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going green

Israeli entrepreneur looks to sell electric trucks in Saudi Arabia

Asher Bennett, brother of the former prime minister, joins growing stream of Israeli entrepreneurs seeking business in the kingdom that still resists diplomatic ties

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Tevva Motors CEO Asher Bennett in 2018

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
October 27, 2022

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — It sounds counterintuitive, even like the start of a gag: an Israeli tech entrepreneur comes to an Arab desert kingdom that is the largest oil producer in the Middle East, and whose entire economy runs on crude, and he’s hawking zero-emission e-trucks.

But Asher Bennett, the brother of former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the founder of the London-based e-truck maker Tevva Motors, may be looking down the road clear-eyed and he may just have the right vehicle, and the right technology, at the right time. Even Saudi Arabia is setting new environmental standards to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

“There’s a lot of interest in the Gulf for our technologies, so I’m here from time to time,” Bennett told The Circuit on the second day of the Future Investment Initiative conference, often called “Davos in the Desert” because it’s patterned after the annual World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland. “I was invited here last year and it was an eye-opener,” he said in an interview at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center, the site of the conference here in the Saudi capital.

Israeli companies are increasingly being allowed to operate in the Saudi kingdom despite the fact that it has not joined the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Like Bennett, who has American parents, many Israelis are dual citizens and face few restrictions on entering the country. In other cases, Saudi officials have granted special visas to admit Israelis, particularly tech executives, without a second nationality.

At least four Israelis were invited to speak at this week’s conference, including Samer Haj Yehia, chairman of Bank Leumi and an Arab citizen of Israel; and U.S.-born Jonathan Medved, founder and CEO of the venture capital investing platform OurCrowd.

The new unofficial policy toward Israelis reflects the drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recently appointed prime minister, to overhaul the country’s economy and wean it off dependence on oil. Known as MBS, the prince has in the past expressed admiration for Israel’s tech industry and said he sees Israel as a “potential ally.” Still, the country adheres to the Arab League position of not establishing official ties with Israel until its conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.

Bennett, 53, said he developed an interest in e-vehicles through his service as a naval officer on an Israeli submarine, which was propelled by batteries attached to a large electric motor. Unlike other successful Israeli companies such as Mobileye, the maker of sophisticated navigation systems and software for self-driving cars that was bought by Intel for $15 billion, Tevva builds vehicles, he said.

“I’m the Israeli tech entrepreneur who figured out the one business step that we’re not good at in Israel and that’s automotive, the hardware side,” he said. “We don’t build cars in Israel, we don’t teach the engineering side in Israel, so I moved to the U.K.”

Tevva, which developed a dual-motor system that includes a hydrogen fuel cell to extend the vehicle’s range, produced a small fleet of trucks for the UPS package delivery service in London. “The average car drives one to two hours a day where the average truck goes out for eight, nine or 10 hours a day,” Bennett said. “Batteries alone don’t do it, so we mix batteries with hydrogen fuel cells. We can go much farther but also make it more economical.”

Tevva, which means nature in Hebrew, has raised more than $90 million in investment, including a $57 million funding round that closed in November 2021. Bennett declined to disclose the total amount. He said investors come from Europe, the U.S., India and the Gulf.

CIRCUIT TRAVEL

A relaxing retreat with a slice of history on Mount Carmel

The Elma Hotel’s origins have roots in an early law that mandated time off for Israeli workers, creating one of the country's first socialist spas

Elma Arts Complex and Hotel is perched at the top of Mount Carmel

By
Ruth Marks Eglash
September 18, 2022

ZICHRON YAAKOV, Israel – Guests arriving at the Elma Arts Complex and Luxury Hotel in this hilltop town nestled into the side of Mount Carmel will likely be struck by the light-filled lobby or the striking array of artwork that fills every wall and every corner. They’ll also be taken by the sweeping views of Israel’s majestic coastline, its sharp blue skies dotted with graceful paragliders, its lush green edged with pink bougainvillea.

Yet it is the story behind the building and of how it became one of Israel’s most exquisite lodgings that is perhaps most enthralling.

And it is all those elements pulled together that make Elma such a special place.

While every building might have its own unique back story, few have a history like the Elma. Tucked up high on the side of Mount Carmel, gazing over the fisheries of Kibbutz Maayan Tzvi and the picturesque stretch of beach known as Dor, the stacked whitewashed structure not only tells the story of Israel’s socialist origins, it also spotlights the inevitable clash as the country began embracing its capitalist present.

Add to that mix an indomitable scion of a notable Zionist family and a family of prize-winning Israeli architects, and Elma captures not only hearts but also minds of hotel-goers even during the shortest of stays.

Its story begins in 1951 with Israel’s passing of a national law requiring that all workers receive a weeklong vacation once a year. Based on that law, the Histadrut Labor Federation, the General Federation of Workers in Israel, opened wellness retreats around the country affording its members a short respite from work and daily life. One of those places was the Mivtachim Sanitarium, which was dedicated in 1968 and today forms the main body of the Elma hotel.  

Designed by renowned Israeli architect Yaakov Rechter, who received the Israel Prize in architecture in 1972 for the flowing design that blends with the rolling mountaintop, the complex reflects the 1960s Brutalist style, as well as many of his other iconic structures in Israel – the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Cameri Theater and the Atarim Square.

Throughout the 1970s and through the 1980s, the complex housed workers for short breaks, hosting some of the country’s most iconic leaders such as former Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir. By the mid-’80s, however, Israelis had begun to seek family-style vacations and preferred resorts in more exotic places such as Eilat or Tiberias. The complex was frequently used as a convention center for large company events during the 1990s, until it was shuttered completely in the early 2000s.

In 2004, Lily Elstein, a then 75-year-old patron of Israeli arts and culture who hails from one of the country’s founding families, outbid and outmaneuvered fierce real estate developers vying for one of the country’s most picturesque spots to replace the historic compound with a luxury residential neighborhood. Incredibly, the Mivtachim Sanitarium, which had stood as an icon of Israel’s socialist days on the side of Mount Carmel, was not listed as a historical building or protected by the state.  

Determined to see the complex preserved in all its glory, Elstein, whose late husband Moshe Elstein (grandson of Yoel Moshe Solomon) founded Teva Pharmaceuticals, hired Rechter’s son Amnon Rechter, and hotel architect Rani Ziss to ensure the building was renovated to its original grandeur.

The upgrade took more than 10 years to complete, with the architects working to preserve the original design, including the floors and airy interior, while adding modern touches such as high-tech infrastructure, creating larger rooms and building a new, more accessible, wing. The team also replaced the old entertainment hall – where patrons sent by the worker’s union enjoyed watching movies – with a state-of-the-art acoustic theater replete with a 1,414-tube organ and two grand pianos.

When the new Elma hotel finally opened in 2015, Elstein, now 91, relocated to the site, bringing her personal art collection, including specially commissioned works, to the hotel.

The bright, sun-filled lobby that first greets visitors is dominated by a huge marble sculpture depicting a man and a woman pushing a rock. Created by Israeli sculptor Sigalit Landau, one of Elstein’s patrons, the artwork is a rendering of Sisyphus, the figure from Greek mythology who cheated death twice but was eventually cursed with the eternal punishment of pushing a boulder up a hill. 

More of Landau’s work, as well as installations by multiple other artists, create a vibrant art exhibition that heightens the senses and inspires. Inside, the hallways leading to the modern and well-designed rooms are filled with engaging abstract paintings and photography. Outside, the extensive gardens and terraces are also dotted with sculptures and offer glorious panoramic views of the coastal plain.

The original outdoor swimming pool has been refurbished and an adjacent café offers a range of cocktails, foods and other beverages. Beside it is a newly built indoor pool and spa facility with a variety of pampering and wellness services on offer.

And just a word about the food: Breakfast is included and, like with many other aspects of this hotel, is a carefully thought-out affair going above and beyond the standard Israeli hotel buffet – extensive salads line the counter and nearby chef stations offer cooked dishes. The kosher kitchen also caters dinner options for an additional price.

While it is the modern touches that make a stay at Elma both comfortable and luxurious, it is the unique history still lingering in the air that makes it a special experience. 

The writer was a guest of the Elma Arts Complex and Luxury Hotel. 

Weekly Circuit

Renewed Gaza conflict underlines regional risk + Ukraine deal averts MENA grain crisis

Mohamed Abdel Hamid/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

An Egyptian worker unloads wheat carried by pickup trucks at a silo in the city of Benha in Egypt's Qalyubia province.

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
August 8, 2022

👋 Good Monday morning in the Middle East!

The latest salvo in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be quieting this morning in the Gaza Strip, but the flare-up is yet another reminder for investors about the region’s inherent risks. Amid nearly 1,000 rockets fired at Israel by the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group, scores of Israeli air strikes against the overcrowded coastal territory and more than 40 Palestinians killed, nations around the world expressed hope for curtailing the violence. The two sides agreed to a cease-fire just before midnight on Sunday.

Food Insecurity: While tensions simmer in Gaza and Israel, a broader crisis affecting economies across the MENA region — especially Egypt and northern Africa — is the issue of food insecurity that worsened with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While some relief arrived last week with the departure of grain-filled ships from Odesa, The Circuit reports that lack of dependable food supplies presents an enduring threat of hunger and political instability on the continent.

Peace Park: Relations between Jordan and Israel may be chilly, but the two countries are showing modest benefits from their 28-year peace treaty, including a new bridge across the Jordan River and revived efforts to develop the Jordan Gateway Industrial Park.

Snow in Saudi: Does the notion of skiing in Saudi Arabia sound crazy?Not only is the desert kingdom building an outdoor ski resort but it’s bidding to be the home of the 2029 Asian Games. Details below in Circuit Culture.

Welcome to The Weekly Circuit, where we cover the Middle East through a business and cultural lens. Read on for the stories, deals and players at the top of the news. Please send comments and story tips to [email protected]. 

FOOD INSECURITY

Ukraine export deal averts grain crisis threatening Egypt and neighboring states across North Africa

As ships loaded with wheat and corn finally departed from the Black Sea port of Odesa last week, it appeared the world had dodged yet another humanitarian crisis in North Africa. Whether the grain deal arranged after weeks of complex negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will hold remains to be seen. What’s clear, though, is the role Ukraine and Russia have played through their exports in preventing civil disruption in capitals from Cairo to Tripoli, Larry Luxner reports for The Circuit.

Food Shortages: “Egypt has probably been affected directly by this war in Ukraine more than any country in the region,” Motaz Zahran, Egypt’s ambassador to the United States, said in an interview, pointing to food shortages that shook past governments. “We consider ourselves among the victims.”  The two warring countries have until now supplied 80% of Egypt’s wheat imports — 50% from Russia and 30% from Ukraine — as well as 40% of its tourist traffic. The fighting brought both to a halt, trapping some 20 million tons of grain inside Ukraine, with virtually no room to store it all.

Gulf Watching: Middle East risk manager Ghanem Nuseibeh said the Gulf states — particularly Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar — will do whatever they can to help Egypt, such as financing grain imports, because they fear a repeat of the popular insurrections from 2010 known as the Arab Spring that spread through the region and were touched off, in part, by food shortages and rising prices. “Egypt’s stability is paramount to the Gulf and the rest of the region,” Nuseibeh, founder of London-based Cornerstone Global Associates, told The Circuit.

Getting Worse: David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, said that even before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the situation in Africa was dire. Then came Ukraine — “a nation that grows enough food to feed 400 million people — from the breadbasket of the world to now the longest bread lines of the world,” he said at a July 19 forum with the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s going to get much worse,” warned Beasley, whose agency, before the war, typically sourced half the wheat, barley, corn and other grains purchased for distribution worldwide from Ukraine.

Read the full story here.

WARMING TIES

Three decades on, Israel-Jordan border project revives peace dividend prospects

Nearly three decades after signing a peace treaty, Israel and Jordan took a tiny step forward toward warming ties this week with the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid that his government would accelerate a long-neglected project to build a joint Israeli-Jordanian industrial zone straddling the banks of the Jordan River, The Circuit’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports. 

Tension remains: Touted as a “breakthrough” and a step toward “civil peace,” the Jordan Gateway plan fits snugly within the broader process of normalization taking place between Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. However, while both Israel and Jordan stand to gain economically from this shared venture, lingering tensions between the countries, including anti-Israel sentiment among many Jordanians and Israeli bureaucracy tied up with ongoing electoral chaos, will likely mean progress is slow, analysts and those working on the project say. 

Important step: “I’m hesitant to say this signifies a normalizing of relations between Israelis and Jordanians,” Oded Eran, Israel’s former ambassador to Jordan, told The Circuit. “However, if this project does finally come to a conclusion, it will be an important step, psychologically, because it has become a lingering symbol of the failure of the relations between Israel and Jordan,” added Eran, now a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Positive dynamic: Ksenia Svetlova, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and the Israel Middle East program director for Mitvim, an Israeli think tank, drew a parallel between the new momentum on the industrial zone and the Abraham Accords, saying that the Accords might be playing a role in renewing ties and reviving the joint economic plan. “The generally optimistic and positive dynamics of the Abraham Accords have had an impact on Israel’s veteran normalization partners, Egypt and Jordan,” she maintained. “There have been more developments in the past two years than there were in the previous 10 years with both these countries, so I think that generally, there was more inspiration in promoting important economic projects between Israel and Arab countries in the region.”

Read the full story here.

Circuit Chatter

Investment Watchdog: Saudi Arabia established a new government marketing authority to help raise and oversee some $3.2 billion of investment the kingdom hopes to attract through 2030.

Scouting Startups: Seed Group, which is partly owned by Dubai’s royal family, appointed Tech It Forward as its country manager to scout for investments in Israeli startups.

Dining Out: Abu Dhabi’s Adia sovereign wealth fund will invest in a series of stylish new restaurants as primary partner in the €500 million McWin Restaurant Fund.

Egypt Focus: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund launched the Saudi Egyptian Investment company, which will focus on a range of industries including infrastructure, real estate, health care and agriculture.

Tissue Transplants: Renewal Bio, an Israeli startup, used stem cells from mice to demonstrate its technology that potentially can create embryo-stage versions of human beings and harvest the tissue for use in transplants.

Postcard from Muscat: Oman has attracted $4.4 billion in tourism investments as it seeks to diversify its economy from dependence on oil production.

Closing Circuit

Realm of the Sensors: Israel’s Innoviz Technologies landed a $4 billion contract to provide Volkswagen with millions of lidar sensors used in making self-driving cars.

Well-Furnished: Egypt’s Homzmart raised $23 million for its home furnishings e-commerce platform with participation by Saudi venture capital fund STV.

Gates-Funded: Israeli biotech company Eleven Therapeutics raised $22 million in a seed round that included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sky High: Saudi Arabia gave permission for more airlines to overfly its territory en route to Israel, including Cathay Pacific and Air Seychelles.

Lemonade Squeeze: Israel’s Lemonade will pay $145 million for U.S. insurer Metromile, or about 70% less than originally agreed upon, because of the decline in Metromile’s shares since the acquisition was announced in November.

Looking Up: Israel’s Kibbutz Shamir sold its interest in lensmaker Shamir Optical to French-based EssilorLuxottica for a sum estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bio-banking: Abu Dhabi’s G42 Healthcare will work with Amazon Web Services on a database for research in genomics, bio-banking of body tissue and protein study.

On the Circuit

Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al Sabah, son of the emir, took the oath of office as prime minister after being appointed in July.

Moshe Barkat said he will resign in October as head of Israel’s Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority, which supervises some $600 billion managed by institutional investors.

Noga Knaz was appointed by Prytek Holdings as chief executive officer of its corporate venture capital business. She was previously deputy chairperson of Rosario Capital. Prytek has offices in Tel Aviv, Singapore, Chicago and London.

Ahead on the Circuit

Aug. 11-16, UAE: NFT World Investment Expo. International gathering of investors to discuss future trends in the market of non-fungible tokens. Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Residential Building.

Sept. 5-6, Israel: Cleantech, an international conference bringing together business executives in water technologies, renewable energy and recycling. Jerusalem International Convention Center.

Oct. 23-27, Israel: ECCV 2022. European Conference on Computer Vision holds the biennial event in Israel, gathering companies involved in computer vision and machine learning. Expo Tel Aviv.

Circuit Culture

Ski Saudi: Saudi Arabia will bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games with plans to build the Gulf’s only outdoor ski resort in the northwestern mountains near Tabuk. With massive investment in snowmaking equipment, the Trojena winter resort is part of Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar Neom megacity project on the shores of the Red Sea. The Saudi bid includes plans to build facilities for competition in sports including Alpine and cross-country skiing, ice hockey and figure skating.

Hebrew Tunes: Global music companies are taking notice of Israeli bands, according to Variety, even though the country’s estimated $55 million market is comparatively tiny. UMG opened a Tel Aviv office housing a recorded music division and an arm of Universal Music Publishing Group. The Hollywood newspaper said Universal Music Israel’s A&R team has hit the ground running, signing local talents like Michael Ben David and Ozel. Warner Music has opened an office in Israel, announcing in May that Mariah Mochiach would lead a Tel Aviv affiliate as general manager.

Pitching Indies: For those who aren’t quite ready for the major record labels, there’s Israel’s IndieFlow, a one-stop shop for artists to build and promote their careers with the help of a software that organizes everything needed to grow a musician’s brand, as Jewish Insider’s Sophie Cohen reports.


Weekly Circuit

Israeli women press for greater tech influence + Bahrain courts startups in Tel Aviv

Marc Israel Sellem

Israeli executives at Women's Empowerment Summit in Tel Aviv bemoaned country's lack of gender equality

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
August 1, 2022

👋 Good Monday morning in the Middle East!

Across the region, women are speaking out about the need to increase their numbers in corporate leadership. A Tel Aviv conference last week drew top women from the fields of technology, investment and academia who are in positions to bring some degree of change. At a time that women make up fewer than 10% of the CEOs in Israeli tech companies, those who attended the Women’s Empowerment Summit came away with the sense that a lot more work needs to be done.

As business ties strengthen between Israel and its Gulf partners to the 2020 Abraham Accords, Bahrain is inviting Israeli startups to base some of their operations in the island nation. Meanwhile, a young Israeli company by the name of Wilco, has developed a gamified training program for software engineers that works like a flight simulator for pilots.

On the culture side this week, Saudi Arabia is coming out in the New York fashion scene with an exhibition by 100 of its designers showing clothing in eight categories, ranging from modest to demi-couture. The desert kingdom also features in our sports coverage as former President Donald Trump  proudly opened the LIV Golf tournament to his club in Bedminster, N.J., and pushed back against critics of the Saudi-backed event.

Welcome to The Weekly Circuit, where we cover the Middle East through a business and cultural lens. Read on for the stories, deals and players at the top of the news. Please send comments and story tips to [email protected]. 

GENDER GAP

Israeli women push for greater influence in tech world

Yifat Oron, who runs the Israel office of Blackstone Inc., the world’s second-largest private equity firm, said she’s appalled at the industry’s meager support for women. Citing the $330 billion invested by venture capital firms in technology companies last year, Oron asked at a conference last week what percentage of that sum was invested in businesses led by women.

“It’s really bad – 2%,” she told the audience at the inaugural Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit in Tel Aviv, as Linda Gradstein reports for The Circuit. “A slightly less bad number is the amount of money invested in companies that have women in the founding team – that’s 16%. It’s still really bad. Why is it bad? Because we don’t have enough women investors. So it’s a vicious cycle. We have to solve it.”

With Oron, a senior managing director at Blackstone, painting the grim investment landscape, others at the July 26 conference concentrated on how to improve the situation through networking and pushing companies to recognize the need for change. Ofra Strauss, chairperson of the Israeli foodmaker Strauss Group that was founded by her grandparents, said the company has evolved since earlier days when she was often the only woman in key business meetings. “It only took me two minutes to understand,” Strauss said. “If the room was empty of women and I didn’t see them around me, something was fundamentally wrong.”

Speakers also focused on other realms where women are not equal partners. Ruth Wasserman Lande, a member of Israel’s parliament from the Blue & White party and a former diplomat at its embassy in Egypt, said working in the Arab country was not easy. “I spent three years as a woman in Cairo and being an Israeli Jewish woman was challenging,” she told The Circuit in a phone interview. “We still have a way to go to have truly equal opportunities. We have more to deal with especially after we get married and have kids and have more to juggle. It is changing but slowly.”

Wasserman Lande, who is co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, noted efforts by the United Arab Emirates to promote women. For example, women by law make up half the members of the Federal National Council, an unelected advisory body to the royal court. When it comes to tech, only 5% of all CEO’s in the UAE are women, according to government figures, which is just below the global figure of 6%.

Read the full story here.

FOOD INSECURITY

Ukraine export deal averts grain crisis threatening Egypt and neighboring states across North Africa

Touting low operating costs and significant labor subsidies, Bahrain is reaching out to Israeli companies and raising the idea of moving some of their operations to the tiny Gulf nation. Bahraini Ambassador Khaled Al Jalahma outlined his government’s intention to set up a regional hub that would cater to the needs of Israeli startups in a July 28 meeting in Tel Aviv with executives from more than a dozen companies. Bahrain is both “willing and flexible” to help foreign companies get set up, said Yariv Becher, vice president for “innovation diplomacy” at Start-Up Nation Central, a nonprofit organization that promotes emerging Israeli companies, which arranged the meeting.

The ambassador told the Israelis that his country “is business friendly and our work attitude is tachles,” according to several people present, scoring points with the group by using a Yiddish word that means straight talk. Israeli executives who attended the meeting said Al Jalahma made a good case for his country as a Middle East hub for sales, R&D, manufacturing and other roles.

“We want to be very active in the region and Bahrain can be a gateway,” said Rotem Arad, director of business development for H2Pro, an Israeli company that produces so-called “green hydrogen” by splitting water into its component molecules and generating cleaner, renewable energy. Among H2Pro’s investors are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. and Jerusalem-based OurCrowd.

Other companies at the Tel Aviv event, which was sponsored by the Bahrain Economic Development Board, were Addionics, Aleph Farms, Beewise, C2i Genomics, Finteka,, Papaya Global, Minute Media, Monday.com, Scorpio Labs, See Tree, Set Point and Trieye.

Read the full story here.


