Israel Active

The Bedek Aviation subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries is to perform maintenance and provide technical services to Wizz Air. The Hungarian low-cost airline flies from Tel Aviv to 17 European destinations, including London Luton.

Israel’s SolarEdge Technologies, the world’s largest provider of solar power optimization units, has celebrated a financial milestone. The company has tripled its stock value in less than a year and at $1.2 billion it joins Israel’s growing number of Unicorn companies (worth over one billion dollars).

I featured previously Israel’s SolarPaint has developed ultra-thin wireframe and nanoparticle-infused coating to generate solar power. It has merged with Or City Holdings, changed its name to Apollo Power, raised NIS 9.4 million and listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Victor Schoenfeld of Yarden Wines explains why wine from the Golan Heights taste so good. Reasons include the Mediterranean climate, different volcanic soils, elevations from 1,200 to 4,000 feet and one of the world’s oldest tradition for winemaking.

The UK’s Telegraph lists ten reasons to visit the holy land, including the beaches, weather, nightlife, food, architecture, museums, history and ticket prices.

A growing number of Chinese visitors come to the Holy Land. Israel is encouraging the influx, with direct flights from Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The Tourism Ministry has even launched a Mandarin version of its website.

Thanks to Intel’s purchase of Israel’s Mobileye, the Israeli government received $4.1 billion of CGT from shareholders selling to Intel. It reduced government deficit to 1.9% of GDP. The IMF also raised its growth forecast for Israel’s economy to 3.1% for 2017 and 3.4% for 2018.

Israel has leapt eight places to number sixteen in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018. It is the top country in the Middle East and is ahead of Australia, France, China, Spain and Russia. Israel was 3rd in the Innovation category and 7th in Technological Readiness.

Israel’s leading crowdfunding platform OurCrowd has formed a strategic partnership with Cardumen Capital, a Spanish-Israeli venture capital fund to help Spanish investors to invest in Israeli companies and joint Israeli-Spanish technology. In June, OurCrowd formed a strategic partnership with LetsVenture, India’s largest marketplace for startup funding.

I’ve reported previously on the non-toxic pesticide from Israel’s EdenShield which repels pests with its aroma. Edenshield sells in Israel, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece and has just raised $2 million to help fund its expansion into the USA, Mexico and the EU.