Israel Active

I doubt if we will see Mossad agents driving around Israel in the Bond car, but I expect that at least one of Israel’s successful entrepreneurs will splash out $2 million on an Aston Martin Vanquish.  I just hope that he/she doesn’t try driving 300km / hour down my street.

Comparing Israel’s 1984 statistics with 2014 really puts its economic miracle in context: GDP rose from $30bn to $300bn; GDP per capita from $7k to $38k; Foreign currency deposits from $3bn to $89bn; exports from $10bn to $90bn; and its public debt ratio fell from 280% to 66%.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Cosmetics giant Clinique has launched a new skin-care product formulated from a species of algae grown in Israel. Clinique’s new “Smart Custom-Repair Serum” has 37 patents and took 5 years of research and development. Feedback appreciated.

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) To encourage more seed stage investment, Israel’s finance and economy ministries have proposed simpler criteria for tax incentives, such as deducting the amount invested from taxes owed. The plan will come into effect in 2015 if approved by the socio-economic cabinet.

In the most successful Initial Public Offering in Israeli history, driving assistance technology company Mobileye raised $1.023 billion on the New York Stock Exchange. Then on the first day of trading, MobilEye’s share price rose 48%, valuing the Israeli company at $7.86 billion.

The BDS thugs will not like this. Israel is the 4th most attractive country for foreign direct investment. Recent $multi-million deals include Gamida Cell (by Novartis), Simbionix (by 3D Systems), ClarityRay (by Yahoo), Lamina (by China’s Catalyst CEL) and VidMind (by Russia’s Trellas).

(Thanks to Nevet – www.broaderview.org) Digital advertiser Undertone, has bought Israeli brand-focused programmatic platform, Upfront Digital Media. Following the acquisition, Undertone is to set up its first development center in Israel.

Israeli mobile advertising technology company Supersonic has raised $15 million to further its growth and expand its operations in Asia. Formerly known as SupersonicAds, the company has developed an in-app monetization and user acquisition platform.

OurCrowd, the leading equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors, announced that it has successfully raised a total of $60 million, in its 16 months of existence, for its 46 portfolio Israeli companies.

Founded in 1964 to protect and commercialize the Hebrew University’s intellectual property, Yissum has registered over 8,500 patents covering 2,450 inventions; licensed out 750 technologies and spun-off 90 companies. Its products generate over $2 billion in annual sales.