Israel Active

The State of Florida recently hosted 30 Israeli tech companies for a “pitch day” in the state’s capital Tallahassee. The Israeli companies represented areas such as healthcare, water treatment, energy, and cybersecurity. Each presented ideas to help strengthen Florida’s resources and capabilities.

The EU's European Investment Bank (EIB) is expanding its agreement with Israel’s Bank Leumi for “green” investments. EIB will inject €250 million to finance projects for small and medium-sized businesses. Finance has already been provided to Israel’s Solegreen and Teralight.

Israel’s Rail Vision (see previously) goes from strength to strength. While it was receiving EU certification for its rail safety systems, it was also winning a $5 million order from a leading US-based rail & leasing services company. And it has just announced AI enhancements.

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Although the takeover of Israel’s hyperspectral imaging tech startup Voyage81 by US-based beauty brand Il-Makiage was reported previously, the IPO of IL-Makiage’s parent company Oddity wasn’t. Why is that odd?  Because Oddity’s R&D is performed in Israel. And Oddity has a very odd website.

Israel’s Better Juice (see previously) has partnered with US company Ingredion, a provider of specialty ingredients to the food and beverage industry. Ingredion will lead a funding round for Better Juice, to help it market its reduced sugar technology in the US.

The energy companies extracting natural gas from Israel’s Tamar field are investing $24 million to increase production. The additional gas will raise daily output to 1.2 billion cubic feet and by 2025 to 1.6 billion cubic feet, helping to meet Israel’s future energy needs and export gas to Egypt.

To avoid ships being attacked by Houthi terrorists, Israel-based firms transporting goods from the Far East (China and India) run trucking routes from the ports of Dubai and Bahrain to Haifa. They pass through Saudi Arabia (despite not having diplomatic relations with Israel) and Jordan.

Israel’s female-led Venture Capital firm iAngels has raised $70 million for its second fund, iAngels Ventures 2. It will invest in early-stage startups, with investments ranging between $2-4 million for seed rounds. iAngels’ previous Israeli investments include Oddity, Hello Heart, BeeHero, WSC & Immunai.

As it has since 2003 (see previously), the US State of Ohio has bought Israel Bonds - $30 million this time. Ohio is one of the country’s largest buyers of Israel Bonds, now holding $262.5 million. Ohio’s treasurer, Robert Sprague, said the bonds were good for Israel and good for Ohio.