Israel Active

Israeli ridesharing startups Gett and Juno are joining forces, in order to challenge larger rivals Uber and Lyft. Gett offers ride-hailing services in more than 80 cities around the world, including London, Moscow and New York. The taxi app Juno is only active in New York City.

Israel’s LawGeex uses artificial intelligence (AI) to save businesses much of the time and expense required to review and approve everyday contracts. LawGeex has just raised $7 million of funds.  

I reported about the Fleet management and cargo tracking systems of Israel’s Pointer Telematics. Now Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest public bottler by sales volume of Coca-Cola products in the world, has selected Pointer to provide fleet management services.

The latest airlines to announce new scheduled flights to Israel include Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flying between Eilat and Stockholm; Armenia Aircompany between Tel Aviv and Yerevan and Ural Airways between Tel Aviv and the southern Russian resort of Sochi.

John Levy of the Friends of Israel Educational Foundation gave this TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk to sixth formers at a UK school. He eloquently presents Israel’s achievements to this important audience.

Bloomberg has rated Israel’s economy as the third most stable in the world, after Hong Kong and South Korea.  Bloomberg praised Israel’s nearly non-existent inflation rate and low unemployment.

From June, Iceland’s low-cost airline WOW air intends to run four flights a week from Tel Aviv to Iceland's capital of Reykjavik. From there, travelers can connect with flights to nine cities in the USA and Canada.  Prices will be around $260 - $280 each way.

At KamaTech’s second annual fair for Haredi startups, the eight best companies (chosen from 450 applicants) demonstrated their ideas. Each received a 20,000 Shekel grant. The latest group included Doctorpedia which enables patients to have online consultations with doctors.

Residents of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion can place orders with Israeli startup Shukrun to select, and have delivered, fresh fruit and vegetables from Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market (the Jerusalem “Shuk”).  Now with an English-language website.

This video accompanies previous articles on the Australian “landing pad” in Tel Aviv. Australian entrepreneurs come to Israel to access the passion, knowledge and innovative abilities that characterize Israel's startup ecosystem and help their ideas become a reality.