WARMING TIES

Three decades on, Israel-Jordan border project revives peace dividend prospects

A rookie software engineer sits at his desk and faces a problem he’s never  encountered before, at least not in his college coding class. The wrong fix could cost his company millions, but luckily the stakes here are much lower. This engineer is honing his skills at a fantasy company on an online platform that works much like a flight simulator for aspiring pilots. 

When the Israeli startup Wilco launched its simulator platform last month, On Freund, the company’s CEO, and his founding partners were taking a page out of the playbook used by pilots, architects and race car drivers by creating a simulation experience for software engineers to gain new skills and master existing ones regardless of someone’s career opportunities or background. Engineers using Wilco complete various “quests” that allow them to practice troubleshooting problems that commonly arise in real-world situations, but in an engaging way that’s akin to a video game. 

“I quickly realized that there is a difference between the theory which they have learned in school and the actual hands-on practice that takes years to come by,” Freund told The Circuit‘s Sophie Cohen. 

The idea for Wilco (the name comes from the Roger Wilco character in the “Space Quest” movie franchise, not the alt-rock group) came to Freund about a decade ago. After he graduated from Tel Aviv University, he was managing a team of engineers at Handy, an online platform that connects users with cleaning and handyperson services, and Freund was looking for ways to let his team practice and learn new skills, outside of coding, that were not taught in university. 

Last year, Freund, Alon Carmel, Wilco’s chief products officer, and Shem Magnezi, the startup’s chief technology officer, came together to launch Wilco with $7 million in seed money; the platform is accessible to any software engineer regardless of their background or location. 

Read the full story here.

Circuit Chatter

Asia Focus: The sale of two ports in Haifa to Indian and Chinese businesses highlights Asia’s interest in Israel’s new Gulf ties and making the country a trans-shipment hub for Europe.

Green Power: Greece and Saudi Arabia agreed to work together on developing green hydrogen as a renewable energy source in Europe.

R&D: Apple is setting up a research and development center in Jerusalem to work alongside two other Israeli facilities in Herzliya and Haifa. Meanwhile, Yahoo! is also expanding operations, hiring Neetai Eshel as managing director of R&D in Israel.

Solar-Powered: French corporate giants TotalEnergies and Veolia will build a solar energy system to power a desalination plant in Oman.

Actis Invests: Actis, a UK-based private equity firm will acquire a controlling stake in Yellow Door Energy, a renewable developer based in Dubai.

Hospital Robots: Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center opened what it billed as the world’s largest emergency room, featuring self-triage screens and robot guides.

Digital Diplomacy: The White House is working to boost cyber cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Israel in an effort to counter Iranian digital threats.

Congressional Probe: The House Intelligence Committee held a hearing to look into Israel’s NSO group, whose Pegasus software has been used by by governments to spy on activists, journalists, political leaders and U.S. citizens.

Closing Circuit

Saudi-Israel: Saudi Arabia’s Mithaq Capital amassed a 20% stake in Israel’s Otonomo, becoming the biggest shareholder in the auto technology company.

Ad Purchase: Israeli digital advertising company Tremor is buying Amobee, an Israeli advertising platform, for $239 million from Singapore’s Singtel.

Robot Docs: Diagnostic Robotics, led by Dr. Kira Radinsky, has raised $45 million for its AI clinical prediction system.

French Influencers: Saudi supermarket retailer BinDawood bought a majority stake in France’s Ykone, which specializes in marketing through media influencers.

Neom Stock: Saudi Arabia expects to raise $26 billion by selling shares in the futuristic Neom megacity that it’s building on the Red Sea coast.

Egypt Gas: Adnoc Distribution, the UAE’s largest gas station operator, will acquire a 50% stake in TotalEnergies Marketing Egypt for about $186 million.

Tech Layoffs: Hundreds of Israeli tech workers lost their jobs with the closing of R&D centers by AID Genomics, a medical diagnostics company, and Asurion, a U.S. insurance company.

On the Circuit

Gal Krubiner, Avital Pardo and Yahav Yulzari, founders of Israeli fintech business Pagaya Technologies, became billionaires when the stock rose 700% on the Nasdaq exchange.

Ian Johnston has been appointed chief executive of the Dubai Financial Services Authority, regulator of the emirate’s financial services free zone, returning to a job he held between 2012 and 2018.

Guy Oseary, the Israeli-American agent who manages Madonna, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, has branched out into the NFT (non-fungible token) market through Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club, according to a profile in Variety.

Ahead on the Circuit

Aug. 11-16, Dubai: NFT World Investment Expo. International gathering of investors to discuss future trends in the market of non-fungible tokens. Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Residential Building.

Sept. 5-6, Jerusalem: Cleantec, an international conference bringing together business executives in water technologies, renewable energy and recycling. International Convention Center.

Circuit Culture

Fashionistas of Arabia: Saudi Arabia organized a fashion exhibition in New York, bringing together 100 Saudi designers to show their work. The exhibition, sponsored by the Saudi Arabia Fashion Commission, is divided into eight categories, including ready-to-wear, modest, concept, premiere, demi-couture, bridal, handbags and jewelry.

On location: Jerusalem, Tzfat and Acre are among Israeli cities discussed in an article in Variety that international filmmakers are using as locations to convey the exotic atmosphere of the Middle East.

Trump Defends Saudi Golf-backed Tour: Former President Donald Trump defended hosting the Saudi-backed LIV GOLF tournament at his club in Bedminister, New Jersey, against accusations that the kingdom was using the event to rehabilitate its image as an abuser of human rights. LIV, which is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has lured stars from the PGA circuit, such as Phil Mickelson with payments reported to be as high as $200 million.


Weekly Circuit

Israel spawns desert startups + Tech veteran sees slow path to regional acceptance

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's Ashalim solar tower in the Negev desert generates electricity with an array of 55,000 mirrors at its base.

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 25, 2022

👋 Good Monday morning in the Middle East!

As the midsummer sun scorches the region, hundreds of startups in Israel are developing products to address lack of water, food insecurity, desertification and other challenges presented by the environment. The so-called “DeserTech” industry, as The Circuit reports this week, has coalesced around the dusty, southern Israeli city of Beersheva, which is undergoing a renaissance driven by a number of factors, including growth of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a massive transfer of Israeli military facilities to the southern region. The city has become a regular stop for visitors from the Gulf, who share the punishing climate at home and are exploring partnerships with promising Israeli companies.

Much of the spadework that has enabled such visits was carried out quietly over recent decades by Koby Huberman, a former executive at one of the country’s biggest technology companies, who has dedicated himself to facilitating Arab-Israeli cooperation. In an interview with The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger, Huberman said he’s not disappointed with President Joe Biden’s four-day visit to the region, though others in the tech industry were hoping for more of a bang from the trip. Still, he counsels lots of patience for those expecting concrete results in the Saudi and Palestinian arenas.

Across the Middle East, tourism is rebounding from the pandemic and hotels are filling up again. Among the summer festivals kicking off this week and featured below in our “Circuit Culture” section is Tel Aviv Dance, which, along with featuring two dozen Israeli troupes, draws top choreographers from Italy, Austria and the U.S.

Welcome to The Weekly Circuit, where we cover the Middle East through a business and cultural lens. Read on for the stories, deals and players at the top of the news. Please send comments and story tips to [email protected]. 

GENDER GAP

Israeli women push for greater influence in tech world

Global warming, vanishing rivers and sun-pulverized soil afflict the Middle East and North Africa with cruel and growing strength. Before they further degrade the planet, though, these forces represent an opportunity for scientists and businesses in the region to develop responses that may slow the environmental damage or, at least, help humans to adapt.The prospect of mitigating climate change has spawned an emerging industry of startups in Israel that include companies such as WaterGen, which can produce enormous quantities of fresh water from the barest level of humidity in the air.

