Alibaba is closing its development center in Israel

The Chinese company Alibaba is closing its development center in Israel. The company last night informed its employees of its intention to close the center here in Herzliya and lay off dozens of employees.

The director of the center, Lehi Tzelnik, retired in November and has not been a deputy since. It is estimated that the site currently employs dozens of experts in the fields of artificial intelligence, software engineering in the field of cloud and mobile, and product people.
The center's activity in Israel is based on the acquisition of Visualid in 2017. Visualead has developed QR scanning technology and raised about $ 10 million from Alibaba and investors such as Keadan Capital and Entrée Capital. The company has developed a software system that produces colorful and custom-designed scan code for companies and brands, which can be implemented in videos, websites and products. Unlike other development centers in Israel, Alibaba's center has focused on developing products for the Asian market. This is unlike most development centers of other international companies that develop technologies, rather than end-user products.
The center in Israel also took pride in the development of the AliYunPan application in 2021, which was ranked second in the Apple store in China in the ranking of productive applications, and in second place also in the ranking of Shiomi. Alibaba's project director in Israel, Itamar Friedman, also retired from the company. It is not clear whether the reason for the closure is a lack of assumption from the center's activities or part of a general downsizing trend.