“Drive” Mobility Innovation Center Opens in Israel

Israel’s Mayer’s Cars and Trucks Ltd. has formed a new business dubbed DRIVE and opened an innovation center to support local transportation-oriented entrepreneurs and startup companies.

Located in Tel Aviv, the DRIVE center is partially funded by four corporate partners: rental car giant Hertz, Honda, Israeli telematics company Ituran and Volvo Cars. The center includes a startup accelerator, advanced prototyping labs, meeting rooms and shared workspace that encourage networking and collaboration.

Boaz Mamo, who previously founded two other smart mobility accelerator ventures, will serve as DRIVE’s CEO. Other members of the executive team include Omer Shachar, an investment specialist from Mayer, and Tal Cohen, an entrepreneur and adjunct associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

The partners note that Israel is home to more than 5,000 startups and 750 venture-capital-backed companies. DRIVE was announced at this week’s OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem, which is billed as the world's largest equity crowdfunding event. Organizers say the conference attracted more than 5,000 attendees from 80 countries.