Bring the innovation to Tampa

Some Tampa area business and civic leaders are looking far outside the United States — to Israel — to lure tech startups to town, with $1 million in seed money.

The funds, from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, will go toward build-out and company relocation incentives for the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator. The Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation launched the program in late August. Dr. Vicki Rabenou, trained in obstetrics and gynecology and a onetime official in Israel's Ministry of Economy, was named president and CEO of the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator.

The goal of the program, says Rabenou, is to compliment Tampa's burgeoning tech startup scene with some new faces and energy, and also help Israeli companies grow in Florida and the United States. “Israel is in a very unique situation,” Rabenou tells Coffee Talk. “It's surrounded by enemies yet it has one of the best startup communities in the world.”