Israel Active

The first part of a two-part sale of Israeli and international art, held Saturday at Tiroche Auction House in Tel Aviv broke a house record with sales worth NIS 3.35 million. Record prices were achieved for five of the artists whose work was offered, and 93 percent of all items in the sale were sold.

That’s “Nice” the city, but it may be also worth looking for “nice” initial prices for those travelling to and from the Jewish State via other destinations. The new service starts in April three times a week. It’s yet another sign of the increased passenger demand for flights to Israel.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. has opened its first store in Israel at the Ramat Aviv Mall in Tel Aviv. Ten more stores are planned to open during February.

That’s the number of devices that the Honduras government-owned electric company ENEE is buying from Israel’s LR Group Ltd. The smart meters will be placed at homes and atop power lines and will allow ENEE to remotely cut off customers who are using energy that they haven’t paid for.

Worklight was named as one of Israel’s most promising start-ups of 2010. Its open platform helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between enterprise IT systems and smartphone or tablet apps.

After months of pessimism, Israel’s Consumer Confidence Index rose by 5.3 points in January 2012.

Saul Singer is co-author of “Start-up Nation” – one of the most inspiring books ever written about Israel. Saul will be speaking at a Business Breakfast at the Embassy of Israel in London on 7th February. I highly recommend going to hear him if you’re in town.

Israel raised a record $225 million in bonds on Jan 22nd, the biggest overnight sale of its debt securities ever. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz thanked the audience at the Israel Bonds annual conference in Miami. He asked them to continue investing in the Israeli economy and help maintain Israel’s high growth and low unemployment.

Quantum Energy, in cooperation with Greece's state-controlled power utility PPC, has offered to lay a 2000 megawatt sub-sea electric power cable linking Israel, Cyprus and Greece, to use natural gas to increase electricity production in Israel, and to export electricity through the cable to Europe.

Israeli start up companies raised $2.14 billion in 2011, an 11-year high, and 70% more than the $1.26 billion raised in 2010.