May 10, 2018 | Israeli medical cannabis company Together Pharma announced this week that its subsidiary Globus Pharma has signed a memorandum of understanding with Premier Dead Sea, the leading Israeli manufacturer and developer of mineral cosmetics based on Dead Sea minerals. Under the agreement, the companies will develop, manufacture, and market a line of therapeutic cosmetics combining Dead Sea minerals with cannabidiol, the natural cannabinoid compound derived from the extraction of cannabis. The final product will be distributed and marketed to countries where the sale of the compound is legal and requires no prescription, including many countries in Europe and Canada. The companies will establish a plant for the production and processing of the joint products, according to required standards. Construction of the plan is expected to begin during the third quarter of 2018 and operations will be launched during the first quarter of 2019. American singer Mariah Carey became the face of Premier Dead Sea last year and was in Israel in June to promote the cosmetics brand. It’s not yet clear whether she will also become an ambassador for the new CBD cosmetics line with this agreement.
News Briefs
Israeli Cannabis Firm Signs Deal With Dead Sea Cosmetics Brand Promoted By Mariah Carey
OurCrowd Partners With Bangkok Bank
May 10, 2018 | Leading equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is continuing its expansion in Asia by announcing a partnership with Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, one of Thailand and Southeast Asia’s premier commercial banks. The cooperation seeks to create relationships between Thailand’s major corporations and OurCrowd’s portfolio of tech companies. Bangkok Bank will provide direct access into OurCrowd’s portfolio on behalf of its corporate and small-and-medium-sized enterprises. Since it was founded in 2013, OurCrowd has raised over $700 million from 25,000 investors across 150 countries for over 150 early-stage companies. OurCrowd entered the Asian market in 2015. Other partnerships in the region include United Overseas Bank in Singapore, Shanghai Commercial Savings Bank in Taiwan, Citic Pacific in Hong Kong, Reliance Private Client in India, and National Australia Bank.
Google Cloud To Acquire Israeli Cloud Software Provider Velostrata
May 9, 2018 | The hybrid cloud software provider Velostrata, founded in 2014 by its CEO Issy Ben-Shaul and its Chief Product Officer Ady Degany, announced on Wednesday that it would be acquired by Google Cloud, subject to customary closing conditions. The terms of the deal were not announced. Velostrata is headquartered in California with offices in Israel. Velostrata developed technology that “makes it possible for enterprises to build a dynamic, multi-vendor hybrid cloud so IT managers can move workloads from on-premises data centers to and from public cloud in minutes.” Google Cloud VP Engineering wrote in a post on Wednesday that with the acquisition of Velostrata, “Google Cloud customers obtain two important benefits: they’ll be able to adapt their workloads on-the-fly for cloud execution, and they can decouple their compute from storage without performance degradation. This means they can easily and quickly migrate virtual machine-based workloads like large databases, enterprise applications, DevOps, and large batch processing to and from the cloud. On top of that, customers can control and automate where their data lives at all times – either on-premises or in the cloud – in as little as a few clicks.” This acquisition, he wrote, “will add to our broad portfolio of migration tools to support enterprises in their journey to the cloud. That way, businesses can simplify their onboarding process to Google Cloud Platform, and easily migrate workloads to Google Compute Engine.”
BrainsWay Gets FDA Approval For New Treatment Of Major Depressive Disorder
May 9, 2018 | Israeli company Brainsway, a leader in the advanced non-invasive treatment of brain disorders, announced this week that it received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new stimulator to be integrated into Brainsway’s Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Deep TMS) System for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Deep TMS simulates relevant areas of the brain with non-invasive treatment using electromagnetic waves running through a special H-Coil helmet. This reaches deeper and larger surface areas of the brain than standard TMS treatments. The simulator enhances the entire Deep TMS system, streamlining treatment for physicians and their patients. It also provides enhanced features focusing on the ease of use for the physician. Features include a patient management system with built-in depression treatment protocol and a user-friendly tool for accurate, rapid motor threshold detection. “Brainsway’s new stimulator represents a very important product advancement that solidifies the company’s leading innovative position within the US market. Furthermore, it sets the foundation for Brainsway to become a fully integrated company that develops, produces and commercializes our innovative, non-invasive medical systems for the treatment of brain disorders globally,” said CEO Yaacov Michlin, in the statement.
Israel Innovation Authority, State of Indiana Sign Deal To Support Agritech R&D Initiatives
May 9, 2018 | The Israel Innovation Authority and the state of Indiana announced they had signed an economic cooperation agreement this week to strengthen ties between Israel and Indiana and promote technological R&D initiatives and cooperation in agriculture and life science fields. The agreement was signed by Dr. Ami Applebaum, Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry and Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority and Eric Holcomb, the governor of the state of Indiana. The agreement, which was signed as part of the 20th Agritech Israel Conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, May 9, will be supported financially by the Israel Innovation Authority and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC.) Governor Holcomb was a guest of honor at the conference and is visiting Israel for the first time. “Hoosiers (Indiana residents) are proud of the rich friendship we’ve developed with the State of Israel, and the MOU we’ve signed today takes this partnership to the next level. Indiana and Israel are tech and agbioscience powerhouses, and there are abundant opportunities for academic exchanges, mutual investment and cross-collaboration between our two economies,” he said in a statement. Indiana’s economy is one of leading ones in the US, with a strong manufacturing industry. The state exports $100 million worth of goods per year to Israel and imports a similar amount.
Canon To Acquire Israeli Video Analysis Firm BriefCam
May 9, 2018 | Canon is set to acquire Israel-based video analysis software company BriefCam for an undisclosed amount in a stock purchase agreement, the companies announced on Wednesday. The Japanese multinational said in a statement that the acquisition was part of a five-year initiative launched two years ago “to embrace the challenge of new growth through a grand strategic transformation that entails reinforcing existing businesses as well as strengthening and expanding new business.” Canon said BriefCam would continue to operate under its current leadership structure and through its own sales channels. BriefCam President and CEO Trevor Matz said in a statement that the Modiin-based company was “thrilled to be joining forces with a global leader in digital imaging,” and that the acquisition would “allow BriefCam to continue to deliver industry-leading video content analytics solutions, while remaining a standalone company within the Canon Group. The opportunity is a testament to the innovative technology we have built, the outstanding team we have assembled, and the rapidly growing business we have created.” Masanori Yamada, Canon Inc. Managing Executive Officer and Group Executive, Network Visual Solution Business Promotion Headquarters, said, “with BriefCam, we can deliver an even broader range of leading-edge technology and solutions in the fields of network cameras, video management software and video content analysis software to customers and partners across the globe. We are very excited to work with such an innovative organization and we welcome BriefCam into the Canon Group.” Founded in 2007 by Prof. Shmuel Peleg, Mr. Gideon Ben-Zvi and Dr. Yaron Caspi, BriefCam developed video analysis software called Video Synopsis which allows “investigators to review hours of video in minutes and rapidly pinpoint people and objects of interest.” Users can search through the synopsized video using such filters as object size, speed, direction and color, facilitating instant access to the images they wish to review. BriefCam says its technology is already in use in over 40 countries and regions in law enforcement and public safety organizations, government and transportation agencies, major enterprises, healthcare and educational institutions, and local communities. In 2013, BriefCam’s technology helped the FBI identify the Tsarnaev brothers in the Boston Marathon bombings that year in the surveillance videos.
Cybersecurity Firm SafeBreach Raises $15M With Help From Paypal, Deutsche Telekom
May 8, 2018 | Israeli-founded cybersecurity company SafeBreach announced that it raised $15 million in a strategic funding round led by Draper Nexus with participation from PayPal and existing investors Sequoia Capital, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and HPE Pathfinder. SafeBreach says it offers “the most comprehensive Breach and Attack Simulation platform in the industry — with a playbook of over 3400 breach methods, along with the most flexible prioritization capabilities and most extensible remediation options,” according to a company statement, which added that the technology “has been able to uncover unknown or unexpected security issues in the most sophisticated security environments.” SafeBreach CEO and co-founder Guy Bejerano said that “Simulating attacks is critical to understanding the bigger picture of infrastructure and asset risk, but alone, it’s not enough. Simulations need to inform prioritized actions. Our new, unique capabilities were built to provide the most effective breach method coverage, identify and prioritize critical results, and quickly remediate issues to enable customers to stay ahead of attacks.” With headquarters in California and an R&D center in Tel Aviv, SafeBreach was founded in 2014 by Bejerano and CTO Itzik Kotler, veterans of the IDF Air Force and IDF Intelligence unit 8200. The company has won a number of awards and recognitions, and previously raised $19 million in funds in 2016 and 2015.
Israel Boasts Some 750 Startups In Food, AgriTech Sectors
May 8, 2018 | Israel is home to some 750 active startups and companies in the food tech and agriculture tech industries, at least half of them founded over the past 10 years, according to a report by the Israeli non-profit Start-Up Nation Central. The report came as Israel is hosting three large events in these fields this week, with hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and VCs flocking to Tel Aviv for the annual AgriVest 2018 and AgriTech 2018 conferences, as well as FoodTechIL. According to the Start-Up Nation Central, Israeli expertise lies in agricultural biotech and crop protection, drip irrigation and water management, farm management, alternative protein, and food safety. In 2017, Israeli food tech and agritech companies raised $189 million in capital funds, up significantly from $97 million in 2016. Fredrik Liljedahl, an Agritech analyst at Start-Up Nation Central, writes in a separate report on 2017’s findings in the industries that “Israel has always answered its own agricultural challenges, and in the process has created a large produce export industry… But the real comparative advantage of this small country with its proven agricultural know-how lies in exporting technology, often tested first by Israel’s own farmers.”
Airobotics Is Bringing Its Autonomous Drones To Chile’s Mines
May 8, 2018 | Israeli drone tech startup Airobotics announced this month an exclusive distribution partnership with engineering company Rockblast to allow mining companies from Chile to use the Airobotics system at mining sites, Australian mining group Austmine reports. Rockblast has become the first company to introduce an autonomous drone system into South America to improve the mining The startup’s first Chilean customer is Minera Centinela, one of the leading mining companies in the country. Airobotics’ Optimus drone will be used at Minera Centinela’s mine to create multi-purpose functionality and safe and easy operations that won’t interfere with mining. Minera Centinela is part of the Antofagasta group, the largest mining group in Chile. Founded in 2014 by Meir Kliner and Ran Krauss, Airobotics has developed a pilotless drone solution which is the first of its kind in the global market.
Israeli Startups Kick Off Strong 2018 With Raised Capital Of Over $1.5B In Q1
May 7, 2018 | Israeli high-tech startups and companies raised some $1.52 billion in capital in 181 deals over the first quarter of 2018, signaling a strong start to the year and a marked increase from the first quarter of 2017 with $1.06 billion in 155 deals, according to a report released by the IVC Research Center and the law firm ZAG-S&W Zysman, Aharoni, Gayer & Co. Three deals, each of $100 million or more, accounted for 23 percent of total capital raised in the first quarter according to the report, including Israeli social trading company eToro with $100 million in a Series E funding in March and Israeli fintech company Behalf, which provides loans and on-demand payment tools to large and small business in the US, with $150 million (in debt financing) in February. The report found that more cybersecurity companies (34) raised $328 million in capital in the first quarter this year, almost double the number of deals (18) in Q4 2017. Capital raising by companies in earlier stages, including R&D and Round A, grew by 60 percent, raising $451 million compared to the quarterly averages in 2017. Adv. Shmulik Zysman, Attorney at Law, Managing Partner leading the high-tech sector at ZAG-S&W Zysman, Aharoni, Gayer & Co, said, “Israeli high-tech opens 2018 with a strong momentum…In the past years, usually, the first quarter figures were weaker compared to other quarters of the same year, mostly in capital amounts. If judged by the numbers of Q1/2018, it looks like we might have an interesting and prolific year ahead of us.”
