SAP expands its Israeli R&D
SAP SE is expanding its research and development office in Israel. It is looking to hire several dozens of software engineers, big data experts, and managers for both its SAP-Gigya development office located in Tel Aviv, as well as its Ra’anana office. SAP has some 700 employees in Israel.
The world’s 3rd best startup ecosystem
Israel rose from 4th in 2019 to 3rd of the 202 countries on Startup Blink’s 2020 Global Ecosystem Report. It lists Outbrain, Fiverr and Moovit as the most popular of the 968 startups listed. Israel was 2nd for Coronavirus innovation.
Mobile X-ray devices for Asia
Israel’s Nanox (reported previously) has just received $20 million investment from SK Telecom who will partner Nanox in selling thousands of its portable X-ray machines in South Korea and Vietnam. SK Telecom said Nanox can make a significant change in early disease detection.
Startups raising funds
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Opora.io raised .
Red Dot raises $200 million VC fund
Israeli venture capital fund Red Dot Capital Partners has raised nearly $200 million for its second fund that invests in late-stage companies. Red Dot launched its first fund in 2016, raising $151 million.
Team8 raises $100+ million venture fund
Israeli cybersecurity startup foundry Team8 (reported previously) has launched its Venture Capital arm. It has raised another $104 million to invest in startups working in the fields of data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and enterprise technologies.
Record sales and exports for IAI
Israel’s state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) had a record $1 billion in sales in Q1 2020. Exports accounted for 71% of sales. Its backlog of orders was over $13 billion. There had been little if any cancelations of contracts or major delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pandemic Innovation Conference
The OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference on June 22 will explore the latest technological solutions to the coronavirus crisis, including vaccination, treatment, diagnostics and prevention of the disease. Thousands of investors from 100+ countries are expected to attend online.
Good sales for re-opened Israeli stores
May was an excellent month for those stores in shopping centers and malls that reopened after lockdown. Their average sales rose 21% in May 2020 compared with May 2019 according to data from Retail Information Systems, which took figures from 2,850 stores across Israel.
Two new records for currency reserves
Israel’s reserves of foreign currency rose by a record $9 billion in May to reach a new record total of $142.5 billion.