The Florida-Israel Business Accelerator, which aims to bring Israeli companies to the Sunshine State, has accomplished its goal yet again.
FIBA hosts yearly cohorts, bringing in Israeli startups to the Tampa Bay region and Florida as a whole to showcase what the state has to offer and vice versa. While Aviv Clinics was not in the cohort, FIBA officials worked with the company to help it open its first office outside of Israel.
"One of our goals is to attract Israeli companies to Florida and it takes a village," Rakefet Bachur-Phillips, executive director of marketing for FIBA, said during its Innovation Fusion event on Wednesday night. "And this one took villages."
Aviv Clinics opened its first clinic in The Villages in June, hiring 30 employees thus far. The Villages site will be the hub of all future clinics, CEO David Globig said during the event.
"We have a second location coming to Dubai and Florida is heading that up," he said. "Despite the pandemic all of us finding ourselves in, [the business has been] rapidly growing over the last three months."
The company uses a specific form of technology with its hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help aging adults improve physical and cognitive behavior. FIBA will be hosting an event on Oct. 28 in which company officials will further delve into the research and innovation behind the therapy.
Aviv Clinics is one of several Israeli companies that have expanded or made the move entirely to the U.S. in the last year.
- In December 2019, UC-Care, which was in FIBA's 2018 cohort, relocated its headquarters to Tampa. UC-Care develops, manufactures and sells products aimed at improving detection and treatment of prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men in the U.S. after skin cancer.
- In 2017, Stemrad moved its North American headquarters to the U.S. after serving in FIBA's inaugural cohort and then receiving a $6 million investment from Tampa Bay Lightning owner and startup supporter Jeff Vinik. In 2019, the company's co-founder, Oren Milstein, also relocated to the Tampa Bay region.
FIBA has recruited at least five Israeli companies to open in Tampa since 2016.
"We're the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator so that's always been our focus, to create as much opportunity throughout the state," Rachel Feinman, executive director of FIBA, previously told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "We helped to create some jobs [by having five companies relocate], but more importantly we've helped to add to the depth and character to the startup ecosystem. We’re kind of unique in that we’re bringing international companies on a fairly regular basis and that creates even more opportunity and helps elevate the reputation for our region."
