Israel Active

I reported previously on the artificially intelligent app from Israel’s Donde that trawls images of fashion products to help customers in their search. Donde has now been integrated into fashion retailer Forever 21’s website. It has also just raised $6.5 million of funds.

I reported previously when Israel’s Demisto raised $20 million to help develop its automated computer security incident management platform. Palo Alto Networks has now agreed to acquire Demisto for $560 million in cash and stock. It’s Palo Alto’s 3rd Israeli acquisition.

I reported previously that US giant KLA-Tencor was acquiring Israel’s Orbotech for $3.4 billion.  As the companies operate in Korea, Israel, the US, Taiwan, Japan and China, regulators in all these countries had to approve the deal.  China (the last) has finally done so.

I reported previously on Israel’s Dayzz and its app to help companies diagnose the sleep problems of their employees. Dutch multinational Philips has just selected Dayzz to participate in its inaugural 12-week Healthworks accelerator program for sleep-related startups.

Israeli startup Rapyd Financial Networks has developed a service to transfer funds through cash, bank transfers, digital wallets, local cards and 300+ other payment methods. It supports 65 currencies, providing access to 2.3 billion consumers in over 100 countries.

I reported previously that a post-Brexit free-trade deal between Britain and Israel had been agreed in principle. The detailed work has been now completed and the agreement has been formally signed.

The Bank of Israel has just released its latest “Overview of economic developments and monetary policy in Israel”. It predicts continued growth at around 3%, inflation around 1%, stable, full employment and expanding exports of services.

Due to strong global demand, Israel’s GenCell Energy is to mass-produce its fuel cell generators. GenCell’s target is to increase production to 5,000 units per year from the current 100.  US electronics manufacturer Flex will partner GenCell, integrating cells into generators at their Israeli factories.

Israel’s Amdocs has just announced its quarterly results to the 5th Feb 2019. During the previous 3 months it earned $1.01 billion in revenue - up 3.5% on the same period in 2018.

Israeli-founded global investment platform OurCrowd has released the agenda of its 7th Mar 2019 Jerusalem Global Investor Summit, entitled “Startups: Making a Global Impact".