Israel Active

During the recent Israeli lockdown, only certain essential businesses can stay open. To avoid closure, some businesses have used creative “chutzpa”. A flower shop sells “agricultural products” and herbs. A falafel shop delivers to the closest bench. A clothing store sells fruit and veg.

Israel’s Curv (reported previously) has partnered French banking giant BNP Paribas to complete a proof of concept of Curv’s process for transferring security tokens securely between market participants.

At the peak of the coronavirus crisis, with businesses around the world paralyzed, Israeli application security company Checkmarx pulled off a massive $1.2 billion exit and maintained its independence in the process. Israeli founder and CTO, Maty Siman, explains.

Back in Feb 2016 Israel’s Tipalti was one of seven Israeli “startups to watch” . Hopefully, you read it, because the developer of automation solutions for global payments is now worth $2 billion. Its clients include Amazon Twitch, Twitter, GoDaddy, Fiverr and Vimeo.

Legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana has invested in Israeli startup Walnut which develops an application for customized sales demos. Walnut enables a seamless, effective, sales process while working remotely without reliance on professional designers or developers.

When Arab countries boycotted Israel, major oil companies did the same. As the Arab world makes friends with Israel, so major oil companies feel free to invest in Israel’s successful economic future. Chevron will now help extract Israel’s natural gas deposits, for mutual benefit.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the first US Free Trade agreement - with Israel. On Oct 26, the US-Israel Trade Forum celebrates the successes of this agreement and examines areas for the continued growth of these commercial ties.  Register for this virtual event at the linked site below.

The Israeli Tech Funding report by IVC and ZAG for the third quarter of 2020 showed that the total of investment in Israeli high-tech soared to a new quarterly record – $2.74 billion.

Despite the global pandemic, Israeli tech companies have raised $7.6 billion in the nine months of 2020 and well on track to beat the previous record of $8.3 billion for the whole of 2019. Especially popular are Israeli tech companies that focus on healthcare, cybersecurity and remote working.

Israeli insurance software company Sapiens International is offering its insurance clients the driving behavior app from Israel’s GreenRoad Driving Technologies. It will allow the insurers to assess the risks of potential customers and offer personalized policies with appropriate premiums.