Good News Israel! 2021 Investment in Startups Surpasses all of 2020; Preparing for Tourism Boom; and More!

Anti-BDS news – investment in Israeli startups so far in 2021 has beaten the total for the whole of last year; Traveltech prepares for tourist boom, 20 projects for US-Israel joint funding, and much more!

By Michael Ordman

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

More investment than all of 2020

Anti-BDS news – investment in Israeli startups so far in 2021 has beaten the total for the whole of last year. Investment up to 8th Jun totaled $10.5 billion compared to $10 billion for all of 2020 (also a great year). It includes 30 investment rounds of over $100 million (only 21 in all of 2020).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-tech-raises-whopping-10-5-billion-this-year-topping-2020-record-total/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3909578,00.html

Traveltech prepares for tourist boom

Israel’s TripActions (see here previously) is preparing for the return of global tourism by expanding its Israeli R&D center to employ 200 developers. As soon as coronavirus vaccines were available, TripActions received a massive investment of funds and launched new travel products.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3909487,00.html

20 projects for US-Israel joint funding

The US-Israel Bi-national Agricultural Research and Development (BARD) Fund (see here previously) is investing $6.7 million in 20 joint US-Israel projects. They focus on irrigation, harvesting, disease control, plant nutrition, production efficiency, food & water quality and safety.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-israel-agriculture-fund-chooses-20-joint-projects-for-6-7-million-investment/

A sustainable future

Having established ICL Innovation in 2012, Israel’s ICL (see here previously) has now launched ICL Planet Startup Hub. It says its mission is to propel food-tech and ag-tech startups to the marketplace. It seeks to empower pilot-ready startups to work with ICL and implement their technologies.
https://www.icl-group.com/innovation/planet-startup-hub/

https://www.icl-group.com/our-mission/

CyberArk’s new Beersheva R&D center

Israeli cybersecurity giant CyberArk has inaugurated its new R&D center at the Gav-Yam Negev Tech Park in Beersheva. It will be close to Israel’s Cyber Directorate’s CERT center, IDF’s C4I unit, Ben Gurion University and more than 70 development centers and startups.
https://www.jns.org/cyberark-inaugurates-a-new-rd-center-in-beersheva/

UK buys Israeli night vision goggles

Israel’s Elbit Systems UK has won an £11.5 million ($16 million) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to provide the UK Armed Forces with XACT Night Vision Goggles (NVG). Elbit’s XACT systems are used in several NATO countries, including Germany and the Netherlands.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-elbit-systems-wins-night-vision-system-contract-in-uk-1001373680

On-line retail with a difference

Israel’s Avo supplies products to New Yorkers and Tel Avivians. It has contracts with large companies and owners of large buildings. When employees or tenants order products, Avo consolidates the orders and delivers them to the company or building location, with no shipping fees.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3909330,00.html
https://www.avonow.com/companies

https://www.avo.co.il/companies

Face-painting failure inspires fintech success

Great article about Israel’s Adam Kima who founded PayMe after his previous business crashed due to the lack of payment facilities. Now PayMe’s platform provides own-branded fintech services to companies of all sizes. It is now expanding its services to European clients.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3909250,00.html

$120 million VC fund for Israeli tech

Israel’s Sweetwood Ventures has launched its second venture capital Fund-of-Funds, targeting $120 million in investments in leading early and growth-stage Israeli technology companies. The fund “aims to provide investors with access to the most promising Israeli technology startups”.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3909498,00.html

Israel’s latest Unicorn

Israel’s Verbit (see here previously) has just raised $157 million, giving it a valuation of more than $1 billion and the financial status of a “Unicorn”. Verbit’s transcription and captioning services are used by more than 1,500 customers including CNBC, CNN, FOX, Harvard and Stanford Universities.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/transcription-firm-verbit-raises-157-million-becomes-israels-newest-unicorn/

Monday has a very good day

Israeli project management firm monday.com (see here previously) completed its Nasdaq IPO, raising $574 million at a valuation of some 7 billion – one of Israel’s largest tech listings. With offices in 8 major global cities, monday.com reports having 120,000 customers in more than 190 countries.
https://nocamels.com/2021/06/largest-listings-monday-com-ipo-6-8b-valuation/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/monday-com-raises-155-million-in-nasdaq-ipo-at-6-8-billion-valuation/

Investment in Israeli startups:

Monday.com raised $574 million; Verbit raised $157 million; Notal Vision raised $60 million; TailorMed raised $20 million; Stoke raised $15.5 million; Monogoto raised $11 million; PlanetWatchers raised $3.5 million.

 

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