Israel Active

This week, Israeli wines from the Golan Heights Winery will be stocked in stores in the United Arab Emirates. They will be sold through African + Eastern - a major importer and distributor of wine and alcohol in the Emirates and the Persian Gulf, representing some of the leading brands in the world.

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Israeli social trading and marketplace platform eToro (reported previously) is hiring another 100 employees to join its 1,000 workers in 12 global offices. It has already recruited more than 300 employees since January 2020 - half of these are based in Israel.

Israel’s DouxMatok (reported previously) has partnered with Canada’s Rogers Sugar (parent of Lantic Inc). Rogers will create sugar cane-based sweeteners, using DouxMatok’s technology, that are 30 to 50 percent lower in sugar, for food manufacturers in North America.

The US subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems has signed a new contract to provide night-vision goggles to the U.S. Army for $22.5 million, with a potential value of $442 million. The goggles provide vision up to 300 meters - double the range of previous versions.

Twelve Israeli-founded companies were among 100 startups in Forbes Magazine’s “The Cloud 100”, ranking the world’s top private cloud companies. The list “recognizes standouts in tech’s hottest category, from small startups to private-equity-backed giants”.

Japanese asset management firm Aristagora Advisors has launched a new venture capital fund Aristagora VC dedicated to investment in early-stage Israeli startups. The $60 million fund will focus on deep tech companies and will initially invest up to $1.5 million in each startup.

Four new startups will join Visa’s Tel Aviv innovation studio (reported previously). GetHere (personalized ordering & payment); Spendl (payment by cryptocurrency); Pinch (debit card swipe fee distributor); GoGo Getter (affordable childcare financing).

The UAE-Israel peace deal is not just for political reasons. The Gulf state seeks Israel’s innovative technology and solutions. Food-tech and agri-tech are the top priorities as the UAE imports more than 90 percent of its food and the pandemic has disrupted transportation of vital supplies.

A Unicorn is the business term for a company that is worth more than one billion dollars. There are currently 41 Israeli-founded private companies worth $1 billion or more. 14 are based in Israel. With a population of just 8.9 million, that comes to 1.58 unicorns per (100,000) capita, making Israel No. 1 in the world.