Israel Active

Israel is important to Amazon not just for the business it gets, but also for the technology that Israeli companies are supplying the company. Chief Technical Officer Dr Werner Vogels told reporters “There are some excellent start-ups here, especially among start-ups developing for mobile”.

Despite troubles at Better Place, Israeli Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau inaugurated Israel’s first-ever public electric vehicle charging station in Mitzpe Ramon. Landau drove an all-electric Renault Fluence from Ra’anana to the Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference.

The merger between Israeli 3D printer manufacturer Objet and its US rival Stratasys has been completed. The new company will continue to be called Stratasys but will be incorporated in Israel. It has assets valued at $3 billion.

Global hi-tech giant KLA-Tencor Corporation has opened a new center in Yokne'am, in addition to its R&D, production, and sales center in the lower Galilee. The company has been growing steadily and wants to recruit new staff living in central Israel.

There is apparently a major battle ensuing between Apple and Intel to recruit Israeli hi-tech employees who have been laid off as part of Texas Instruments’ worldwide redundancy program. Apple is desperate for skilled IT engineers to satisfy its plan to open a research & development centre in Israel.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Tel Aviv’s start-up workspace known as TechLoft has been host to 60 Israeli start-ups in its first year. Opened in September 2011, TechLoft joins a field of start-up spaces providing Internet access, printers, storage areas, a corporate address, mentors and a community of peers.

Israel’s international yearly event in the renewable energy arena, got underway in Eilat. 16 Israeli companies presented their technologies at EnergyVest – pitching to 200 participants, many of them major international cleantech investors.

Israel’s P2W is reported to have signed a $9 million agreement with South African gold mining giant AngloGold Ashanti, to provide water purification systems.

In the biggest genealogy takeover in history, Israel’s MyHeritage.com has bought Genie.com into the family business. MyHeritage now covers 72 million registered users — about 8 million of which came from Geni.com — 1.5 billion profiles and 27 million family trees. A good business relationship.

Global ATM maker NCR Corp. is buying Israel’s Retalix Ltd. for $650 million in a bid to expand its footprint in the retail sector. Retalix provides software and services to retailers, including supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores and fuel stations.