Israel Active

Ambassador Ettinger’s latest report compares Israel today to its economic position 30 years ago.  It has certainly come forward a long way. Note the massive increase in GDP, Exports, currency reserves, energy resources, desalinated water, employment of women and number of students. http://theettingerreport.com/israels-economic-surge/

I reported previously on Israeli-founded Hippo and its smart home insurance technology. It has just raised another $100 million of funds, bringing it up to the finance-language status of a “Unicorn” – i.e. a company with a market value at least $1 billion.

I reported previously on Israel’s Trax and its image recognition and computer vision analytics tools that allows retailers to keep track of their stock and inventory. Trax has just received another $100 million investment to fund further R&D in Israel, valuing the company at $1.1 billion.

Calcalist's annual innovation and technology conference Mind the Tech will take place in London on September 11-13. Participants include investors, entrepreneurs, and executives active in the mobility, artificial intelligence, big data, and e-commerce sectors.

Malaysia-listed GHL Systems is partnering with Splitit Payments. As part of the deal, Splitit’s Israeli-developed installment payment service will be offered by more than 2,000 online merchants in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Israeli on-demand cloud technology startup env0 won Israel’s must lucrative start-up prize, taking home $250,000 at TMTI Summit’s “The Challenge” competition. Env0 uses AI to generate code continuously and help deploy and manage multiple cloud native environments.

Volvo Cars Tech Fund has made investments in two promising Israeli technology start-ups - UVeye and MDGo – Volvo’s first investments outside of the USA and Europe. Both startups have benefited from Israel’s “Drive” accelerator program, which Volvo has supported.

Amazon anticipate a September launch in Israel, as by then at least 100 Israeli retailers will have opened an Amazon store.  A sales campaign is to begin in August. Delivery to local customers will be provided through an Orian / Gett partnership.

Positive highlights in the latest Taub Center report include rising standard of living, falling prices, more participation in labor force, low tax rates, high birth rate, improved education results, growth in hi-tech education, low cost of healthcare, reduction in poverty and more daycare provision.

The European Commission will invest up to 15 million Euros in Israeli companies (up to 2 million Euros in each) for the purposes of commercializing products. It will be the first time that the Commission has taken equity stakes in startup companies.