Israel’s Largest FoodTech, AgriTech Events Open In Tel Aviv This Week
May 6, 2018 | Tel Aviv is hosting three major events in agriculture and food technology this week to showcase Israeli innovations in the industry. On May 7, FoodTech IL 2018, formerly the Annual FoodTech Symposium, will bring together some 800 attendees, including entrepreneurs, investors, food industry executives and government officials for a one-day event, which will also hold a startup contest. On May 8, the annual AgriVest conference will be held at the Tel Aviv Port, hosting entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and investors to nurture opportunities for global partnerships and collaborations. May 8-10 will see the 20th International Agro Technology Exhibition & Conference, also known as AgriTech, held at the Tel Aviv Exhibitions Grounds. It is one of the world’s largest and most important conferences in the industry. This year’s AgriTech event will focus on the challenges related to agriculture in arid climates, and achievements towards enabling efficient farming.
China’s Largest ‘Fund Of Funds’ To Operate Z-Park Liaison Office In Tel Aviv
May 6, 2018 | The new liaison office in Tel Aviv of Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park (Z-Park), dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley,” will be run by China’s largest global venture capital and private equity fund of funds, the Shengjing Group. Shengjing said in a statement that it recently established an Israeli entity called Shengjing Israel Ltd, which will be managed locally by Shengjing Group Director Xueling Cao. The group said it would seek growth-stage Israeli companies looking to enter the Chinese market, and will invest independently in Israeli startups focusing on a number of areas including AI, clean tech, medical tech and agriculture. The new Israeli entity will serve “as an initial base for many Chinese governments, public companies and investors seeking to do business in Israel, and for Israeli companies seeking business opportunities in China, especially in Beijing,” the group said. Shengjing began operating in Israel in 2012, investing some $100 million in the Israeli tech ecosystem through its Peakview investment arm, including in Israeli venture capital firms like Jerusalem Venture Partners, Vintage Investment Partners, Viola Group and Canaan Partners. Shengjing also operates the First China-Israel Accelerator in Beijing.
Jack Ma Says Alibaba Group Has Important Plans In Israel
May 3, 2018 | Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma told students and faculty at Tel Aviv University on Thursday that Israel is one of three “important countries” for the Chinese e-commerce giant. Ma, who is currently on his first trip to Israel, said that there was a lot of room to invest in the country and praised the local talent, admitting that his entourage of 40 Alibaba executives were staying up late at night during the trip, looking into opportunities. Ma listed a number of companies Alibaba is already invested in, including QR code startup Visualead, which he has acquired, augmented reality software startup Infinity, e-commerce search engine Twiggle, augmented reality company Lumus, and automotive computer vision startup Nexar — and said that 12 Alibaba employees are already working in Israel. Alibaba first announced plans to set up offices in Tel Aviv as part of a $15 billion global research and development plan in October 2017. Ma arrived in Israel on Monday, visiting the offices of Jerusalem-based venture capital fund Jerusalem Venture Partners where Alibaba became a limited partner in 2015, and meeting with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, investors and entrepreneurs. Ma also received an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University.
Growth Capital Firm Oxx Closes Debut Fund With $100M
May 3, 2018 | Oxx, the growth capital firm targeting UK, Nordic, and Israeli scale-up stage B2B (business-to-business) software companies, announced the completion of its debut fund, Oxx I, with a total of $100 million in funding. Funding came through a strategic partnership with OurCrowd, the world’s largest equity crowdfunding platform, based in Israel. The fund will participate in financing rounds of $5 million to $20 million and it is actively working on new investments.
Vayyar Unveils ‘World’s Most Advanced’ 3D Imaging Chip
May 3, 2018 | Vayyar Imaging, the Israeli company that developed groundbreaking 3D imaging technology that can “see” through objects, announced this week the launch of the “world’s most advanced millimeter-wave 3D imaging chip.” The advanced silicon chip provides a high resolution, mobile, and cost-effective 3D imaging solution, Vayyar says. It also has antenna with 72 receivers and 72 transmitters, an unprecedented number in the industry, the company’s statement said. In January, the Yehud-based company founded in 2011 raised $45 million in Series C funding and was named among Business Insider’s 50 startups expected “to boom” in 2018. It was also among NoCamels’ “superhero startups” of 2017.
