Israel Active

Burger King Israel has begun serving vegan Whoppers and nuggets from Israel’s “Meat The End” at its pop-up branch in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square. It plans to extend this to nine other locations in the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Several of those branches are certified kosher.

Google has opened the Google Cloud region in Tel Aviv (me-west1), joining its network of cloud regions around the world. Google estimates that by 2030, the new region will contribute a cumulative $7.6 billion to Israel’s GDP, and support the creation of 21,000+ jobs in that year alone.

The Hashomer Hachadash NGO has launched a new investment company, Eretz Noshevet, to support and promote innovative agriculture in Israel. It has also raised $20 million, for supporting ventures of young farmers, agritech technology projects and land development.

Another Israeli start-up exhibiting in Shanghai recently was Etza Agriculture. Its contacts with seed companies, chemical companies, agricultural high-tech companies, and academic institutions, enable Etza to provide fast and creative solutions for emerging problems in the field.

Six Israeli startups have reached the final of Tnuva and Calcalist's FoodTech competition.  , Eggmented Reality (vegan proteins for food manufacturers), , Exosomm (milk nutrients for IBD patients), , and .

MFS Africa, the largest digital payments hub in Africa, has selected Israel’s ThetaRay (see previously) to protect its network from money laundering and fraud. ThetaRay’s SONAR SaaS solution includes AI-powered transaction monitoring and sanctions list screening.

There have been few new Unicorns in the current economic climate. Israel’s Vesttoo has just become one, having just raised $80 million at a $1 billion valuation. Vesttoo has developed a global insurance risk transfer platform. It is profitable and plans to use the funds to make acquisitions.

U.S.-based ICI Fund has announced the closing of ICI Fund II, a new fund set to include $50 million solely for early-stage Israeli AI companies and companies founded by Israeli entrepreneurs. ICI additionally said it will increase investments in women-led funds and in women-led companies.

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Energy producer Energean has announced the discovery of 7 - 15 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas at its Hermes exploration well in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel.