Israel Active

In January and February combined, 683,000 visitors came to Israel, up 16% from the first two months of 2018.  Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said he expected that 2019 will continue the unprecedented surge in tourism.

Maybe it was all the Bamba bags in their stores that convinced Walmart to buy product review insight company Aspectiva - its first Israeli startup. Aspectiva’s artificial intelligence algorithms analyze product reviews and personalize the way that Walmart’s customers filter their searches.

Osem-Nestle has just opened a NIS 200 million new factory in Kiryat Gat that will double its production capacity and increase output of its iconic Bamba peanut snack to 1.5 million bags a day. Walmart has started stocking Bamba and other retail chains in the US and Europe are expected to follow.

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.