Israel Active

Korean giant Samsung is to fund selected Israeli startups with $50,000 each and provide them with support over a six-month period. The focus is cameras, power, audio, on-device AI, AR, sensors, foldables, wearables, environment, and sustainability, and advanced materials.

Three Israeli hotels have won 2023 Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards - the self-described “global authority on luxury hospitality.” They are the Setai, Jaffa, the Ritz-Carlton Herzliya, and the Norman, Tel Aviv.

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US-based Rapid7 has acquired Israeli cybersecurity for . Rapid7 previously acquired Israel’s for nearly . Israel’s has acquired UK’s Citymapper for .

Israeli supermarket chain Tiv Taam is known for selling non-kosher products. But it has now decided to partner Vgarden, developer of plant-based alternatives (see previously) to produce a kosher pea-protein based vegan line of deli meats simulating pepperoni, ham, chicken, turkey etc.

Orthodox entrepreneurship program Dos Ventures, and Intel Ignite (see previously) have partnered to help orthodox Jewish entrepreneurs integrate into Israel’s hi-tech industries. It will provide them with mentoring, marketing, and sales skills, plus how to raise funds and adapt products.

Israel’s H2Pro (see previously) is to build hydrogen production facilities for the Japanese giant Sumitomo. The deal is estimated at $250 million. H2Pro signed a $70 million agreement with renewable energy company Doral last year.

El Al Airlines is to increase flights to and from Florida, including new operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. 100,000+ people flew El Al’s Miami to Tel Aviv route in 2022, which highlighted a need for more flights from Florida.

The inaugural I2U2 Business Forum (see previously) just convened to “accelerate joint investment in key sectors” in the UAE, bringing together Israel, India, the UAE and the US, an essential and important partnership that came about in the wake of the Abraham Accords.

Ratings agency Fitch affirmed Israel’s A+ credit rating with a stable outlook citing the country’s “diversified, resilient, and high value-added economy and strong external finances”.