Israel’s defense-tech sector gained a new player on Monday with the launch of The Sandbox, the country’s first nonprofit hardware incubator that works to transform battlefield needs into high-performing defense products at the earliest stages.
The Sandbox was founded by the nonprofit Let’s Do Something in memorial of David Newman who was murdered by Hamas on October 7. The Sandbox was designed to create defense companies to help and serve those who lost the most during and in the wake of October 7.
The new nonprofit, launched at an event in partnership with Startup Nation Central, focuses on providing early-stage innovators with the resources and connections to build scalable defense and dual-use technologies to protect Israel going forward.
The event was held at Startup Nation Central’s Tel Aviv headquarters and opened with data showing the sector’s rapid expansion. Over the past year, the number of Israeli defense-tech companies has doubled from 150 to more than 300, with defense exports exceeding $14 billion in 2024.
Apart from sharing data and introducing the Sandbox for launch, this event also convened a panel of figures from across the defense-tech world. These speakers included Captain Chen Ben-David, Head of Innovation for Startups at MAFAT; Perri Finkelstein, Head of Business Development and Value at Protego Ventures; Bar Lev Ari, Product and Project Manager in a leading IDF technological unit; and IDEON Technologies CEO Yoav Hadad.
They discussed topics ranging from dual-use technologies to the challenges and advantages of building hardware and quickly moving from idea to field impact within the IDF.
Event draws active-duty IDF personnel, startup founders, defense investors
“Israel has always turned its greatest weaknesses into strengths. Today, our weakness is in hardware. We must become self-sufficient – buy less, make more. That is the path to success,” Finkelstein said.
The event drew more than thirty attendees, including active-duty IDF personnel, startup founders, and defense investors. The launch concluded with Ike Bodner, the COO of Let’s Do Something, sharing his vision going forward: to go beyond just defense or dual-use companies and create technologies with the ability to keep Israel protected while simultaneously excelling in global markets.