Israel Active

Montreal-based Air Canada is restarting flights to Tel Aviv. It initially will have four nonstop return flights a week from Toronto, and then in May, replace one with a nonstop return flight from Montreal. Ryanair resumes flights to Israel on Jun 2, the day after Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 1 re-opens.

Last year, Azerbaijan made history by becoming the first Shi’ite Muslim country to open an embassy in Israel. Azerbaijan Airlines operates 9 weekly direct flights from Baku to Tel Aviv. Azerbaijan was one of 12 countries represented at the Tel Aviv Tourism Exhibition (Apr 3-4).

Two finance industry leaders are positive about Israel’s hi-tech prospects. Firstly, from Dell Technologies Capital, and secondly from lool Ventures.

Another social impact fund has been established to assist startups struggling for cash because of the war. A joint venture between the Southern Israel Bridging Fund (SIBF), the Rashi Foundation, and ICA in Israel, will invest $4m in startups developing tech that benefits society.

Despite 15% of employees in the IDF reserves, plus air travel restrictions, most Israeli startups continue to thrive. Startup Nation Central reports that 220 investments since Oct 7 raised some $3.1billion. March’s $822m exceeded Jan + Feb. Plus, 20 new Israeli venture capital funds raised $1.7bn.

Israel’s C2A Security is to supply its EVSec cybersecurity platform to Daimler Trucks.  C2A’s CEO said it was "one of the most significant product security deals that was done in the industry". Also, in 2023 C2A sold its platform to BMW Group, Marelli, NTT Data, Siemens, and Valeo.

raised ; raised ; raised ;

Israel’s Adama (see previously) has launched a new early-stage multi-crop cereal fungicide in Europe. Forapro protects crops such as wheat and barley from common fungal diseases including Powdery Mildew, Septoria, and Yellow Rust.  It is highly absorbent, fast-acting, and cost-effective.

Israel’s ImaginDairy (see previously) has partnered with one of America’s biggest biotech companies, Ginkgo Bioworks, to scale up production of ImaginDairy’s no-cow “dairy” proteins. Ginkgo’s AI capabilities will be used to create biological systems that reduce production costs.

Israel’s TechSee (see previously) is now working with Amazon Web Service's (AWS) new and improved Amazon Connect Agent Workspace. TechSee’s computer vision AI empowers AWS digital channels to see the physical world and offer AR-guided automated technical support.