Israel Active

Fashion house Maskit was founded in 1954 by Ruth Dayan - wife of Moshe Dayan.  Then in 2011, young Israeli designer Sharon Tal, inspired by the dress worn by Kate Middleton at her wedding with Prince William, contacted Ruth (then nearly 100) and Maskit was relaunched.

Intel Capital, the global investment arm of the US-based chipmaker Intel Corp, has invested in three additional Israeli startups - Velostata, Panoply.io and Sedona Systems, for a total of $25 million.  Intel Capital has invested over $345 million in Israeli companies since 1997.

Israel’s Finance Ministry plans to cut corporate tax for multinational hi-tech companies that register their Intellectual Property in Israel.  The move would encourage large companies to move or continue with their Research & Development in Israel.

"Excel Ventures," an extension of the specialized Birthright Israel Excel program, brought 10 American business students, and 10 Israeli ex-tech soldiers, together for a 10-week "start-up training boot camp" in the heart of Tel Aviv.  The Israelis bring their problem-solving skills and the Americans bring their business acumen.

Israel’s Elbit Systems is to provide a Safe District project for the Maldonado District Administration in Uruguay. It includes a command and control system, plus over 1000 cameras and sensors, including vehicle traffic control, spanning 2000 sq. km across six municipal authorities.

The State of Israel is paying $63 million over five years to Israel’s Spacecom Satellite Communications for communications services on its Amos satellites.  Israel has an option to extend the contract for another eight years at a cost of an additional $101 million.

Movir is Israel’s first and only moving app.  Need to move one or multiple items from one location to another? Use Movir – it’s as easy as ordering a taxi.  

Joseph Sokol’s startup, OlehPay, is a payments website that enables users to inexpensively transfer dollars to Israeli shekel bank accounts.  It is free for debit cards and makes no charge to the recipient.  It claims to beat the rate consumers get from many financial institutions.

Italy’s Enel, a multinational energy producer, has opened the first and the largest innovation hub to be launched by an Italian company in Israel.  The hub will foster up to 20 startups in technologies from cyber security to big data, smart metering, digital technology and analytics.

Ebay has made another Israeli investment, acquiring SalesPredict, maker of technology that is able to track consumer behavior and preferences when shopping online.  Some of SalesPredict’s employees will move to eBay’s Israeli Development Center in Netanya.