Monthly Archives: June 2020

Record Q1 funds raised

Israeli companies raised $2.74 billion in the first quarter of 2020 – 76% more than Q1 2019.  March saw a slowdown, but funds raised in April were nearly $1 billion. https://nocamels.com/2020/04/ivc-zag-sw-first-quarter-2020-record-coronavirus/

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Turning cleaners into computer staff

When Covid-19 struck, Israeli company Lightricks (developer of photo editing software Facetune) sent home its nine cleaners. Days later, maintenance manager Nadav changed their lives. He taught them basic computer skills and had them inputting photos of faces for image … Continue reading

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Nine years of the Israel-Asia Center

The Israel-Asia Center (reported here previously) was founded in 2011 Since then it has secured some $185 million for the Israeli economy. Its 8-month fellowship has trained almost 100 young leaders from 14 different countries across Asia, including Indonesia and … Continue reading

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US gets good value from Israel

The US gets a high return on its annual $3.8 billion Israeli investment. Israel invests almost $24 billion in the US, nearly triple that in 2010. Israeli-designed components are an integral part of US hi-tech products. Areas include IT, biotech, … Continue reading

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Ukraine-Israel trade to expand

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed with and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu expanding the Free Trade Area Agreement, promoting Israeli investment and resuming flights. He also said that Israel is “an example of an effective fight against the coronavirus epidemic.” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280834

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Resuming tourist flights to Cyprus

Cyprus announced that Israel will be in the first group of 13 countries, with low COVID-19 infection rates, allowed to resume commercial flights to the country on 9th June. Initially, passengers will require a health certificate confirming that they are … Continue reading

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How Israeli companies retained employees

Several Israeli firms took major steps during the pandemic to avoid losing skilled staff. Ness Technologies and VeriFone Systems re-assigned many employees from clients who froze their business activity to clients that had increased demand or moved them to development … Continue reading

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IKEA opens its 6th Israeli store

As reported here previously, IKEA’s sixth Israeli store has been built at Moshav Eshtaol – north of Beit Shemesh. Now, as the number of coronavirus infections in Israel has dropped, the new store has opened, employing some 380 people. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280814

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BuyMe gift vouchers

Micha Berkuz, Shai Darin, and Tal Zuri, established BuyMe in 2012 and turned it into Israel’s leading platform for employee gift vouchers, offering vouchers to more than 1,000 businesses. They have now sold their share in the company to Tel … Continue reading

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Vegan baby formula heads to Canada and India

Israel’s Else Nutrition (reported here previously) has just been granted approval of patent applications for its plant-based formulation for infant and toddler populations in both India and Canada. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/else-nutrition-announces-expansion-intellectual-120000643.html

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