With global capital markets in the middle of a meltdown, it would be expected that the Israeli hi-tech startup industry would be in shambles. With most investors hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass, they wouldn’t seem to be in the mood to fund new companies. Well that may be what you would expect, in reality it’s not the case. According to a report in Globes the number of startups that have closed their doors this year is actually much less than in the previous 2 years. “According to IVC Online, 35 start-ups have closed down since January: 24 companies in the first quarter, six in the second quarter, and five in July-August. For the sake of comparison, 228 companies closed down in 2007 as a whole and the number that closed in 2006 was about the same.”

That hardly sounds the panic whistle. It’s hard to understand why this is occurring but one reason may be that companies have cut out the frivolous expenses of years passed, and are doing a much better job of making whatever money they raise, last.

That’s the good thing about lousy capital markets. It sends a dose of reality to the startup world, that they better shape up and watch their spending or their sole option will be bankruptcy. I guess you can find some good in any situation.

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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Your cell phone bills may start to get cheaper. Why? Well just like traditional fixed land-line prices dropped to virtually nothing due to new technology, most notably Voice Over IP (VOIP), the same thing may very well happen to your cell phone as well. An Israeli hi-tech start-up, Spikko ltd. is set to launch a free cellular telephone service for handsets with at least 3G capabilities.

According to a report in Globes: “Each subscriber receives the company’s SpikkoPhone software and an Israeli telephone number, which is used to make calls and accumulate airtime, allowing for the placing of calls for free anywhere in the world. The service also offers video and chat services, and will soon also offer e-mail and instant messaging.”

Currently it’s available in Israel only, but the company is working on making the service available internationally. The company estimates that customers will save between 40-80% off existing bills.

It will take time for cellular prices to drop down to levels that we pay with our landlines. It’s not something that will happen overnight, but with companies like Spikko, and others trying to do similar things, I have a hunch that cellphone companies better figure out other revenue streams, like content and other value added services, because it does stand to reason that we will continue to see price erosion on airtime charges.

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NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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With the summer Olympics set to start in a week, an Israeli start-up that monitors water quality just took gold. Blue I Technologies has been selected by Chinese officials to monitor water quality of the pools for the competition. Though they thought they were out of the running, the Chinese weren’t happy with their competitors results and turned to the Israeli start-up and awarded them the contract.

According to a report in Globes, Blue I CEO Tsur Ben-David said, “We thought it was over. We didn’t think that we’d find a place in the Olympics. The pools were under construction and a top German company had won the contract to supply the water quality monitoring systems for four variables, while a US company was supposed to monitor two other variables. But the Chinese were dissatisfied with the results and turned to us five months ago. This contact initiated a process that ended with our systems undergoing a two-month pilot at the Olympic facilities and we were selected to monitor all six variables.”

This has caused a ripple effect (nice pun) as the company has gained a lot of attention and even the Chinese Ministry of Health has contacted them in order to learn more about their water quality solutions.

While no Israeli swimmer or diver is expected to medal in the upcoming games, it’s good to know that Israeli ingenuity and know how will play an important part of the competition.

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NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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The entire interview with Gemini’s Carmel Sofer is part of our new subscription newsletter, Israel Opportunity Investor. You can find out more about the product and the opportunities we cover at www.israelnewsletter.com.

Can you tell us a bit about Gemini?
Carmel Sofer, Partner: Gemini was one of Israel’s first VCs and is 15 years old. We now manage more than $600 million via 4 funds. We’ve just closed our 4th fund and are in the process of raising our 5th fund, which we’re targeting to be $200 million. We’ve had over 30 exits including Saifun and recently, Traiana. (Continue »)

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