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Israel’s Innovation Authority has launched a NIS 40 million ($12 million) a year program to bring advanced manufacturing capabilities to Israeli industry and increase the number of tech firms that make their products in Israel. It will help build new factories and upgrade the technology at existing ones.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi met on Thursday with 11 ambassadors from the Asia-Pacific region. Bilateral agreements were signed with India to promote culture and cooperate on a water project in India.

The Israel Innovation Authority is awarding grants of up to $2 million for projects involving both Israeli and South Korean companies. The projects need to be in the bio arena, including nanorobotics, advanced therapeutics discovery, tissue engineering and bio-electronics.

The latest IVC Research Center report shows that Japanese investment in Israeli tech firms is unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic. The $853 million for the first half of 2020 compares to $660 million in the first half of 2019 and the record total of $1.5 billion for the whole year.

Leading AI chipmaker, Israel’s Hailo (reported previously) has opened a new Japanese subsidiary to support its growing Asia-Pacific client base and expand its global reach. It follows two new Japanese partnerships and a $60 million investment including from Japan’s NEC.

You must check if you will be allowed entry, but all these airlines are now flying into Tel Aviv on a regular basis. United, Delta, Lufthansa, Swiss, Ethiopian, WizzAir, Air Canada, Air France, Israir, Belavia, Ryanair, Austrian, Turkish, Aegean, Air Europa, Pegasus, easyJet and Ukraine International.

Israel’s Nanox (reported previously) has just raised $165 million in an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ. The share price of the portable X-Ray devices company rose 21% on their first day of trading. Subsequent rises have brought the company’s valuation to over $1 billion.

Database software developer Redis (reported previously) has just received $100 million of financing that values the company at more than $1 billion, giving it the financial title of a Unicorn. Redis has over 7,500 customers, including MasterCard, Dell, Microsoft, Costco and Gap,

Israeli app BeeZee is the brainchild of Georgina Green, an employee of marketing agency GMT. She arranged development of an app that enables people anywhere in the world to order goods from over 100 Israeli “mom-and-pop” stores for delivery to friends or relatives in Israel.

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