Israel Active

Tel Aviv-based TV Format Fund has about $50 million to invest in companies developing new TV shows over the next five to seven years. It has spent $3 million so far and will eventually sell shares in the fund.

Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has officially opened Inno-Negev - the first technology accelerator in the Negev region. Inno-Negev provides a free program for early-stage startups matching one of its 6-month cycles (Cyber, Homeland Security, ICT, Medical Devices, and more).

The President of Tel Aviv University writes about how TAU raises funds to commercialize innovations that arise from the 3,500 projects that students are working on.

Israel was ranked second (to Singapore) in Grant Thornton’s Global Dynamism Index, which combines 22 indicators across five growth areas to rank the business growth environments of the 60 largest economies in the world.

Just a week before the start of the Jewish New Year, Israel’s Frutarom made its tenth acquisition of the year - Spain’s Nutrafur, specializing in natural plant extracts and antioxidants for food and health products. Frutarom has 31,000 products, sells in 145 countries and 2015 revenues could reach $1 billion.

Ambassador Yoram Ettinger’s monthly summary highlights that business in Israeli technology is booming despite the latest global economic slowdown.

US venture capital fund 500 Startups is opening an Israel office. The fund, which operates one of the world's five leading accelerators, will invest up to $5 million in 10-20 early stage Israeli startups in the coming year.

I’m not giving investment advice, but some readers may be interested in a US company Sunrise Securities Corp that has built a platform (ZionTech) for reviewing and seed-funding promising Israeli startups. Sunrise’s President, Nathan Low can provide more details.

Indian businessmen are eager for their Prime Minister to adopt some of Israel’s policies that have led to the success of the Startup Nation. They include Government loans, universities embracing entrepreneurs and the acceptance of failure.

Israel’s global reach is highlighted by two of the startups chosen to be included in India’s GenNext Innovation Hub, an accelerator program managed by India’s Reliance Industries (RIL) and Microsoft Ventures. They are Israeli - In*Q*Sec and eLoan.