Israel Active

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair's Austrian subsidiary Lauda will launch Tel Aviv - Vienna daily flights in October. El Al, Austrian Airlines and Wizz Air also fly from Tel Aviv to Vienna.

El Al will be offering direct flights between Tel Aviv and Chicago starting in 2020.

Two more initiatives have just been launched to attract funds for Israeli startups. First, Israel Infrastructure Partners (IIP) announced a debut fund targeting $350 million. Meanwhile, Arizona's Grayhawk Capital has launched a $75 million early growth fund.

Israel had 6,673 active high-tech companies and startups as of the end of 2018, according to a report published by the Start-Up Nation Central organization.  Of those, over one thousand operated in the area of Artificial Intelligence.

Investors have been keen to back Israeli startups in Feb. Here is a summary of the top financing deals worth a total of $445 million in one month for just 11 Israeli companies. Also, see Ambassador Yoram Ettinger’s article “Growing global interest in Israel’s high-tech”.

Total 2018 earnings for Israeli hi-tech giant Elbit were a massive $3.68 billion - 9% higher than in 2017. Elbit also revealed that it has $9.4 billion worth of orders in the pipeline.

Meshek Energy, an agricultural cooperative society owned by Israeli kibbutzim, has acquired dozens of electric cars. They will be stationed in several dozen kibbutzim and will be used as shared vehicles. Meshek Energy will set up and operate car charging stations at various kibbutzim.

There are also at least two Israeli solutions for companies who get lost in the nightmare of extracting the VAT they are entitled to on business expenses. VATBox is one automated solution for VAT recovery. Alternatively use Israel’s Way2VAT and its Artificial Intelligence.  

Itai Green writes how Israeli startups can save tourists and businesses a fortune. I reported previously that Israel’s Refundit won the UN’s World Tourism Organization competition. Here is how Refundit could return VAT charges of up to 23 billion Euros to the pockets of tourists.

I reported previously on Israel’s Roboteam and its tactical robots. Roboteam has just won a $10 million order to supply 40 TIGR ground robotic systems to Italy’s Carabinieri (police). They are designed to handle suspicious packages and hazardous materials.