CTech's Wednesday Roundup of Israeli Tech News

Amazon pushes ahead in initiative to set up Israeli shipping center. For the past few months, Amazon has been in talks with Katz Deliveries, an Israeli delivery company, concerning the use of services supplied by a subsidiary of the latter. Calcalist first reported Amazon’s intention to set up a local center in Israel in November. Read more

German businesswoman Susanne Klatten puts $300 million into Landa Digital Printing. Landa develops industrial digital printing technologies for the commercial, packaging, and publishing markets. The company developed a nanotechnology-based pigment that reduces costs and allows for faster digital printing. The deal values Landa at $1.8 billion post-funding. Read more

Using blockchain as a language for autonomous drones. The DAV Foundation completed this week an initial coin offering and raised nearly $18-million worth of ether in order to create a “decentralized marketplace” of drone-based transportation and logistics services. Read more

EBay Israel laying off dozens of employees. 330 people are employed at eBay’s center in Israeli port city Netanya, in two main domains, research and development and business. In January, the company announced its intention to hire 100 new employees for the center. Read more

Classified anti-tunnel system earns developers Israel’s top military award. A system for the detection of underground Hamas tunneling received the Israel Defense Prize. Read more

Rafael sells tank defense system to U.S. army in $193 million deal. The Trophy system serves as an Iron Dome for tanks and armored vehicles, detecting and intercepting threats in real-time. Read more 

Israel-India $500 million Spike missile deal nearing closure, report says. In 2016, the Indian government agreed to purchase 8,000 ‘Spike’ anti-tank missiles and 300 missile-launchers from Israeli state-owned Rafael. Indian press reported a snag in the deal in November 2017, stating the country’s defense ministry was interested in developing similar missiles in-house. Read more 

News Briefs

Intel Capital, Blackstone back cybersecurity startup Preempt. Read more 

Teddy Sagi Group invests $4 million in business travel startup Arbitrip. Read more 

Trading firm Plus500 upgraded to main market at London Exchange. Read more

AT&T appoints Ofer Hacohen as general manager of Israeli innovation center. Read more 

Viola Growth appoints former Goldman Sachs SVP Rafi Carmeli as partner. Read more