Israel Active

Despite global layoffs, IT giant Intel is still investing in Israel.  It just announced that it is to create a financial technology innovation lab in association with The Floor - a fintech hub based at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Some of its focus will be on blockchain, IoT and biometrics.

It sounds like something out of “Arabian Nights” but in reality China’s on-line retail giant Alibaba is investing in Israeli startup Twiggle, which is developing next generation e-commerce search technologies.  The funds will grow the company’s R&D team in Israel and drive global expansion plans.

Last week it was Germany’s VW investing in Israel’s Gett.  Now Israel crowdsourced public transit app Moovit is to integrate with German ride-sharing app Uber in 131 cities in 22 countries.  A recent US study showed that ride-sharing customers are also regular users of public transport.

US singer/songwriter Will.i.am, via his consumer tech label i.am+, has purchased Israel’s Sensiya.  Sensiya’s machine learning, speech recognition capabilities are being incorporated in a number of wearables, including smartphones and smartwatches.

The cornerstone laying ceremony took place in Yokneam of the new center for Israeli hi-tech giant Mellanox, due to be completed in 2018.  Of the company’s 2,600 employees, 1,800 are in Israel.  It employs staff from Tel Hai to Beersheva, including Ramallah and Gaza.

Israeli firms taken over in April included SintecMedia, (by Francisco Partners for $400 million); Crosswise (by Oracle for $50M); Ahava (by China’s Fosun for $77M); and Genome Compiler, NorthBit, and Inneractive.

Romania’s largest water corporation, RAJA Constanta, signed a contract of cooperation with Jerusalem’s Hagihon.  RAJA also signed a service contract with Israeli company Utilis (now Asterra), which uses satellite imagery technology to detect underground wastewater spills. (See also and )

Israel’s One Hour Translation (OHT) has opened its third US branch, in Lehi, Utah, in addition to its US operations in Palo Alto and Washington DC.  OHT provides high-quality human translation of 75 languages and 3,000 language pairs with 15,000+ professional translators in 100 countries.

Azerbaijan Airlines has begun weekly Tel Aviv-New York flights. From June 15, this will increase to two weekly flights on Sundays and Wednesdays, which will include a two-hour stopover in Baku.

It seems a long time ago that I first reported on the Mifold innovative Israeli child seatbelt booster system that brings the seatbelt down to the child, rather than raise the child to the level of the seatbelt. Mifolds are now being delivered around the world – first to New York City.