6 Israeli Startups To Launch Government-Backed Pilot Programs In India

June 28, 2018 | Six Israeli startups made it through to the final stage of the Israel Innovation Authority’s Israel-India Bridge to Innovation program, initiated in bilateral meetings between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian premier Narendra Modi earlier this year. The winning startups were selected out of the original 18 companies competing at a Demo Day held last week at the Urban Place complex in Tel Aviv, presenting their technologies to CEOs and investors from Israel and India.

The six startups in the fields of healthcare, agriculture and water management will run pilot programs in India. They are:

– Amaizz, which develops products that minimize produce losses caused by spoilage and mishandling

– BioFeed, a company that specializes in spray-free solutions for fly control

–  Zebra Medical Vision, an Israeli company that uses artificial intelligence to read medical scans in order to automatically detect anomalies. It raised $30 million earlier this month, and in 2017 made international headlines for partnering with Google Cloud to provide its technology for $1 medical scans

– MobileODT, which combines “biomedical optics with the power and connectivity of cellular technology” to diagnose cervical cancer.

– AMS Technologies, which develops and markets chemically and thermally stable ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes

– Aquallence, a provider of disinfection and purification water technologies

The Israel-India Bridge to Innovation program started with over 150 applicants. The 18 companies initially chosen accompanied Netanyahu earlier this year on his official trip to India in January, and took part in a six-month program that included training and workshops on the Indian markets, and meetings with senior executives and officials, including investors and entrepreneurs.

Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chief Scientist at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry and Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority, said in a statement that the Israel-India Bridge to Innovation is a “springboard for cooperation between Israeli innovators and Indian corporations.”

“The collaboration between India, a massive economy with the largest growth rate in the world, and Israel, the Startup Nation, to develop technological solutions to various challenges, is synergistic and unique. There is a real mutual desire, backed by substantial investment, to pilot these cooperative ventures in India in order to solve pressing global challenges specifically in India but all over the world as well,” he added.

Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen said the program is a “golden opportunity for Israeli companies in the fields of healthcare, water management and agritech to achieve prominence and to enter such a significant and developing global market – India.”