A report released last week found more than 300 Israeli businesses developing products and trying to raise money in fields ranging from crop protection, solar power and smart irrigation to creating energy-efficient construction materials and novel desert-grown foods. It notes that some 2 billion people live in deserts or extremely arid climates, and asserts that Israel is one of the few countries that has developed effective technologies for reversing the impact of desertification.

Many of the Israeli start-ups for partners in the Gulf, Israeli trade officials say. One of the drivers for the 2020 Abraham Accords, which Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, was the understanding that the region’s punishing heat and environmental damage is a shared problem that could benefit from cooperative solutions.

The study was produced by the DeserTech Climate Technologies Community in collaboration with Start-Up Nation Central, a Tel Aviv-based organization that promotes emerging Israeli technology companies, and sponsored by the Merage Foundation Israel, the Israel Innovation Institute, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, according to a press release. The project aims to position Israel and, particularly the Negev region, as “the site that will pioneer the connection between entrepreneurs, investors, industry, researchers, and policy makers to overcome the challenges of desertification,” DeserTech Director Sivan Cohen Shachari said.

Read the full story here.

FOOD INSECURITY

Ukraine export deal averts grain crisis threatening Egypt and neighboring states across North Africa

For decades, Koby Huberman has been tilling the soil, patiently developing contacts across the Arab-Israeli divide and telling whoever would listen that employing a regional approach to Middle East peacemaking would yield the most profitable results. That’s why the Israeli tech industry veteran is far from discouraged with the inconclusive results of President Joe Biden’s July visit to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.

It took years of unsung work to help plant the seeds for quiet political ties and unpublicized Gulf-Israel business deals that burst into the sunlight with the 2020 signing of the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords. “We are transforming the relationship model where very few were quietly working behind the scenes building bridges in the Arab world,” Huberman said in an interview with The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger. “Investors are now beginning to understand the new business environment.”

Earlier in his bridge-building career, Huberman, was an executive at Nice Systems, the telecommunications and data security company that has become one of the five biggest Israeli businesses on Wall Street. In 2011, he launched the Israeli Peace Initiative with Yuval Rabin, son of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and an assortment of senior military and intelligence figures, who developed a proposal for resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. That led to a broader project called the Israel Regional Initiative that provided a discreet meeting ground for Israelis and Arabs to develop plans for cross-border cooperation in a more integrated Middle East.

Despite expectations in Israel that the Biden visit would lead to more overt actions by the Saudis toward normalization, Huberman said the limited steps, such as allowing Israeli airlines to overfly the kingdom and agreeing on rules governing two strategic islands in the Red Sea, were roughly what could be expected in a region that generally undertakes political changes very slowly. “This will yield a lot of progress for the wellbeing of the region and a lot of business upside,” he said.

Read the full story here.

Circuit Chatter

Neom Gets Bigger: Cost estimates for Saudi Arabia’s mammoth Neom project have more than doubled to over $1 trillion, according to the Wall Street Journal, which discloses previously unreported plans for a 75-mile-long, mirrored skyscraper made up of two parallel structures that would house 5 million people.

Rising Exports: Israeli exports are projected to reach $165 billion in 2022, a 15% increase from last year. The U.S. was Israel’s largest trading partner with $10 billion in bilateral trade during the first half of 2022, followed by China with $9 billion, according to the Economy Ministry.

Power Investments: Dubai plans to invest nearly $11 billion in electricity and water projects over the next five years, focusing on renewables, clean energy and its transmission and distribution networks.

Cash Barriers: Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he’s trying to find legal ways to let Russian immigrants transfer money from their bank accounts in Russia, a process complicated by sanctions enacted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hospital Trips: Arab patients comprise some 30% of the world’s medical tourism market, an industry that is expected to reach $200 billion in the next 10 years.

Need Skills: Qatar and Kuwait face the greatest shortages in the Gulf of skilled workers, and companies are increasing salaries there to retain experienced employees.

Gas Demand: Fuel shortages in Europe are creating rising demand for natural gas, already boosting sales for Egypt’s two liquefaction plants after the European Union signed a gas import agreement last month with Egyptian and Israeli leaders.|

Closing Circuit

New Saudi Airline: Saudi Arabia will soon launch a second national airline – so far unnamed — alongside Saudia as part of a plan to boost tourism and become an international flight hub.

Male Patch: Israeli startup Virility has raised $10 million from Migdal Insurance and Arkin Investments to develop a skin patch that helps men control premature ejaculation.

Drone Grocer: Walmart will roll out its drone grocery delivery service in the U.S. with an operating system made by Israel’s FlightOps to manage a fleet of more than 150 unmanned aerial vehicles.

Dutch Retailer: SPAR International, the Netherlands-based supermarket chain, signed a letter of intent with retail executive Amit Zeev to open a network of stores in Israel.

Saudi VC: Saudi Arabia’s venture capital funding tripled to $584 million in the first half of 2022, compared to the same period last year.

Tahini Shortage: Israeli scientists and farmers are developing techniques to increase sesame seed yields to make tahini paste as global supplies dwindle because of civil war in Ethiopia.

Tourism Rebound: Dubai hotels posted a 75% occupancy rate in the first five months of 2022, up from 58% in the same period last year when the pandemic deflated travel.

On the Circuit

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez visited Israel last week, meeting with venture capital firms and startups in Tel Aviv, where he talked about his efforts to turn the Florida city into a regional tech hub.

UAE Climate Change and Environment Mariam Al Mheiri called for more “realism” in global efforts to adopt clean sources of energy, telling The National, “The world is knocking on our door and asking us to produce more oil and gas, because they are not ready with the new energy systems.”

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who bought Israel’s Haifa Port this month was ranked as the world’s fourth-richest person with an estimated fortune of $112.5 billion, vaulting past Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Ahead on the Circuit

July 26, Dimona Conference on Real Estate: Israeli Regional Development Minister Oded Forer, Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli among speakers at a property industry forum in the southern Israeli city of Dimona. Hashachar Community Center.

July 26, Israel Elections Forum: Israeli President Isaac Herzog, leaders of Israeli political parties discuss national elections scheduled for November. Hosted by Channel 13 News. Jerusalem International Convention Center.

July 27-28, Dubai: Global Vertical Farming Show. Businesses in agriculture, construction, water technology and other industries from around the world meet for a two-day conference. Hotel Conrad, Dubai.

Circuit Culture

Summer Dance Festival Gets Tel Aviv Swinging
The annual Tel Aviv Dance festival opens for a two-week run at the Suzanne Dellal Center with a performance by Israel’s Castle in Time Orchestra. Among the international headliners are Austria’s Bodhi Project, Italy’s Silvia Gribaudi and New York-based Netta Yerushalmy. Israeli troupes include Lior Tavori, Nur Garabli and Rotem Tashach. The festival will also feature free outdoor events from Aug. 8-12 in a program called Cypher Connection 2022 that will spotlight hip-hop, freestyle, breaking, popping and other contemporary forms of dance.

training day

Israeli tech startup Wilco closes experience gap for aspiring software engineers

The startup fast-tracks the learning experience for engineers breaking into the field

EYAL MARILUS

The Wilco leadership team

By
Sophie Cohen
July 25, 2022

A rookie software engineer sits at his desk and faces a problem he’s never encountered before, at least not in his college coding class. The wrong fix could cost his company millions, but luckily the stakes here are much lower. This engineer is honing his skills at a fantasy company on an online platform that works much like a flight simulator for aspiring pilots. 

