Israel Active

Israel’s Alef Bet Planners Ltd is designing a $150 million large-scale dairy project in South Sudan - where milk production is currently very low. The Israeli cowshed model has been used successfully in Vietnam, China, the US, Russia and India.

Israel’s Terra Venture Partners organized the first of its kind startup investment event – on an Israeli Railways train from Haifa to Beersheba. Billed as the MoneyTrain, Terra reserved one carriage on a train for startups to make 10-minute pitches to top international investors.   The CEO of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Yossi Beinart, was also on the train.

American streaming service Netflix is now available in Israel as one of 130 new countries it has just begun services to. The service will be only in English and Arabic initially, with packages costing between approximately $8 and $12 per month.

Israel’s IDE Technologies has now begun operations at its Carlsbad, California site – the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. It will produce 190 million liters of water a day and employ some 2,500 people.

Israel’s Gilat Satellite Networks has won a new $108 million project for its satellite networks in the Cusco region of southern Peru. The deal is in addition to the $286 million Peruvian contract that Gilat won in March .

Augmented Reality (AR) startup Magic Leap was founded by Rony Abovitz,- the son of Israelis. It has raised a massive $1.4 billion and set-up an Israeli development center.

Following its partnership with The Junction - Israel’s successful startup accelerator , SAP has been joined by HP, insurance giant Munich Re, and Australia’s Telstra.

The US NASDAQ is partnering with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to allow Israeli startups to raise funds on a new private exchange. The venture will operate in Tel Aviv, using NASDAQ trading technology.

Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of Dec 2015 stood at an all-time record of $90.6 billion, an increase of $1.8 billion from their end Nov 2015 level. There is now $8.7 billion in the reserves fund built up from Israel’s natural gas program.

Israel has reduced its rate of corporate tax by 1.5% to 25%, giving a boost to the growth rate, cultivating investment and making Israeli companies more competitive.