Connecting Canadians
(Thanks to Size Doesn’t Matter) Toronto’s Porter Airlines and Israel’s EL AL have signed an agreement. They will co-ordinate operations at Newark International Airport in New Jersey to connect passengers between Tel Aviv and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and other Canadian destinations.
More passengers, more trains, better reliability
Israel Railways has reported a new record in the number of passengers. Israeli trains carried 45 million passengers in 2013, 12% more than in 2012. The growth was due to the opening of new lines plus more new double-decker carriages. Punctuality rose to 93.3% from 90% in 2012.
The largest Israeli buyout by an Asian company
Japanese Internet giant Rakuten has just bought Israeli-developed video and voice communications app Viber for $900 million. Viber allows users to make free phone and video calls within its network, and has over 200 million users all over the world.
How isolated is Israel?
Good economic summary by Yoram Ettinger.
Israel is a manufacturer of innovation
(Thanks to algemeiner) Ten of Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s former colleagues at Cyota have built companies of their own. One, Michal Tzur, co-founded open source video platform Kaltura, which has just raised an additional $47 million of capital.
Google buys advanced Israeli security
IT giant Google has acquired the staff and intellectual property of Israeli start-up SlickLogin. The Israeli company is developing applications using ultrasound and smartphones, to allow users more easily to login securely. SlickLogin’s founders served in the IDF elite cyber security unit.
Foreign investors flock to Israel
Overseas investment in the Israeli Stock Exchange tripled in 2013 from $410 million in 2012 to $1.5 billion. Bio-techs, banks and communications companies were the most popular.
Israelis to provide Arabic web content
The UK-Israel Tech Hub has organized the Go Global Program for Digital Arabic Content Entrepreneurs. The Hub hopes to spark business ties between the Israeli companies and firms that can bring that technology to the Arabic-speaking world.
Recovering 27% of abandoned purchases
(Thanks to Atid-EDI) When an on-line customer abandoned his / her shopping cart in the past, that business was lost. Now, Jerusalem-based Abandonaid recovers 27% of abandoned business by persuading the customer to re-communicate. For almost every language and currency.
What is Israel worth to the EU?
Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar presented a report on January 30 arguing that Israel is strategically vital for a secure, prosperous and influential Europe. Key areas include intelligence on terrorism threats, natural gas and 11% of European Research Council projects.