As every month, VC Cafe is
re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors.
ISRAELI ECONOMY RESILIENT IN THE FACE OF GAZA CONFLICT
The impact of Operation Cast Lead on Israel’s economy has been fairly limited as most businesses in Israel’s southwest near the Gaza strip continue to operate more or less normally, and the center of Israel’s financial and industrial community is relatively far from the conflict. As the country’s ports are also fully operational there has been no disruption in the flow of merchandise in and out of the country.
“MOST ADMIRED MEDICAL COMPANY” ST. JUDE ACQUIRES MEDIGUIDE FOR $283 MILLION
St. Jude Medical, which was named Fortune Magazine’s “Most Admired Medical and Precision Equipment Company” for the second year in a row, is acquiring the Israeli medical-technology company MediGuide, which develops technology to guide catheters in minimally invasive medical procedures, for $283 million in cash.
CHECK POINT BUYS NOKIA’S SECURITY APPLIANCE BUSINESS
Israel’s Check Point Software Technologies, one of the world’s largest Internet and network security companies, is acquiring Nokia’s security appliance business for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2009.
LEADING FRENCH ELECTRONICS COMPANY THALES ACQUIRES CMT MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR $30 MILLION
France’s Thales SA, a leading electronics and systems company, is acquiring Israeli medical imaging equipment manufacturer, CMT Medical Technologies, for $29.96 million. Following the acquisition, CMT will become an entity in the Thales Group business line, augmenting Thales’ portfolio in the medical imaging sector with new products and pipeline potential.
HARMONIC BUYS SCOPUS FOR $51 MILLION
Harmonic Inc, a digital video and broadband optical networking systems provider, is acquiring Israel’s Scopus Video Networks Ltd, a maker of digital video technology, to boost its international video broadcast market and video processing technology.
U.S. -ISRAELI BIRD FOUNDATION TO INVEST $9 MILLION IN 12 PROJECTS
The Bi-national Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD-F) will invest $9 million in 12 joint projects between Israeli and U.S. companies. The projects’ aggregate budget is $28 million.
STATS ACQUIRES CNN “HOLOGRAM” DEVELOPER SportVU
The strategic initiative is designed to create new business opportunities and will greatly expand existing partnerships in all sectors of our business – STATS Chief Executive Gary Walrath said.
See post on VC Cafe.
LEADING U.S. RESEARCH INSTITUTE MRI AND ISRAEL’S ROTEM INDUSTRIES PARTNER IN DIMONA
Scientific research giant Midwest Research Institute (MRI), renowned for its innovation of the cooling mechanism for NASA astronauts’ suits, and Israel’s Rotem Industries, which evaluates, prepares, and commercializes seed technologies, are jointly establishing a renewable energy technological center (RETC) in the Rotem Industrial Park located in Dimona. The center is anticipated to open in January 2009.
MA INDUSTRIES TO BUY COMPANIES IN POLAND AND SERBIA FOR $20 MILLION
Israel’s MA Industries, the world’s largest producer of generic agrochemicals is acquiring 90% of Polish agrochemical company Rokita Agro from Germany’s PCC, as well as Magan Yu, a distributor of agrochemical products, located in Serbia . The deals are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2009 .
DMATEK ACCEPTS $77.6 MILLION BID FROM FRANCISCO PARTNERS
Israel’s Dmatek Ltd, a leading global provider of remote people monitoring technologies, said it had agreed to be bought for $77.6 million by an investor group led by private equity fund Francisco Partners. The transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2009.
BRIGHTSOURCE ENERGY CHOSEN BY WEF AS TECHNOLOGY PIONEER FOR 2009 – THE ONLY SOLAR COMPANY TO WIN THIS YEAR’S PRESTIGEOUS AWARD
BrightSource Energy, Inc., an Israeli-American developer of large-scale solar thermal energy plants, was the only solar company to win the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) prestigious 2009 Technology Pioneer Award. BrightSource Energy is being recognized for helping global utility and industrial customers reduce their dependence on fossil fuels by providing clean, low-cost and reliable solar energy through an environmentally friendly process.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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