frankfurt-based lawyer Christian Kusulis presented the event. Felix Wolf, lawyer in the Munich office, devoted his presentation to the legal implications of crowd investing and crowd funding.

Afterwards, Israeli start-ups Arilou Technologies (cyber security provider for the automotive industry), Driivz (software provider for charging stations of the eMobil industry) and HopOn (developer of a mobile phone payment system for public transport services) took the opportunity to present their innovative ideas to a large audience, moderated by Hemdat Sagi, attaché for economics of the Israeli embassy’s Israel Trade Center.

INFARM’s impressive premises constituted the perfect setting for the event. INFARM, an Israeli start-up right at the heart of Berlin-Kreuzberg, is active in “indoor farming” and thereby develops new ways to cultivate food also in cities in an efficient and sustainable manner.

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