Surge in Bar exam success rate
About 88% of those who took the bar exam on Wednesday passed, based on preliminary estimates from the company that runs the Israel Bar Association's preparatory courses. Some 1,580 candidates took the exam and the initial estimates are based on reports by the examinees to the company. This would be an extremely high pass rate compared to recent tests: In November 2011 only 57% passed - but the difficult test raised an outcry and the IBA made some changes. The test includes 100 multiple-choice questions and 65 is the passing grade. Historically, about 70% of those taking the bar for the first time pass. (Hila Raz )
Fiverr raises $15 million
Israeli startup Fiverr has secured $15 million in a second round of funding from Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. The company provides an Internet marketplace that offers services starting at $5 and is one of the 100 most popular websites in the United States. Following previous financing led by Bessemer Venture Partners and angels Guy Gamzu and Jonathan Kolber, the site has raised a total of $20 million. The funding will support company and product growth and increase the pace of global expansion, Fiverr said yesterday. The company has grown 600% in transaction volume since the beginning of 2011 and employs over 40 people in Israel, the United States and Europe. Fiverr plans to double its staff by the end of 2012. Micro-entrepreneurs in more than 200 countries use Fiverr, which provides tools for sellers to grow their customer base, including systems for collecting payment, promoting services, managing orders, exchanging files and communicating with buyers. (Reuters )
Leviathan oil drilling suspended
The partners in the Leviathan offshore oil and gas field waited until the wee hours of Thursday morning to report that technical problems have forced them to suspend drilling at a deeper well on site where it hopes to find oil. The U.S.-Israeli exploration group that discovered huge natural gas reserves at the Leviathan field offshore Israel said high pressures at the site and mechanical limitations of the well, where drilling had reached deeper than any other spot in the east Mediterranean's Levant Basin, forced a halt in operations before target depth was reached, the Israeli partners informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, noting that the suspension could last until the end of 2013. The Leviathan field was the largest deepwater natural gas find of the past decade. The group is now hoping to find some 600 million barrels of oil hidden in a layer beneath the gas. The problems at the drill site will not affect the natural gas already discovered, the companies said. Production there is expected to begin in 2017. (Lior Zeno and Reuters )
Landa unveils nanoprinting breakthrough
Benny Landa announced the details yesterday of his company's new nanographic printing presses. The Landa Corporation said its new printers "are set to transform mainstream commercial, packaging and publishing markets." The process uses tiny pigment water-based particles that are only tens of nanometers in size (a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide ), and can print on almost any material. The technology was unveiled officially at the Drupa print media fair in Dusseldorf. Landa has financed the private firm entirely out of his own pocket, and said it " is set to fundamentally change printing as we know it." The company called its new process "eco-friendly and energy-efficient," and said it would produce the lowest cost-per-page digital images in the industry. (TheMarker )