When the Israeli startup Wilco launched its simulator platform last month, On Freund, the company’s CEO, and his founding partners were taking a page out of the playbook used by pilots, architects and race car drivers by creating a simulation experience for software engineers to gain new skills and master existing ones regardless of someone’s career opportunities or background. Engineers using Wilco complete various “quests” that allow them to practice troubleshooting problems that commonly arise in real-world situations, but in an engaging way that’s akin to a video game. 

“I quickly realized that there is a difference between the theory which they have learned in school and the actual hands-on practice that takes years to come by,” Freund told The Circuit. 

The idea for Wilco (the name comes from the Roger Wilco character in the “Space Quest” movie franchise, not the alt-rock group) came to Freund about a decade ago. After he graduated from Tel Aviv University, he was managing a team of engineers at Handy, an online platform that connects users with cleaning and handyperson services, and Freund was looking for ways to let his team practice and learn new skills, outside of coding, that were not taught in university. 

Freund thought about hosting an evening school where he could expose software engineers to real-world problems within a few months, rather than the decades it might take on the job. He kicked around the idea for a few years, and in 2020 he reached out to a few chief technology officers, who supported his goal. 

One of Freund’s former colleagues, however, told him to think bigger. 

“I mentioned my idea to a colleague of mine and he told me I was stupid. He said that I was going to have six, maybe 10 developers per class, which wasn’t making a dent in the universe,” Freund said. “He wanted to work with me and figure out a scalable way to solve this problem.” 

A year later, in 2021, Freund, Alon Carmel, Wilco’s chief products officer, and Shem Magnezi, the startup’s chief technology officer, came together to launch Wilco with $7 million in seed money; the platform is accessible to any software engineer regardless of their background or location. 

All three founders understood that gaining new engineering experiences on the job was a tough and slow process. They wanted to close the gap of experience for people who may be working at companies that don’t have access to the same resources or a strong set of mentors that inspire and push their employees. 

“What we try to do is give engineers an environment where they can gain experience at their own pace, in a safe way, and solely based on their merit,” Freund said. 

The ‘quests’ offered by Wilco

Wilco is unlike other coding practice websites that allow participants to practice only one set of skills. Freund stresses that coding is just one of the many skills an engineer needs to be a good software developer. 

Wilco allows engineers to join a fantasy company that has all the complex systems that a real company would. Freund ticked off some of them: logging data, monitoring, analytics, load balancing a network’s infrastructure, a real data set, as well as the unexpected issues that typically arise from humans working on all of these components. 

Engineers then join a “quest” that includes a problem that the engineer must fix. The quests, Freund said, grew out of experiences Wilco’s partners faced in their own careers as developers. He gave the example of a company needing to know the extent of damage for a particular software problem, how the engineer would fix it and how the problem should be communicated to a stakeholder. 

“The focus is not on how to fix a problem, because anyone can learn that in college or a boot camp or even an online course,” Freund said. “The focus is how do you even know that something’s wrong in production? What do you do once you’ve found out? Do you go for a quick-and-dirty fix or something more meaningful?” 

What Freund finds most rewarding about Wilco is hearing developers talk about the value they get out of the platform. Engineers can communicate with each other over Discord, the voice and instant messaging platform, where they often ask each other how to solve certain quests and exchange tips and advice. 

Freund wants Wilco to become the standard place for developers to practice, in the way that flight simulators are for pilots.

“Software engineers shouldn’t be expected to wait for an emergency or something extremely important to happen that they must solve without previous experience,” Freund said. “We want to be a place where developers can practice regardless of their background or skill level to unlock their full potential.”

Weekly Circuit

Biden returns from Mideast with modest takeaways + New Saudi investment in Israeli-American company

Royal Court of Saudi Arabia via Getty Images
By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 18, 2022

👋 Good Monday morning in the Middle East!

President Joe Biden’s principal achievement in his four-day odyssey through the region may have been simply showing up. Guaranteed a dour reception in Saudi Arabia because of his confrontational stance to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the 79-year-old U.S. leader stuck to his agenda. That included trying to coax the Gulf states to increase oil production and discouraging them from consorting with China and Russia. The president even came up with the novel diplomatic tool of a fist-bump to keep some distance from the mercurial Saudi prince, though, back home, he was criticized for the gesture anyway.

What Biden took back with him to Washington, though, were some notable achievements, including a deal to build a 5G telecommunications network in Saudi Arabia as an alternative to the one being built by China’s Huawei. He secured the opening up of Saudi airspace to Israeli commercial flights and oversaw the signing of new contracts between Saudi and U.S. companies, including one with the Israeli-American renewable energy business, SolarEdge, as The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger reports below.

Saudi officials denied that any of the agreements involving Israel were steps toward normalization akin to the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that neighboring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed in 2020. Still, Biden said he would continue to push for the Jewish state’s further integration into the Arab Middle East.

“It moves things forward a little bit,” Joshua Teitelbaum, a Middle East historian at Israel’s Bar Ilan University and an authority on relations with the Gulf, told The Circuit. “The Saudis are being very careful about doling out these steps in relations with Israel.” Added Emirati analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, speaking to The Circuit’s Rebecca Anne Proctor: “It is good that he made it to the Middle East finally. [Biden] said one thing that resonated well, that ‘we are not going to turn our back to this region, and we are not going to leave it to others, meaning China and Russia.”

The Saudi moves were greeted positively by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business Council.  “The small steps to normalization that we have seen this week, where Saudi Arabia has said Israel can fly over our airspace, may seem small, but this is very significant,” she told The Circuit. Nir Boms, a research fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, warned against a binary view of the normalization question. “I can tell you that a lot is going on between Israel and Saudi that is positive,” he said. “The Saudis have said that they want to see additional progress but the fact that they are engaging and are allowing some different measures of progress is extremely positive.”

While in Israel, Biden signed a joint declaration with Prime Minister Yair Lapid in which the U.S. vowed to use “all elements in its national power” to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Biden also pledged $100 million in U.S. aid to Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem, which fell far short of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s appeal that he restore other funds stripped away by the Trump administration and that he work harder to get negotiations with Israel for a two-state solution back on track. 

Welcome to The Weekly Circuit, where we cover the Middle East through a business and cultural lens. Read on for the stories, deals and players at the top of the news. Please send comments and story tips to [email protected].

Product of Jeddah

Israeli-American SolarEdge emerges with Saudi deal after Biden trip

SolarEdge Technologies, one of the biggest Israeli-American companies trading on Wall Street, became an early beneficiary of President Joe Biden’s Middle East trip when it signed an agreement with Saudi investment company Ajlan & Bros., The Circuit has learned. SolarEdge, which is based in Herzliya, Israel, and has a North American headquarters in Milpitas, Calif., was among 13 companies from the U.S. that emerged with new agreements after Biden’s July 15-16 visit to Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Ministry of Investment said in a statement. The ministry did not acknowledge SolarEdge’s Israeli roots.

The company, led by Chief Executive Officer Zvi Lando, produces solar inverters, which manage photovoltaic cells to make renewable energy more efficient. Its shares on Nasdaq have tripled since 2020, giving the company a market value of $14.7 billion. It last traded at $265.85 a share and has declined 5.9 percent since the end of last year. Ali Al-Hazmi, chief executive officer of Ajlan and its Abilitii investment unit, said in a statement that the deal with SolarEdge was one of three agreements his company concluded with American businesses.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations and their citizens are generally barred from each other’s territory unless they have second passports issued by other countries. Several Israeli companies have managed to operate in Saudi Arabia through subsidiaries registered in other countries.

