Israel Active

Israel’s Vertical Field (see previously) has just opened the first of its indoor farms inside retail stores in Dnipro (Ukraine) and Krasnodar (Russia). The mobile walls grow healthy greens such as lettuce, spinach and basil, to be harvested immediately for customers at the store.

Global wealth management giant UBS will establish an R&D center in Israel for the first time, initially employing up to 100. General Manager Gerry Livnat recognized that Israel is a cyber center, so it is important for UBS to hear about new developments.

Ignite, Intel’s startup growth program, has selected 10 more startups for its fifth Tel Aviv cohort. They are CADY Solutions, , DeepAI, , Exodigo, Finout, Helios.dev, HyperSpace, Illumex, and Oxeye.

Jerusalem has approved the construction of what will become the tallest tower building ever built in Jerusalem. The Marom Tower, part of the City Gateway business park (see previously) will be forty stories high with a cultural center, art galleries and a museum on the first 8 floors.

Israel’s Firstime is raising a $100 million fund aligned with UN sustainability development goals. It aims to help build Israeli unicorns working in the climate technology industry, and has already invested in BeeHero (see previously) - Israel’s precision agriculture and pollination company.

Serbia has inaugurated its innovation and trade office in Jerusalem. The office, located in Margalit Startup City Jerusalem, is a sign of burgeoning business ties and designed to enable the countries to fulfill their bilateral economic potential.

Latest Israeli startups to become billion-dollar Unicorns are Celsius Networks (raised $400 million, value $3 billion); Lusha (see ) raised $205 million, value $1.5 billion; Augury (see ) raised $180 million, value $1 billion; OpenWeb (raised $150 million, value $1 billion).

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One of the investors in Israel’s latest $1 billion company OpenWeb is the New York Times, which rarely prints anything complimentary about the Jewish State.

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