Israel Active

Despite the geopolitical turmoil in the rest of the Middle East, Israel's stock market is doing well. The Tel Aviv 25 has gained 6.9 percent in the past month 16.1 percent over the year.

17.2% of Israel’s exports (excluding diamonds) originate in the inland city of Petah Tikva. The city is home to 1,540 exporters – more than twice that of Haifa and nearly three times those in Ashkelon and Tel Aviv.

Good informative article, which highlights the growing trend for Israeli companies to resist the temptation to make quick exits, but rather stay the course and become large companies. The video discussion includes business leaders from OurCrowd, Pitango, ReWalk and Barclays Israel.   

Israel’s Tracx is a social intelligence platform that provides sales, marketing and support teams with social media data to help make their products better suited to potential customers. Tracx’s story of entrepreneurs and innovative hi-tech mirrors that of the Startup Nation.   

The UJA-Federation of New York has invested $1 million in two Israeli social impact funds, which fund profitable Israeli businesses that give good investment returns but also help people at risk, special needs individuals, the elderly, and the unemployed.

The Prime Minister’s Office’s Israel-China task force was launched at the China-Israel Cooperation Conference in Tel Aviv. For the first time dialogue on China combined         the business sector, academia and government in order to expand bilateral commercial ties.

Spanish bank Santander, via its Innoventures Fund, has invested in MyCheck - the largest mobile payment company in Israel. The product also has the potential to be marketed to Sandander’s 107 million-plus retail and commercial customers across Europe and the Americas.

, Israel’s latest company to float on the NASDAQ, raised $126 million and then rose in price from $18 to $22 in the first week. SolarEdge’s innovative products effectively allow solar panels to act independently of each other and thereby increase overall power production.

Israel’s Teva has bought US biotech Auspex for $3.2 billion and acquires Auspex’s portfolio of innovative medicines for people who live with movement disorders. Auspex also has pipeline treatments for Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s, dyskensia and Tourette’s syndrome. }

Israel’s Moovit has launched its transportation app in Australia. It already has 200,000 users after beta trials in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth. Moovit uses crowdsourcing to get you to your destination in the quickest way possible.