Biden had said his trip would push forward the process of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, citing an agreement enabling Israeli flights to overfly the vast desert kingdom, saving time and costs to destinations in Asia. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan described the flight decision as a gesture unconnected to normalization and said at a news conference in Jeddah on Saturday that closer ties require agreement on a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Read the full story here.

Tech Studio

AnD Ventures grooms Israeli start-ups as cash for new businesses gets tougher to find

When Lee Moser and Roy Geva Glasberg, co-founders of AnD Ventures, went scouting for promising start-ups two years ago, they invited students from a small college north of Tel Aviv to come to them with business ideas. Among the budding Israeli entrepreneurs they met through the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, now known as Reichman University, were Asaf and Omri Granit. The two brothers needed funding for an e-sports company that helped players analyze their performance on the screen and send their favorite moves to friends. Over the next six months, Moser and Glasberg said they provided the Granit brothers with office space to develop the company, Edge Gaming, and worked with the duo on business fundamentals.

Since then, Edge has raised $42 million, built a team of 35 employees and opened offices in Israel, New York and Los Angeles. “These brothers were just amazing,” Glasberg said. “This is a company that jumped from a $4.2 million valuation to more than $105 million within a year and two months from when they started.” It’s that kind of Cinderella story that propelled Moser and Glasberg to mold their firm into an incubator for early stage startups, providing guidance on hiring senior executives, business development and promotion to founders who have a promising concept.

In their portfolio are companies that include Onebeat, which develops logistics software for retailers; Connected Insurance, which provides coverage for e-scooters and other unconventional markets; and Ovio, a virtual currency exchange for gaming. AnD’s new headquarters in Herzliya, one of the main hubs for Israel’s tech industry on the Mediterranean shore, provides office space in its “Studio” area for companies while they mature.

Part of the challenge now is to help the young companies in their investment portfolio ride out the current financial slowdown that has pinched investment and forced many companies to start chopping expenses. “We’re trying to make sure they’ve got enough fuel to run longer than expected,” Glasberg said.

Read the full story here.

Circuit Chatter

Crude Demand: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it expects demand from crude oil to exceed supply in 2023 by about a million barrels per day.

Crypto Crash: Celsius Networks, the U.S.-Israeli cryptocurrency company that triggered a broad industry sell-off last month, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Port for Sale: India’s Adani Ports and Israel’s Gadot Chemical Terminals won a tender to buy government-owned Haifa Port for 4.1 billion shekels ($1.2 billion.)

Funding Drops: Fundraising for Israeli startups dropped to $4.1 billion in the second quarter of 2022, a 27% decline from the first quarter and a 50% slide from the fourth quarter of 2021.

Pilgrim Trail: Saudi Railways said it transported more than 1.3 million pilgrims to Muslim holy sites during the recent hajj season.

African Acquisition: Dubai’s DP World said its Imperial Logistics unit acquired a controlling stake in Nigeria’s Africa FMCG Distribution.

Hold Off: Mobileye, the Israeli autonomous driving developer owned by Intel, is postponing plans for a Wall Street IPO because of the current difficult market conditions.

Closing Circuit

Valued Apps: San Francisco-based Unity Software agreed to buy Israel’s IronSource app monetization company for $4.4 billion in stock.

Up Your Game: Edge Gaming, an Israeli e-sports company, raised $30 million in Series A funding, led by Corner Ventures, with participation by AnD Ventures, Stardom Ventures and Playtika.

Health Gadgets: Medtronic, the Dublin-based maker of medical devices, signed a $585 million, five-year option to buy Israel’s CathWorks, a non-invasive alternative to catheters.

Dorm Space: Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group and a U.S. unit acquired student housing centers in Texas, Michigan and Missouri, in a deal worth $300 million.

Making Videos: Clearhaven Partners, Boston-based private equity firm, is acquiring control of Israeli video creation SundaySky for $100 million. SundaySky said it plans to lay off 24 employees.

Egypt Snacks: Abu Dhabi food and beverage manufacturer Agthia acquired a 60% stake in Egypt’s Auf Group, a maker of coffee and healthy snacks.

Reading & Writing: Israel’s AI21 Labs, which uses artificial intelligence to help people produce written content, raised $64 million in a Series B funding round led by Ahren Innovation Capital Fund.

New Insights: Deci, an Israeli deep-learning platform, raised $25 million in Series B funding, led by Insight Partners.

On the Circuit

Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, will make an official visit to Morocco, the first by the country’s top military commander. Morocco signed the Abraham Accords with Israel in December 2020.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed was appointed chairman of the Expo City Dubai Authority, which will oversee development of Dubai Expo 2020’s site as a new business and residential center.

Ambassador Houda Nonoo, Bahrain’s former envoy to the U.S. and the only Jewish ambassador of any Arab country, announced her retirement from the Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs after 14 years of service.

Ahead on the Circuit

July 19, Nazareth Conference on Arab Society in Israel. Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron appears with Arab business and government leaders. Golden Crown Hotel.

July 26, Jerusalem: Israel Elections Forum: President Isaac Herzog, leaders of Israeli political parties discuss national elections scheduled for November. Hosted by Channel 13 News. Jerusalem International Convention Center.

July 27-28, Dubai: Global Vertical Farming Show. Businesses in agriculture, construction, water technology and other industries from around the world meet for a two-day conference. Hotel Conrad, Dubai.

Circuit Culture

Israel’s 39th Jerusalem Film Festival kicks off this week with a screening of Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s social satire “Triangle of Silence,” which won the Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes film festival in France. Östlund will attend the July 21 screening. Among other films being shown are French director Yvan Attal’s “The Accusation,” starring his partner Charlotte Gainsbourg, who will also be in attendance; David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future”; and “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” directed by Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine. The festival runs through July 31 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

Weekly Circuit

Biden heads to Middle East + Saudi art show examines impact of change

AFP via Getty Images

AFP via Getty Images

On previous visit as vice president in 2011, Joe Biden greeted by Saudi offiicials on landing in Riyadh

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 11, 2022

👋 Good Monday morning in the Middle East!

President Joe Biden heads to the region this week with a series of objectives that include bringing down gas prices and pushing forward Israel’s integration into the region. Unlike his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, whose first foreign trip started in Saudi Arabia, Biden waited a year and a half to visit, having pledged during the campaign season to make the Gulf kingdom a “pariah” for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. With energy costs soaring around the world in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Biden acknowledges that he doesn’t have much choice. Writing on Sunday in The Washington Post, the U.S. leader said his intention is “to reorient — but not rupture — relations with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years.”

Before he makes the flight on Air Force One to the Saudi port city of Jeddah, Biden will spend three days in Israel, where he may have a surprise or two in store connected to the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords. Israeli investors tell The Circuit they see increasing signs that Saudi Arabia could soon take some initial steps to normalize relations with the Jewish state. That may not happen officially while Biden is in the region, but those who have been plying the Gulf-Israel channel for years say the buzz is getting louder. And while public declarations may not come immediately, both sides acknowledge that lots of commercial activity is going on quietly between Israelis and Saudis.

With business in the Gulf at a lull for the Eid al-Adha holiday this week, Rebecca Ann Proctor takes a journey to eastern Saudi Arabia, where Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, is mounting a show that examines the impact of change on some of the most beloved places of 28 artists. Among the works are prayer-filled walls in downtown Jeddah, watercolors from the Gaza Strip and a lone tree in Baghdad.

Welcome to The Weekly Circuit, where we cover the Middle East through a business and cultural lens. Read on for the stories, deals and players at the top of the news. Please send comments and story tips to [email protected].

