1. ISRAEL LEADS THE GLOBE IN R&D INVESTMENTS, 4.4% of GDP (77% by the business sector), ahead of Sweden – 3.7%, Finland – 3.5%, Japan – 3.3%, US – 2.2% and Canada – 1.7% (The Marker, Aug. 2, 2007).
2. CREDIT SUISSE is opening its first office in Israel, following in the footsteps of Citigroup, HSBC, State Bank of India, France’s BNP (which serve businesses) and 20 other international banks, which maintain offices, such as Deutsche Bank, UBS, etc. (Globes, Aug. 9). AES, the US energy giant, is negotiating the construction of a $600MN wind energy facility in Israel (The Marker, Aug. 7). GENERAL MOTORS conducts advanced negotiation for the establishment of an Israel R&D center (Globes, Aug. 14). COCA COLA examines the establishment of an Israel R&D center (The Marker, Aug. 15).
3. CITIGROUP’s Venture Capital International invested $20MN in Israel’s Aviv Ventures VC Fund (Globes, Aug. 23). STANFORD GROUP invested $10MN in Israel’s (Water Technologies) Gaon Group (The Marker, Aug. 20).
4. HIGHLAND CAPITAL and DAG VENTURES, ACCEL PARTNERS and BENCHMARK CAPITAL participated in a $30MN 3rd round by Israel’s MetaCafe’ (Globes, Aug. 22). BATTERY VENTURES has co-led a $17MN round by Israel’s Anovit (Globes, Aug. 6). $15MN invested by US investors in the 4th round of Israel’s UltraShape (Globes, Aug. 24). The $2BN assets NORTH BRIDGE VENTURE PARTNERS and Ven Fin co-led a $12MN 2nd round by Israel’s Fring (Globes, Aug. 10). MATRIX PARTNERS participated in a $10MN round by Israel’s Diligent (The Marker, Aug. 21). SEQUOIA and LEHMAN BROS participated in a $10MN 2nd round by Israel’s Kontera (Globes, Aug. 13). VIRGIN FUELS has co-led a $9MN round by Israel’s MetroLight (Globes, Aug. 9).
5. ISRAEL’S ECONOMIC INDICATORS were solid during the first half of 2007, according to Bank of Israel: 6.6% GDP growth (Fifth growth year in a row, the longest streak since 1948!), 4.8% growth per capita (12.7% growth since 2003!), 8.3% export growth (9% growth of industrial export and 24% growth of agricultural export), 15,5% import increase, private consumption increased by 7.5%, 6.5% increase in industrial production, 12.4% in high tech production, 9.6% rise in commercial and service revenues, 7.7% rise in sales by major retail chains, unemployment reduced to 7.6% (Globes, Aug. 23, The Marker, Aug. 22).
