Israel Active

The value of Israel’s foreign currency deposits increased to a new all-time record at the end of November of $112 billion – an increase of $770 million from its end October value.

Israel’s Sodastream has launched 'Sparkling Gold,' a fine alcoholic concentrate to be added to sparkling water. The new alcoholic beverage contains 10% alcohol and resembles the taste of a fruity Riesling wine. Sparkling Gold is being piloted in Germany and feedback is very positive.

I reported previously that Israel’s Visualead was helping Chinese online retailing giant Alibaba from trading counterfeit goods. Obviously, Alibaba must have been so impressed, that they bought the company – its first Israeli acquisition.

Israeli video marketing platform Innovid today announced it has agreed to acquire Israeli real-time data intelligence company Taykey . Innovid will gain access to Taykey’s big data platform and 14 patents including natural language processing and AI-based machine learning.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has partnered with Israel-based startup Zirra.com. Zirra will provide the LSEG’s fundraising program ELITE with company research tools powered by automated signals, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data.

London-based insurance market Lloyd’s has signed a deal with Israeli maritime data provider Windward. Windward will provide Lloyd’s member companies with software that forecasts accidents and dangerous conditions like hostilities breaking out in a specific area.

US cloud storage company Dropbox is expanding its activity in Israel and moving to new offices at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Sarona tower.  Dropbox aims “to attract the leading talent in Israel and allow our teams to work together seamlessly”. Amazon and Facebook have offices in the same building.

Amazon.com is in talks to set up its first shipping center in Israel. The world’s largest online retailer will hopefully soon begin operations in Israel, in a move that would lower shipping prices, waiting times, and import fees for Israeli consumers.

The Israeli Ministry of Economy is working with Chinese venture capital firms DayDayUp and ShengJing360 to launch two accelerators for Israeli startups in Beijing. The Ministry of Economy has already announced the ten startups selected to participate in the program.

3 Israeli universities have climbed up the London Times’ Higher Education ranking of graduate employability.  The Technion came top for digital skills and third in corporate links. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University both improved on their 2016 rankings.