Israel Active

Forbes has declared the Israeli-born husband and wife team of Adi Tatarko and Alon Cohen to be the high tech world’s “newest power couple.”  Adi and Alon founded Houzz.com - a platform for home remodeling and design. Houzz has 25 million monthly users and the company is valued at $2 billion.

(Thanks to Janglo) Google Tel Aviv is one of the eight companies included in Inc. Magazine’s 4th annual list of the World’s Coolest Offices.  See pages 5 – 8 in the linked article.

International telecommunications giant Telefonica is to provide help and funding to companies in Israel’s VLX Ventures technology incubator. Telefonica will invest up to $1 million in specific digital communications projects, and will also contribute its experience.

Blender is a new Israeli on-line platform that connects borrowers to lenders without a bank acting as middleman.  The result is less bureaucracy, better rates and lower fees, albeit with greater risk.

International telecommunications giant Telefonica is to provide help and funding to companies in Israel’s VLX Ventures technology incubator. Telefonica will invest up to $1 million in specific digital communications projects, and will also contribute its experience.

By end 2015, Israel may have binding agreements to sell billions of dollars of natural gas to Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Even Turkey is interested.  Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel’s gas “allows us to enjoy both political and economic fruits”.

Thanks to ex-Ambassador Yoram Ettinger for this report of recent Israeli global business successes. 

(Thanks to Israel21c) Turkey, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain have all signed deals for new original Israeli game shows and reality formats.  At the MIPCOM TV market in Cannes, international TV producers bought “The People’s Choice”, “Help! I can’t cook!” and “300 Sec. Ride”

A new app Am Yisrael Buy helps users find products that were specifically made in Israel to buy.  The name is obviously a play on the Hebrew phrase “Am Yisrael Chai” which translates as “long live the Nation of Israel.”  The app is available for both Android and iOS smartphones and devices.

“Yazam BaLev” (“an entrepreneur at heart”) is the first full-fledged accelerator that will provide support to haredi (very religious) Jewish hi-tech start-ups.  The 4-month Jerusalem College of Technology program includes mentoring and training in how to present to potential investors.