Israel Active

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Israeli-founded Spot.IM is recruiting 100 new staff to add to its 200 Israeli and US employees, as part of its growth plan. Spot.IM is an engagement & community platform for top media companies such as Verizon Media, Microsoft, News Corp and Hearst.  

This week, Nanofabrica raised , Udisense (Nanit) raised , raised , digital health data Alike raised , raised , AccessiBe raised and Semperis raised .

Throughout Israel, students in grades 1 to 3, plus grades 11 and 12 have returned to classes. Shopping malls and Jerusalem’s famous open-air Mahane Yehuda shuk (market) have reopened after two months, signaling a major step in Israel’s gradual return (with precautions) to normal.

Intel has acquired Israel’s smart-transit startup Moovit for some $900 million to with Mobileye . Moovit (reported previously) provides free real-time crowdsourced information about public transportation schedules. It is used by 800 million riders across 102 countries.

This week, raised ; raised , is raising , Orca Security raised , raised , Hub Security raised and Ermetic .

Japan's Sumitomo Corp has launched a $100 million Israel focused fund - IN Venture, to invest in smart cities, digitization, health care, cyber, IT, energy, and mobilization. Sumitomo Exec VP Toshikazu Nambu said of Israel, “Your way of life forces you to find solutions and that impressed us."

Nine Israeli Covid-19 startups presented to the North California Israel Chamber of Commerce last week.  They included , EchoCare (seniors monitor), , , Expain (cancer data), Grin (remote orthodontics),  Sanolla, Gynisus (AI diagnosys) and Habitu (trials support).

Eight Israeli startups will be virtually attending the UNMET conference in Arizona in May. Their products range from chainless hydraulic bikes to smart-air quality platforms. The founders will pitch to more than 150 global institutions and VC investors.

Israeli founded Flytrex, (as reported previously) delivers food and consumer goods by drones to Iceland and North Carolina. Flytrex has now launched a delivery service to “shelter-in-place” shoppers in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Two Israeli startups have got together. Namogoo blocks unauthorized ads and distracting content that may disrupt customer experience and engagement, specifically content meant to hijack customers. It has taken over Personali, which develops AI-based tools for personalizing user incentives.