Former President Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin is set to take on a new role in the business world, joining a company emerging from a merger between the insect-protein producer Flying Spark and the Bitcoin-focused firm Bitcore Capital.
Flying Spark announced it had signed a binding memorandum of understanding with Bitcore Capital for a merger and a capital raise of 20 million shekels (about $5.2 million), based on a pre-money valuation of 100 million shekels.
Bitcore Capital specializes in Bitcoin asset auditing for clients, purchasing and investing in Bitcoin under fixed strategies, issuing and managing a digital shekel token, and offering Bitcoin-backed loans. Following the merger, the company plans to explore an additional capital raise of up to 500 million shekels in its first year of operations.
Under the deal, Rivlin will serve as the company’s honorary president and as an adviser to the board. It will be his second official post at a publicly traded company. In 2021, a month after leaving the presidency, Rivlin became president of Electreon Wireless, an autotech firm developing wireless charging technology for electric vehicles.
Electreon is currently valued at about 845 million shekels, down from 1.6 billion shekels when Rivlin joined. The company has been cutting staff and restructuring amid a 67 percent drop in its share price since the start of the year, even as the Tel Aviv SME60 Index rose 32.5 percent.
Former police commissioner Yohanan Danino, who also chairs the insurance company WeSure, will serve as chairman of the merged firm. Former innovation minister Izhar Shay will join as a director. The company has not yet appointed a chief executive.
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Former police commissioner Yohanan Danino
(Photo: Diego Mittelberg, Be’er Sheva Municipality Spokesperson’s Office)
Flying Spark, once a promising food-tech company, collapsed last year following sustained losses and weak sales. It went public in 2021 with a valuation of 120 million shekels. Under the merger agreement, the value of shares held by Flying Spark’s existing shareholders in the new company will not fall below 10 million shekels.
The deal marks the second time in three months that a publicly traded corporate shell has been repurposed for Bitcoin-related operations — a trend some analysts say could signal growing interest by crypto firms in entering Israel’s capital market.
Zooz Power, which previously developed kinetic energy storage systems, pivoted to Bitcoin trading in July, raising $159 million in a move that heavily diluted existing shareholders. In September, the company purchased $60 million worth of Bitcoin.