Israel Active

Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies has recently finalized a $680 million acquisition of Otto Motors, an Israeli startup specializing in converting normal trucks into autonomous ones.  Otto co-founder Anthony Levandowski will head Uber's self-driving division.

Israel’s Matomy Media Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange.  It recently launched mtmy – a mobile advertising agency offering a fully-managed service. In two months, Matomy’s share price has risen almost 60%.

Israel’s Pontis (part of Amdocs) leverages real-time Big Data Analytics to provide a unified and contextual view of every customer to keep them happy and achieve company goals. Pontis has been ranked in the list of “100 Most Promising Big Data Solution Providers” by CIOReview.

Israel’s BillRun has implemented an advanced billing system worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for quad-play communication services at Monaco Telecom (MT). BillRun’s charging systems have also been implemented at Israel’s Pelephone and Golan telecom.

Israel’s Teva is spending another half-a-billion dollars to buy Allergan’s Anda, the 4th largest distributor of generic treatments in the U.S. Teva will acquire distribution centers in Olive Branch, MS; Weston, FL and Groveport, OH, with a total of over 650 employees.

Israel’s SoLoMoTo provides a digital platform to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) control their online trading. SoLoMoTo now has over 100,000 customers and is about to launch in the USA which has 30 million SMBs.

I reported on Israeli startup Zeek previously . Zeek’s app and website allows users to buy gift cards and vouchers at a discount and sell unwanted gift vouchers for cash. Zeek has since expanded to the U.K. and has just raised $9.5 million to help fund the move and further growth.

Fintech firms flourish in Israel due to strong overseas interest, innovation and local talent devoted to addressing the specific needs of this industry. Israel has approximately 430 fintech companies.  Six are highlighted in this article, with “I Know First” and “Leverate Ltd” new to this newsletter.

Fintech firms flourish in Israel due to strong overseas interest, innovation and local talent devoted to addressing the specific needs of this industry. Israel has approximately 430 fintech companies.  Six are highlighted in this article, with “I Know First” and “Leverate Ltd” new to this newsletter.

Trade between Israel and Kazakhstan rose 36 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year. Israel’s exports to Kazakhstan (mainly manufactured goods and chemical products) amounted to $18 million (16 million euros), up $2 million from 2015.