1. Mike Butcher, editor of the award winning, eu.TechCrunch.com: “Israel is endowed with high-tech entrepreneurs. If you throw a stone in Tel Aviv, it would probably hit a high-tech entrepreneur (The Marker, January 23, 2011).”
2. Israel’s high-tech exports (which account to half of Israel’s exports, barring diamonds) surged 30% during December 2010-February 2011. Industrial import of raw material and machinery (reflecting business activity) rose by 36% and 29% respectively (Globes, March 11).
3. Britain’s CSR acquired Israel’s Zoran for $679MN in stock (Globes, February 22). John Paulson acquired 230MN of TEVA’s stock (Globes, February 21). Facebook acquired Israel’s Snaptu for $70MN, its first Israeli acquisition, which will be Facebook’s research & development center (Globes, March 21, 2011). InterCall acquired Israel’s UnisFair for $35MN (March 3). The Chicago-based Groupon acquired Israel’s Grouper for $10MN (Globes, March 24). Intel is hiring 1,000 additional persons in its Israel plants and R&D centers (Globes, January 19).
4. American institutional investors led a $22MN round of private placement by Israel’s Protalix (Globes, March 21). SoftBank Capital, General Catalyst, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures participated in a $16.5MN 3rd round of private placement by Israel’s Boxee (Globes, March 2).