Israel Active

The Royal Bank of Scotland held a 3-day hackathon (hi-tech development exercise) in Tel Aviv to seek out Israeli financial technologies that will enable the Edinburgh-based retail bank to boost services to customers. The “fintackathon” also involved Google and Intel.

One of the two Israeli startups that I mentioned were planning Australian IPOs this year is voice messaging specialist HearMeOut.  It hopes to become the equivalent of Twitter for 42-second voice-clip messages on social media.

I featured Israeli website guidebook-writer WalkMe previously . WalkMe has now been rated the sixth fastest growing software company in North America by the Deloitte accounting firm, and the 13th fastest growing overall. It is growing at a rate of 8,085%,

Israel's unemployment rate for October dropped to an all-time low of 4.5%.  The number of Israelis usually working full time (35 hours per week or more) rose 9% from the previous month.

Although Google now owns traffic and navigation app Waze, it is still an Israeli-run company. Sao Paulo, Brazil (South America’s largest city) is to use Waze to help manage the heavy traffic tackled by nearly 20 million people every day.

Nine Israeli companies were among KPMG's 100 most promising fintech companies for 2016.  They are Payoneer, Ourcrowd, Tipranks, Lemonade, Innovative Assessments, Paykey, Zooz, Blackswan and DMway

Marius Nacht, co-founder of Israeli computer security firm Check Point, has raised $100 million for a new fund to invest in Israeli healthcare startups. He is hoping for the emergence of another Teva or the equivalent of a Check Point in healthcare.

I reported previously the completion of the revived Jezreel Valley railway. It is now fully operational, taking 50 minutes from Haifa to Beit She’an. Many travelers remember using the original line, until it was closed 65 years ago.

Israeli startup Zirra uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to give investors increased chances of finding a winner. It uses public domain information such as valuation, competition, risk and success factors, employees, founders and insights from human experts.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz have laid the cornerstone for the new $364 million, 173-acre Jerusalem Gateway business park. It will include nine 36-floor skyscrapers, business centers, hotels, and 70,000 square meters of leisure and cultural spaces.