Markets brief
Global Shifts and Local Liquidity on the Tel Aviv Exchange
Lendbuzz pivots its IPO plans home, local giants back physical AI assets, and Friday trading volumes surge.
Markets
Israeli pensions are bypassing volatile stocks to finance physical AI hardware — deploying $1.03B into EdgeConneX locks in long-term infrastructure yields backed by big-tech cloud demand.
BackgroundEdgeConneX builds and operates highly specialized physical server facilities designed to run power-hungry cloud and artificial intelligence applications. The company established its footprint in Israel by acquiring Global Data Center in 2021 to serve local infrastructure needs for technology giants.
- Migdal Insurance led the allocation with $350 million, followed by More Investments and Meitav, together committing over $1 billion to establish dominant local positions in physical AI real estate.
- The capital represents approximately 15% of EdgeConneX's global $6 billion fundraising round, demonstrating the outsized power of Israeli pension funds in international infrastructure consortia.
- The funding will build liquid-cooled facilities capable of housing advanced computer processors, directly supporting the high-power computing demands of major cloud customers like Nvidia.
Markets
Aligning the TASE trading calendar with global markets has unlocked foreign investment — tripling Friday volume to ₪3.3B proves that international trading algorithms were previously locked out.
BackgroundThe Tel Aviv bourse historically operated on a Sunday-through-Thursday schedule to match the traditional local workweek. The exchange abandoned this format in early 2026 to eliminate the Sunday liquidity trap, when closed international markets left local volumes depressed.
- Average Friday trading volume reached ₪3.3 billion under the new schedule, eclipsing the modest ₪1.1 billion daily average recorded during old Sunday sessions.
- The structural alignment allows international algorithmic trading desks to include Tel Aviv stocks in automated global portfolios without facing weekend settlement delays.
- Despite the volume surge, local indices closed slightly lower last Friday, leaving the benchmark TA-35 and TA-125 flat on the week as traders digested the liquidity shift.
Markets
Wall Street's tech freeze is driving mid-market firms home — Lendbuzz's pivot to Tel Aviv shows the local exchange is now a viable exit for startups accepting lower valuations.
BackgroundLendbuzz utilizes artificial intelligence credit-scoring models to offer car loans to underserved consumers without deep credit histories. The firm filed a confidential Nasdaq prospectus in late 2025 targeting a $1.5 billion valuation, but capital remains locked in mega-cap technology stocks.
- The structural shift marks a rare pivot back to the local Tel Aviv exchange after a mature startup completed formal Nasdaq roadshows, reversing the traditional growth path.
- Local institutional investors are expected to price the auto-finance firm closer to $1 billion, representing a steep discount from its original $1.5 billion Wall Street target.
- The company has raised $345 million from prominent Israeli venture capital backers including 83North and Arkin Group, who now face local liquidity rather than a U.S. exit.
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