Israel Active

NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected Israeli ad provider Innovid (see previously) to provide ad-management solutions for its presentation of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Israel’s Bookaway is confident that travelers are ready to use its platform to search, compare and book bus, ferry and train tickets around the world. Investors must also be confident, as Bookaway has just raised $35 million in funding.

Nas Academy, a Singapore-based platform founded and led by Israeli-Arab Nuseir Yassin of Nas Daily (see previously) has raised $11 million of funds to build tech tools. Nas Academy helps developers create their own academies. It offers courses on entrepreneurship, storytelling and editing.

Israeli cybersecurity IntSights (see previously) has just been acquired by Boston-based cybersecurity Rapid7 for $335 million. IntSights, founded by ex-IDF intelligence officers, alerts external cyber threats by monitoring the dark web, among other measures. Rapid7’s R&D will remain in Israel.

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Investment in Israeli high-tech companies in the 3 months from Apr to Jun 2021 surged to a record $6.52 billion - triple the amount raised in the same quarter the previous year.

The Costa Group, Australia’s leading grower of hydroponic glasshouse tomatoes, is to deploy the pollination robots of Israel’s Arugga (see previously). At peak production, Costa’s 300,000+ square meters of glasshouses in Guyra, New South Wales, contain over one million plants.

Israel has more billion-dollar private companies per capita than any other country.  Great video

Due to Covid, Expo 2020 in Dubai is now to take place from Oct 2021 to Mar 2022 and Israel will be a key exhibitor. Ohad Cohen, head of Israel’s Foreign Trade Administration, discusses Israel’s Expo plans and exports success. Israeli 2021 exports are heading for a $120 billion+ record.

Israeli startup Aerodrome, which develops unmanned aerial systems for the defense sector, is paying some NIS 15 million for Israel’s FlyTech, which develops drone solutions for the civilian market. The acquisition will help Aerodrome’s plans to expand into the US civilian UAV sector.