Israel Active

Three Israeli executives, about to get their second Covid vaccinations, express their excitement about a near future return to international travel and vital face-to-face meetings.

The Tamar Partnership, extracting natural gas from Israel’s Tamar field, has begun making contributions to Israel’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. The fund ensures that some profits of Israel’s natural gas bonanza are spent on strategic projects for the nation’s benefit and will provide around $300 million a year.

The strength of Israel’s economy is reflected in the high value of its currency. The Bank of Israel has announced that it will purchase $30 billion of foreign currency in 2021 to curb the rise of the Shekel and help keep Israeli exports competitive.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Israel’s A+ rating with a stable outlook, citing its “strong external finances,” diversified economy and “solid institutional debt.”

The UK subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems has won a contract worth some $166 million from the UK Ministry of Defence, for the Royal Navy Future Naval Training Program. The 12-year program will modernize the Navy’s shore-based training, plus establish its “Future Submarine School”.

Israel’s Rapyd (reported previous) has just raised a huge $400 million to give it a market valuation of $2.5 million.  Rapyd's real-time funds transfer platform is now used in more than 170 countries. Rapyd will use the funds to increase its workforce and purchase additional companies.

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When the Anytime Fitness gyms reopen in the UK, its 170,000 members will be able to enhance their fat burning program using Israel’s Lumen device (reported previously).

Israeli-founded, New York-based Talkspace (reported previously) has attracted huge numbers of customers during the pandemic. It is growing so fast that it could soon go public.

Israel’s Amnon Shashua, Mobileye President and CEO, announced at the virtual CES 2021 event that its technology would make fully Autonomous Vehicles a reality in 2022 and widely available by 2025. Its Radar / LIDAR and camera-based AVs would be safer than vehicles driven by humans.