Israel Active

Singapore's Temasek is to acquire Israeli-based micro-irrigation company Rivulis for a reported $365 million. Temasek intends to retain Rivulis' current management, as well as its headquarters in Kibbutz Gvat. Rivulis’ 2019 sales were some $400 million. 400 of its 1800 staff are in Israel.

Israel’s Jifiti (reported previously) has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Mastercard. Jifiti has grown from being purely an in-store gifting platform into enabling point of sale financing. Its technology allows banks and retailers (e.g. Apple & IKEA) to offer immediate credit by using Mastercard.

The Tel Aviv municipality held Israel’s largest-ever bootcamp (reported previously). Speakers included MK Nir Barkat, OurCrowd’s Jon Medved, and IAI CEO Aharon Aharon.  Volunteers managed 100 projects, 20 speakers, and 60 mentors over Zoom calls and WhatsApp groups.

Israeli transcription startup Verbit (reported previously) now has more than 120 employees and has raised a total of $65 million. 2020 has been its most successful year ever - growing to 500 paid customers (including Harvard and Stanford Universities) and seeing revenues grow fivefold.

Israel-based Hetz Ventures has closed its second flagship fund totaling $77 million, bringing its total amount to $130 million. Hetz has invested in 10 pre-seed Israeli AI, Big Data, cybersecurity, fintech, and DevOps companies since its launch in 2018.

Israeli cybersecurity startup foundry Team8 has launched Team8 Fintech – a platform to establish and scale-up transformative financial technology companies. Team8 is investing $100 million, looking to satisfy the demand for digital solutions in a post-Covid-19 world.

The Israeli and Dubai diamond exchanges have struck a deal to boost trade. The Israeli Diamond Exchange will open an office in Dubai, while the Dubai Multi Commodities Center, an economic free zone, will set up shop in Ramat Gan, Israel, the base of the Israeli exchange.

Group 42, an Abu Dhabi-based hi-tech company, is opening a subsidiary in Israel to give the UAE company “access to one of the most vibrant and mature tech ecosystems in the world.” Group 42 already has partnership agreements with Israeli companies NanoScent, Rafael and IAI.

There are still plenty of vacancies in Israeli companies for hi-tech personnel, despite the pandemic. Salary levels also remain high. DevOps engineers and Data specialists are extremely sought-after and cyber security professionals are now seen as critical.

Nine Israeli organizations have been selected for EU funding under the Horizon 2020 program designed to combat Covid-19. A total of NIS 18 million was allocated for them to work in eight of the EU’s 23 collaborative projects.