By Tim Keenan and RJ King, Published in DBusiness
The Michigan Israel Business Accelerator (MIBA), the nonprofit international trade organization committed to accelerating Michigan’s economic growth through Israeli corporate connections, assisted Israeli technology company SkillReal with its plans to establish its U.S. headquarters, SkillReal North America, in Michigan, creating 20 jobs near Detroit.
After more than a year in the works, this project is the MIBA’s largest single foreign direct investment win in its history.
“We are particularly proud of the effort that went into working to bring SkillReal here, as it leveraged several different tools in our toolbox,” says Bernard Bourgeois, managing director and Michigan Ecosystem Leader for the MIBA. “We thank our partners at MEDC, Newlab, and especially Northstar Vision for coming together to make this happen.”
During the selection process, the MIBA provided introductions, resources, investment connections, and information about incentives and grants as SkillReal considered Michigan and other regions of the country for expansion into the North American market. These efforts resulted in a combination of state incentives, implementation grant, strategic partnership, and investment that helped convince SkillReal to choose Michigan. SkillReal also is one of three charter members of the MIBA’s Elevator, the MIBA’s landing zone in Downtown Detroit for Israeli companies.
SkillReal North America brings the innovative technology that detects assembly line defects from Israel to the U.S. market.
“The MIBA has been an invaluable partner, connecting us with the resources we’ve needed to build our team, identify customers, and secure the funding that helped make SkillReal North America a reality in Michigan,” says Shai Newman, founder and CEO of SkillReal.
