Israel Active

Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national airline, is launching twice-weekly flights to Tel Aviv beginning 30 Sep. And EgyptAir the national airline of Egypt, is reportedly going to operate direct flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv from early Oct.

Israel has officially inaugurated the new port terminal in Haifa Bay (see previously).  It aims to fuel competition, decrease import costs, and remove handling delays that have been costing some NIS 700 million every month.  It will hopefully be a major boon for the Israeli economy.

Job vacancies at the 240 portfolio companies of Israel’s OurCrowd soared by 300% in Q2 2021. Nearly two-thirds of the startups planned to recruit more staff in the remainder of 2021. 80% had implemented hybrid working models (home and office).

During August, Israel’s foreign currency reserves rose by over $4 billion to almost $206 billion. Israel’s cumulative fiscal deficit fell from 9.2% at end July (see previously), to 8% at the end of August.

The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) is to launch a Human Capital Fund program. It anticipates providing NIS 30 million to support companies with up to 70% of their models to help train and place reskilled Israeli employees (especially immigrants and the underprivileged) in hi-tech jobs.

Israel’s SavorEat (see previously) has partnered US-French food company Sodexo, to launch its kosher, vegan, gluten-free, allergen-free 3D-printed burger patties in the US. A pilot will commence at US universities where Sodexo already operates.

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Israel’s Melio (see previously) has just raised $110 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion, giving it the financial status of a Unicorn.  The company is still raising funds and it expects to triple in value soon.

US giant Bioventus is acquiring Israel’s CartiHeal (see previously) for $500 million. The decision came after a pivotal clinical trial of CartiHeal’s Agili-C knee cartilage implant.

US electronics giant Synaptics announced it is acquiring Israel’s DSPG (see previously) for about $600 million. DSPG is one of Israel’s oldest high-tech companies. Its voice recognition technology is embedded in Amazon's Alexa interfaces, Google earphones, smart TVs and more.