Few Montanans know that Israel – a country of around eight million people beset by frequent terrorist attacks and wars - is a global high-tech powerhouse. Israel is second only to Silicon Valley in the number of start-ups and venture capital investment.

Access to capital is the second biggest barrier to growth for Montana’s high tech and manufacturing firms, according to a Montana High Tech Business Alliance survey conducted in February 2015.

Montana’s business community got a huge boost in May when Next Frontier Capital, a Bozeman-based venture capital firm, announced the initial closing of its inaugural $20 million fund.Founder and Managing Partner Will Price spoke on the Montana High Tech Business Alliance’s Big Sky Innovation panel at the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit in September.