Eid Mubarak!

MIDEAST JOURNEY

Biden trip kindles Israeli hopes for broadening business connections with Saudi Arabia

President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East this week is raising expectations that he will coax some gestures from Saudi Arabia that will bring the kingdom closer to open business ties with Israel, The Circuit’s Jonathan Ferziger reports. Though U.S. officials have indicated that an official extension of the Abraham Accords to include Riyadh won’t occur on this trip, Biden’s itinerary, which includes a direct flight from Tel Aviv to the Saudi port city of Jeddah, is too tantalizing for Israelis to treat casually.

Fear of missing out: “They see that there’s something brewing,” said Tally Zingher, managing director of Blue Laurel, a Middle East strategic advisory firm. With the Biden trip shining a spotlight on Saudi Arabia, Zingher said, people are approaching her for guidance and saying, “We want to be in, we don’t want to miss this.”

No longer a pariah: Biden is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, where he will be greeted by newly installed Prime Minister Yair Lapid. The three-day visit will also include a brief trip to the West Bank for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. On Friday, Biden flies across the Red Sea to Jeddah, where the next day he will meet leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council at the “GCC+3” summit. While the meeting will focus on Biden’s efforts to bring down oil prices, it will also be where he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed, known as MBS.

Overcoming reservations: The president’s Mideast trip comes nearly two years after the United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Bahrain signed the U.S.-brokered Accords with Israel. The deal’s success bolsters the argument that normalizing ties could also be useful for Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest economy, analysts say, but probably not enough yet to overcome the preferences that the Saudi Royal Court retains in keeping relations with Israel unofficial and under the radar. Saudi leaders acknowledge their interest in developing closer ties with Israel but have said no formal agreement will be signed until a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is reached. “There clearly are moves that will happen,” said Ghanem Nuseibeh, a political risk consultant and co-founder of Cornerstone Global Associates, which has offices in London and Dubai. “The question is how much will be public and how much behind the scenes.”

No more make-believe: Though Saudi-Israeli connections are likely to remain low-key for at least the coming months after Biden’s visit, those involved say business relations between the two countries have changed dramatically since just a few years ago, when contacts were disguised through second passports and shell companies. “It used to be, OK, pretend to be American, pretend to be British, pretend to be this or that,” said Shmuel Bar, chief executive of IntuView, an Israeli company that has in the past acknowledged selling its sentiment-analysis software to Saudi customers. “That’s no longer the case. When you talk to them, it’s not, ‘let’s play make-believe.’”

Read the full story here.

Circuit Chatter

Top in Tech: The UAE unveiled a package of incentives aimed at attracting 300 top global technology firms to set up operations in the country.

Ice Cream Wars: Ben & Jerry’s sued its parent Unilever to block the sale of its Israeli business to a local licensee, saying the sale was inconsistent with its values to sell ice cream in what Ben & Jerry’s called “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Suez Unstuck: The Suez Canal’s annual revenue rose 20 percent in the 2021-2022 fiscal year to $7 billion, its highest ever.

Crypto Cuts: Israeli-American cryptocurrency platform Celsius laid off 150 employees after halting withdrawals on June 13 in a move that triggered a worldwide sell-off of digital currencies.

Non-Fungible Planes: Etihad Airways will sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on the models it flies of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, each NFT priced at $349 plus tax.

Halal Economy: UAE Economy Minister Abdulla Al Marri said new trade pacts with Indonesia and India, two of the most populous nations, will be a boon to the halal foods market that serves the world’s 2.5 billion Muslims.

Tax Shelter: The U.S. is investigating how Perrigo, one of the largest makers of non-prescription drugs, used Israel as a tax shelter and switched accounting firms to engineer the arrangement.

Closing Circuit

Swedish Buses: Volvo Group is investing in Israel’s Optibus to help accelerate deployment of its electric buses in 85 countries.

Seventh-Biggest Bank: Kuwait Finance House agreed to fully acquire Ahli United Bank for $11.6 billion, creating the Gulf’s seventh-largest lender, worth $115 billion.

Catching Bad Data: IBM acquired Israel’s Databand.ai, paying a reported $150 million for the company, which enables users to catch “bad data” through its artificial intelligence software.

Colostrum Extraction: Israel’s Maolac, which extracts proteins from bovine colostrum to use as a food ingredient, raised $3.2 million in a funding round led by OurCrowd.

Nasdaq Awaits: Israeli cybersecurity HUB Security plans to delist from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange ahead of its SPAC merger, which will enable the company to sell shares on the Nasdaq.

Cutting Back: Israeli online trading platform eToro said it is laying off 6% of its workforce after dropping a SPAC merger that would have brought it to the Nasdaq.

Seed Fund: Israel’s F2 Venture Capital closed its third seed fund of $150 million for Israeli companies, as well as a $100 million fund for those already in its portfolio.

Hackers Beware: Apple plans to release a new “Lockdown Mode” for its iPhones, iPads and Macs that it says can stop hackers who use NSO’s Pegasus application. Israeli security firm Cirotta, meanwhile, has introduced a smartphone case that employs a non-software solution to stop intruders.

On the Circuit

Mohammad Barkindo: The secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries died on July 6 at 63. He will be succeeded by Kuwait’s Haitham Al-Ghais.

Rajeev Misra: The head of SoftBank’s venture capital unit will play a reduced role in the Japanese investment giant and lead a new $6 billion fund backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds.

Doron Cohen: The chief executive of Israeli holding company Discount Investment Corp. Ltd. said he plans to step down and bid with a group of investors for control of Cellcom, Israel’s largest mobile phone company.

Ahead on the Circuit

July 14-28, Israel: The 2022 Maccabiah Games. The athletic tournament, now in its 21st year, draws Jewish athletes from some 60 countries for competition in sports ranging from track and gymnastics to soccer and ice hockey. Opening ceremony in Jerusalem with events at various sites across Israel.

July 17, Lebanon: The annual Baalbeck International Festival’s final night features a performance by pianist Simon Ghraichy, dancer Rana Gorgani and digital composer Jacopo Baboni Schilingi.

July 19, Israel: Nazareth Conference on Arab Society in Israel. Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron appears with Arab business and government leaders. Golden Crown Hotel, Nazareth.

Circuit Culture

DISCOVERING ITHRA

Saudi art show examines impact of places and change

Cracks in the wall: Brick fragments and pieces of coral, stone and wood are held loosely together to form a wall. Slips of paper containing prayers and Islamic texts sprout from the cracks. Created out of construction rubble from Jeddah’s historic district of Al-Balad, the work by Saudi artist Asma Bahmim titled “Wandering Walls” is an ode to her birthplace. As the port city’s streets are being torn up in a $20 billion government-financed urban facelift, Bahmim’s piece recalls her growing up there with an aunt who filled their home with her scribbled supplications.

Works by 28 artists: Bahmim’s work is part of “Amakin,” an exhibition featuring works by 28 artists from Saudi Arabia and around the world, taking inspiration from the idea of “place,” or makan, in Arabic, as Rebecca Anne Proctor reports in The Circuit. Organized by Venetia Porter, curator of Islamic and Contemporary Middle Eastern art at the British Museum, the exhibition runs through Sept. 30 at Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, which was built by the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran.

Emotional connection: The works on display, which range from paintings and collages to sculptures and film, document places from a variety of locations that carry emotional connections for each artist. “They interface between art and documentation,” Porter told The Circuit during a visit to Ithra. “There’s a strong Iraqi-Saudi connection in the show, but then I also wanted to bring in the work of Pakistani artists — their makan is further away but connected.”