Friday, October 08, 2010

Acquisition of Israeli Start-Ups Persists‏

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: A US-Israel Initiative", Jerusalem, Israel

Acquisition of Israeli Start-Ups Persists
Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought"
Jerusalem Boardroom #146, October 8, 2010

1. Israel ranks fourth in global hotel occupancy (75%), following Singapore (83.5%), Japan (79.1%), Australia (75.3%), according to "STR Golabl" August 2010 report.
2. 3M is acquiring Israel's Attenti for $230MN, its first Israeli acquisition (Globes, Sept. 1). AOL has acquired Israel's 5min for $65MN (Globes, Sept. 29, 2010). It is AOL's fifth acquisition in Israel: Yedda (2007 - $25MN), Relegence (2008 - $60MN, Quigo (2007 - $363MN) and ICQ (1998 - $707MN). Yahoo is acquiring Israel's Dapper for $55MN – its second acquisition in Israel: FoxyTunes (2008). Proctor & Gamble acquired Israel's ConTipi for a down payment of $15MN and potentially $100MN, depending on meeting milestone requirements (Globes, Sept. 17). Poland's $1.4BN Asseco acquired 49% of Israel's Formula for $139MN (Globes, Sept. 6). Canada's Carmanah Lightech acquired Israel's Lightech for $18MN (Globes, Sept. 27). Google acquired Israel's Quiksee fro $9MN (Globes, Sept. 14) – its second acquisition in Israel: LabPixies (2010 - $20MN).

3. Intel revealed its new chip – "Sandy Bridge," which constitutes a graphics breakthrough. The faster and cost-effective microprocessor – which extends life of laptop batteries - was developed at Intel's Haifa R&D Center. It enables Intel to compete against AMD and Nvidia in the graphic processing market (Sept. 15).

4. GE and Israel's Better Place – a leading electric vehicle services provider – announced a technology and financing partnership to accelerate the global deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure through collaboration in four key areas: standards-based technology development, battery financing, joint fleet electrification programs and consumer awareness (Sept. 22, 2010).

5. Oxford Finance extended a $15MN line of credit to Israel's SupreDimension, in addition to a $10MN investment by Oxford BioScience Partners, OrbiMed, Medica and Pitango (Glboes, Sept. 13). HPV invested $6MN in Israel's Panaya, joining previous investors, such as Benchmark Capital and Battery Ventures (Globes, Sept. 22).

6. NASA and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) signed a cooperation pact. NASA is particularly interested in Israel's expertise in producing lightweight satellites that can be launched from aircraft, andin Israeli instrumentation that will be key to mapping Venus, such as hyperspectral sensors and satellite antennas for analyzing photographs via radar (Spaceflight, Aug. 24).

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