Israel Active

Trade between New Jersey and Israel has soared during the pandemic. Exports to Israel increased by 41% to $461 million. Imports rose to 1.9 million. New Jersey exports to Israel consumer products, medical supplies, and natural products. Imports include energy supplies and minerals.

Warming ties between Israel and Egypt have led to the expansion of air travel between the two countries.  A new route from Tel Aviv to southern Sinai resort of Sharm el Sheikh will commence in April. It follows the recent meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister and Egyptian President.

Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, completed a 3-day visit to Israel. She had productive meetings with Israel’s Economy & Industry Minister and its Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology. Discussions centered on building up trade and technology relations.

Good article from Shoshana Bryen on Israel’s increasing impact diplomatically and economically. It cites negotiating between Russia and Ukraine, relations with Turkey, joint military exercises, and the EastMed pipeline.

Israel’s leading VC’s and financial institutions were asked to rank Israel’s Most Promising Fintech Startups - sponsored by Citi and Israel Discount Bank. The 8 categories were headed by Balance, Access Fintech, 8Fig, Parametrix Insurance, Graulate, Noname Security, ZenGo and Sedric.

Israel’s budget deficit fell to 2.2% of GDP for the 12 months to Feb 2022, compared to 4.5% at the end of 2021. In the month of Feb itself, the government had a rare budgetary surplus of NIS 4 billion due to high revenues from taxes, although Israel’s tax burden is the sixth lowest in the OECD.

Israeli shipping giant Zim has just reported the largest ever annual net profit ($4.65 billion) achieved by an Israeli company. It will also pay out the biggest ever dividend – $2.04 billion. Since its Jan 2021 IPO, Zim’s market value has increased five-fold to $8.9 billion.

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Just after the launch of Israel’s BeerBazaar the Coronavirus pandemic caused a massive surge in home delivery orders. With no software available, founder Avi Moskowitz developed PrettyDamnQuick to handle delivery logistics. It has now processed over 100,000 orders for many merchants.

US computer giant Nvidia, has just acquired Israel’s Excelero, a provider of enterprise data storage and block storage solutions. Nvidia employs 2,800 Israelis at seven 7 R&D centers – the most outside the US. Sites include Yoknean (), Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ra’anana, and Beersheba.