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The miracle of gas: Investing in Israel’s natural gas industry

The miracle of gas: Investing in Israel’s natural gas industry

Nov 18, 2013 | ,

“If you’re going to the Middle East to look for oil, you can skip Israel. If you’re looking for brains, look no further.” – Warren Buffet In their best-selling book Start-up Nation, Dan Senor and Saul Singer  address the question of how Israel — a small country, only sixty years old, lacking friendly neighbors and with no natural resources — was able to reach such economic growth. Israel continues to be the #2 startup ecosystem in the world, but one of the limitations listed above is about to change. The discovery of Israel’s offshore natural gas reserves will not only make the country independent in being able to supply its own energy needs, but it is likely to become an net energy exporter. For Israel, a country once with little or no domestic energy resources, natural gas has the potential to revolutionize its economic fortunes. Natural Gas in Israel As of March 30th, 2013, investment mogul Warren Buffet would now have to agree that Israel is a one-stop shop for both brains and natural gas. Israel, a country with almost no natural resources, has always relied heavily on expensive...

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A startup investor’s guide to the 3D printing industry

A startup investor’s guide to the 3D printing industry

Oct 3, 2013 | ,

Last week, my neighbor told me about his new business idea. He was planning on buying a 3D printer and renting it out to people who were interested in using the product – sort of like a FedEx Office (‘Kinkos’) for 3D printing. Although he had some hesitations about the traction of that business in Beit Shemesh (a Jerusalem suburb), he still thought that it would take off in the near future. Size of 3D printer market Kenneth Wong, an analyst at Citigroup could not agree more. He predicts that the market for 3D printing will triple to $6Bn by 2018. A big player in the field of CAD/CAM, Stratasys, predicts it can increase revenues 25% by the end of the fiscal year. 3D Systems, another giant in the arena, had an increase of 53% in revenues from 2011 to 2012. Analysts accredit this to the fact that 3D printing companies want to break through the prototyping stage and start addressing the general consumer end of the market. What is 3D printing? What exactly is 3D printing? 3D printing...

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The Happiest, Competitive and Innovative Nation: Israel ranks high on global reports

The Happiest, Competitive and Innovative Nation: Israel ranks high on global reports

Sep 12, 2013 | ,

A couple of important global ranking reports published recently reveal some interesting facts about the nations of the world in general and about Israel in particular. Each report calculates the rankings of the countries by taking into consideration several factors that span from economic and social to government policies and security, etc. To sum up the report findings, Israel is one of the happiest, competitive and most innovative countries in the world. Always look on the bright side of life The World Happiness Report released by Columbia University’s Earth Institute ranked Israel the 11th-happiest country, according to the survey of 156 countries. Israel jumped three spots in the rankings from last year, coming in just behind Australia (10th). Other noteworthy ranking are the USA (17), UK (22) and Canada (6). Other than the United Arab Emirates (14), Israel ranks way above any of its neighbors in the Middle East. The report ranked the happiness of the world’s nations based on a “life evaluation score,” a number between 0 and 10 that measures several factors including health, family and job security, and social factors like political freedom, social networks and lack...

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Translation Nation: Israel’s translation software and services investment landscape

Translation Nation: Israel’s translation software and services investment landscape

Sep 2, 2013 | , , ,

As the world is getting smaller as technological advances in communication and travel promote globalization – markets and people have become more accessible to one another. The chances of two people from different societies, cultures and countries meeting is pretty high, but the chances of them speaking the same language is not. As a leading startup ecosystem in the world, Israel is a hot destination for travelers in general and business travelers specifically. Moreover, Israel has a huge traveling culture. After completing their army service, Israelis traditionally take a year off to travel the world before starting school and work. Therefore, Israel has been a great source for language based apps, software and services. The Start-up Nation: a modern-day Tower of Babylon The number one most used translation service out there is Google Translate. Earlier this year, the international tech giant announced that it will provide a translation service for apps. Behind Google’s new service stand two Israeli companies, One Hour Translation and Tomedes. According to Reuters, One Hour Translation’s revenue is expected to double annually as businesses (the company already serves half of the Fortune 500) increasingly...

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DIY ROI: Where to invest in website building technology 2.0

DIY ROI: Where to invest in website building technology 2.0

Aug 12, 2013 | ,

Could it possibly be easier? Click. Drag. Drop. Done. Presto! Congratulations – you’ve just created a website. With a few easy steps, you could be Picasso with pixels, an artist who needs no training to create a stunning website. This is the work of automated website builders, sites that simplify the otherwise coding- and time-intensive (not to mention expensive) process of building a website. They are the IKEA of the internet, clarifying an otherwise prohibitively complex task for the average user in a few steps, all the while staying easy on the eyes. But the site-building process, although simplified, is not by any means totally simple. Here’s the first irony of automatic website builders: it’s exceedingly difficult to find them with a single, or even many, Google searches. There are a few potential reasons for this: that they all excel at Search Engine Optimization (or SEO, for short), by now a standard service for the websites they create; that there are a bunch of charlatans posing as free website builders hoping to dupe the unsuspecting newbie into buying overpriced...

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