1. A 7.8% growth of Israel’s economy during the fourth quarter of 2010 – a 4.5% annual growth in 2010, compared with OECD’s 2.8%, USA’s 2.7%, Turkey’s 8.2% and South Korea’s 6.2%. Export surged 10.3% during the fourth quarter – a 3.7% annual growth. Investments expanded 15.9% during the fourth quarter (Globes Business Daily, Feb. 17, 2011).
2. The $34BNCorning acquired Israel’s MobileAccess for $200MN (Globes, Feb. 2, 2011). Recent acquisition of Israeli companies: PMC Sierra (Vintegra – $240MN), 3M (Eternity – $230MN), Melanox (Voltaire – $218MN), Roche AG (Medingo – $160MN), IBM (StoreWise – $140MN), Juniper (Altor – $95MN), BroadCom (Percello – $86MN), Oracle (Convergin – $85MN) and DVTel (Ioimage – $80MN). Riverwood Capital acquired Israel’s Cintec for $110MN (The Marker, Jan. 25, 2010).
3. Germany’s Bayer invested $32MN in Israel’s Abogen (Globes, Dec. 14, 2010). Medical Intel Capital, India’s Nexus Venture Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, Avalon Ventures and 406 Ventures participated a $20MN 3rd round of private placement in Israel’s Kaltura (Globes, Feb. 15). Israel’s Pluristem raised $36MN in an IPO on NASDAQ (Jan. 31, 2010). Chicago’s MK Capital participated in a $10MN round by Israel’s Playcast (The Marker, Jan. 25). Roll International led a $25MN round by Israel’s AspectMR (Globes, Jan. 17). Azini Capital, Intel Capital, Escalate Capital ad SMAC Capital (Globes, Dec. 14). Europe’s Amadeus Capital participated in an $8MN round by Israel’s CellTick (Globes, Jan. 24).
4. $1.26BN raised, during 2010, by Israel’s high tech companies, 13% above 2009, but 39% below 2008 (Globes, Jan. 18).