14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been branching out to support companies doing things online and the tech startup medium as a whole in several places. It makes sense for it to do it, more companies doing cool things online means more people going online, which in turn means more ad sales.
But the biggest effort to date has been in London where it's set up a very robust startup program, offering all sorts of help to startups in and around the Tech City, London's answer to Silicon Valley. Note that it's not a very good answer.
Now, Google is doing the same in Tel Aviv, a city with an actual history of producing interesting tech companies.
"Today, we’re launching Campus Tel Aviv—a one-floor event & community space and pre-accelerator program in downtown Tel Aviv, made available to early stage start-ups and developers," Google explained.
The goal is the same as in London, albeit at a smaller scale, help the really small companies with practical things such as office space.
"The Campus space will be used by start-ups and partners for events, a 'device lab' will give developers the chance to try out projects on a range of devices, and entrepreneurs will get access to Google’s teams and other experts," Google explained.
The company is also launching an event for startups in the area which it dubs a pre-accelerator, 100 companies will get together for two weeks to swap experience, get pointers and meet people that can help them achieve their goals.
Google's already been active in the area, organizing conferences and hackathons. Tel Aviv is already home to a great startup culture, it's the second biggest place of this kind after Silicon Valley.
This type of environment is great for spurring innovation and making it possible for small companies to go from idea to working and popular product.