Does Israel Still Have its Mojo? AOL Certainly Thinks So

In a recent post, Sarah Lacy posed the question of whether Israel has lost its mojo. It looks like AOL believes the mojo is still very much somewhere in the Holy Land, as evidenced by its tapping Avichay Nissenbaum as AOL’s first Country Manager for Israel.

Nissenbaum, considered by Israel’s startup community as “one of the good guys” is known for two startup successes:product lifecycle management company SmarTeam which was acquired by Dassault Systemes back in 1999, and most recently, Q&A site Yedda which was acquired by AOL in 2007.

In his new role as Country Manager Nissenbaum will focus on establishing tighter connections with the local hi-tech scene by promoting AOL’s developer network and the services that power such known brands as AIM, ICQ, Bebo, Winamp and Mapquest. His attention will also be placed on identifying local technologies and products of value to AOL for M&A consideration—AOL currently has over 200 employees in Israel across several companies it has acquired over the years, namely: ICQ, Relegance, Quigo and Yedda.