Israel Active

I reported previously on Israel’s Enlivex and its Allocetra / Apocell treatment to prevent Graft vs Host Disease – a common problem after bone marrow transplants.  Elivex has just received $8 million of funding which will help it progress to Phase 3 trials.

I reported previously on Israel’s Itamar Medical and its WatchPat Sleep Apnea monitoring device. Itamar has just received a purchase order for an undisclosed amount of WatchPAT devices from the famous US Mayo Clinic for the next 3-years.

I reported that Cathay Pacific has begun its 4-days-a-week service between Tel Aviv and Hong Kong.  The route has obviously proved so popular that the airline has increased the frequency to daily.

I reported previously on Israel’s Phytech and its innovative crop sensors that boost agriculture productivity. Phytech has seen phenomenal growth and has just raised $11 million to support its worldwide deployment.

Five Israeli startups have been selected for the first class of a new startup accelerator in Beijing, funded by Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry. China’s ShengJing Group (one of the world's largest private equity fund of funds) will provide free professional services to the startups.

SAP, the German multinational software corporation, has acquired Israel-founded Gigya, one of the market leaders in customer identity and access management, for an estimated $350 million. Gigya’s web identity software is used by more than 700 of the world’s leading businesses.

Israeli biotech CureTech developed pidilizumab cancer treatment which was sold to US biotech Medivation which the giant Pfizer took over last year. Pidilizumab is an orphan treatment (for rare brain stem cancer) and of no commercial interest to Pfizer. So CureTech has bought it back.

In its annual report, the Israel Innovation Authority (formerly the Office of the Chief Scientist) included an operational plan for increasing the proportion of employees in the Israeli technology industry to 15%. More Israelis would get higher salaries and Israel’s growth and competitive edge would be maintained.

The $350 average monthly influx of funds to Israel startups was boosted in September to $600 million thanks to Via Transportation (ride-sharing) which raised $250 million. Innoviz (automobile sensors) raised $65 million and StoreDot (fast-charge car batteries) raised $60 million.

The Bank of Israel's Composite State of the Economy Index for August 2017 increased by 0.3 percent, slightly more than previous months. Highlights were the increase in goods exports and in the job vacancy rate.