Israel Active

April takeover news includes Dutch game developer GamePoint buying Israel’s Luck Genome for £12.5 million; Israel’s WalkMe acquiring Israeli analytics startup Jaco; US-based Magento buying Israel’s Shopial and U.S. ticket marketer SeatGeek taking over Israel’s TopTix for $56 million.

I reported previously about Israel selling natural gas to Jordan. Natural gas from Israel's offshore Tamar reservoir began flowing to Jordan in early 2017 via a special pipeline built in 2016 from Israel’s Dead Sea Works plant.

I reported previously about the “Green in the City” urban farm on the roof of Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff shopping mall. This latest article includes a new video of the farm, and features its unmanned fresh food stands where honest shoppers buy the vegetables with cash.

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.