Pango parks up in America
Israeli parking payment startup Pango has sold its American operations to US company Parking By Phone. Pango’s technology and app will now be deployed across the US and Latin America.
More Israelis use public transport
The number of passengers on public transportation in Israel rose 7.2% in the first eight months of 2016. Bus usage was up 6.5% whilst railway use increased by 15.2%. A one percent rise in public transportation use saves the Israeli economy NIS 400 million per year.
2017 natural gas sales worth $1.5 billion
The Bank of Israel is to purchase $1.5 billion of foreign currency in 2017 to offset projected sales of Israel’s natural gas windfall. The purchases are intended to stop the Israeli Shekel from appreciating too much.
Israel gets an all-round A Plus
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Israel's Long-Term Foreign-and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to "A+" from "A". It reflects the fact that Israel's external balance sheet has continued to strengthen. All three ratings agencies now give Israel an A+ (Fitch, Moody’s and S&P)
Buying into irrigation in Costa Rica
Israel’s Netafim has acquired 60% of the Costa Rican irrigation company RyM. It will become part of Netafim Central America and help bolster Netafim’s status in the region, while targeting states such as Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Flights to Mumbai and Hong Kong
India’s largest airline, Air India, is to launch new flights to connect Tel Aviv and Mumbai, starting in 2017. Hong Kong airline, Cathay Pacific, will begin flights between Hong Kong and Tel Aviv in March 2017. Both services will compete with El Al and should result in lower fares.
Australia encourages Israeli IPOs
Five Israeli companies have listed shares on the Australian stock exchange since January 2015, including Sky and Space Global (satellite comms) and Weebit Nano (data storage). At least two more plan to launch by end 2016 including Dragontail Systems (restaurant technology).
$250,000 prize for relevant advertising
Tel Aviv-based startup Comprendi won a $250,000 award at the Twitter #Promote Ads API Challenge in San Francisco. Comprendi’s technology enables advertisers to change ads in real time based on factors such as sports results, the weather and trending topics.
The new “Oslo Agreement”
An agreement to promote startups, the first of its kind, has been signed between the Oslo International Hub and its Tel Aviv equivalent, Impact HUB Tel Aviv. Israeli-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce and the Norwegian-Israeli Chamber of Commerce are also parties to the agreement.
The right image for eBay
When eBay bought Israel’s Corrigon last week for $30 million, it acquired its advanced image identification algorithms. These allow web users to home in on an image and find it elsewhere (e.g. to buy a product or protect copyright) even if the images have been colored, cropped or modified.