News Briefs

March 7, 2018 | Israeli cybersecurity company Snyk, which provides security solutions for vulnerabilities in open source libraries, announced that it raised $7 million in a Series A funding round led by Boldstart Ventures and Canaan Partners, with the participation of Heavybit, FundFire, Peter McKay, co-CEO of Veeam, and others. The latest round brings Snyk’s total amount raised to date to $10 million. McKay will join Snyk’s board of directors, the company said. Snyk plans to use the funds to “deploy additional product offerings that improve the secure usage of open source for developers,” a company statement read. “Security controls must adapt to the new pace open source and cloud dictate,” said Guy Podjarny, CEO and co-founder of Snyk Ltd. and author of “Securing Open Source Libraries. “Failing to do so is what led to the recent breaches at Equifax, Uber, and the Tesla cloud breach. We’re relying on strangers’ code to run the most sensitive aspect of our business, and do so at neck-breaking speed. Traditional security solutions simply cannot keep up. The platform is used by over 120,000 developers and has over 350,000 downloads per month, the company said.

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March 7, 2018 | There are five significant Tel Aviv startups to watch in 2018, according to US business magazine Forbes, which recently came out with an article highlighting the Israeli companies. Forbes named autonomous drones startup Airobotics, medical imaging startup Zebra Medical Vision, online shopping game site Boom25, deep learning cybersecurity Deep Instinct, and project management tool Monday.com as the five startups. Airobotics was recognized for the autonomous drones being created that can be used for surveillance and other industrial uses. The company was founded in 2014 by Meir Kliner and Ran Krauss and has raised $71 million to date, including a $32.5 million Series C round in September 2017. Zebra Medical Vision was recognized for its AI platform that reads medical scans to provide accurate medical image diagnoses and its partnership with Google to provide algorithms on Google Cloud at $1 per scan. The third company, Boom25, is “disrupting the popular cashback scene by gamifying online shopping,” according to Forbes. With its nontraditional cashback opportunities, Boom25 offers the 25th customer a full refund on his purchase for shopping through the site and almost 700 retailers have joined the site. Deep Instinct has applied deep learning to cybersecurity to develop a solution with predictive capabilities and claims its the first company to do so. The company was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Monday.com, formerly DaPulse, has created a project management tool that transforms the team collaboration experience for teams of any size. It has raised $34.1million in funding so far and works with companies like McDonalds, Adidas, and Wix. The article also mentions Tel Aviv’s strong tech scene and startup ecosystem as a whole with access to angel investors, VCs, R&D, and even some tax benefits for digital businesses. Tel Aviv has a plethora of accelerators and incubators including 500 Startups and Samurai Incubate Israel. Tel Aviv has also gained the attention of digital publications like Forbes and the US-based tech news publisher TechCrunch, who announced last month that it will host a one-day conference focused on mobility in Tel Aviv this summer. Forbes announced in January that its international Forbes Under 30 Summit Global in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in May. Eight hundred people from the US, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are expected to be at this event.

 

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March 6, 2018 | Israeli AI-based health startup Medial EarlySign announced that it raised $30 million in a recent funding round led by aMoon Fund, the investment arm of Check Point Software Technologies co-founder Marius Nacht. The company, founded in 2009, developed an algorithmic platform which uses blood results and other information from electronic health records to build clinical insights, helping health organizations with patient management. Horizon Ventures, based in Hong Kong, also participated in the funding round, as did Medial EarlySign co-founder and CTO Nir Kalkstein. Medial EarlySign CEO Ori Geva said the funding will be used to broaden the company’s solutions and expand clinical studies, Reuters reported. Last month, the company announced that it can predict which sufferers of diabetes will develop kidney dysfunction within a one-year time-frame using its predictive engines, or “Algomarkers.” The announcement came after the conclusion of a clinical data study based on Medial EarlySign’s tech which was able to identify at-risk patients by analyzing electronic health records including laboratory tests results, demographics, medication and diagnostic codes.

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March 6, 2018 | Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has joined as a partner and invested in a green hotel to be built at the Herzliya Marina, the hotel’s real estate developers Hagag Group, announced Sunday in a statement, according to the Jerusalem Post. The hotel will be constructed according to US Green Building Council and be certified by its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The hotel will be constructed according to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Planning) standards of the US Green Building Council. The planned luxury hotel, to be designed by American architect David Rockwell, will have 180 suites in two six-floor buildings with a swimming pool. DiCaprio, a dedicated environmental activist, runs the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which promotes environmental awareness, supporting renewable energy, and tackling climate change issues. In January 2017, DiCaprio used Instagram to highlight an Israeli project aimed at building the world’s tallest solar thermal tower created by Megalim at the Ashalim solar complex in the Negev.

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March 5, 2018 | Israeli medical imaging startup Zebra Medical Vision announced that it has received CE regulatory approval for its newest algorithm to detect cranial hemorrhaging of different kinds. It is the newest addition to the company’s existing 11 artificial intelligence-based algorithms that can detect diseases such as breast cancer,  vertebral fractures, emphysema, osteoporosis, fatty liver, and aneurysms. The algorithms are trained to identify the visual symptoms for a different disease by using thousands of medical scans that had already been diagnosed and labeled, and, when fed a new medical scan, can recognize visual cues that indicate whether the disease is present. In October, the Tel Aviv-based startup announced that in order to make its service, called the AI1 or All-in-1 Imaging Analytics Package, more available by offering access to hospitals and medical professionals for $1 per scan, and later partnered with Google to provide its sophisticated algorithms on Google Cloud. The new algorithm broadens Zebra’s AI1 package, which according to a press release, has already analyzed more than 1 million scans across the world. Zebra Medical Vision co-founder and CEO Elad Benjamin said the company was “excited to announce our first acute care algorithm with the potential to help radiologists better manage their workload, and properly prioritize urgent cases over others.” Benjamin said that over the next few months, Zebra plans to release “several more high impact algorithms on our path to provide a versatile AI based automated radiology assistant.”

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March 5, 2018 | Israeli startup Nucleai, which is currently developing an artificial intelligence-based system that assists pathologists in the diagnosis of diseases like cancer in a more efficient manner, today announced a $5 million seed round, according to a statement. The round was led by Israeli-based VC funds Vertex Ventures Israel and Grove Ventures as well as private investors Brian Cooper, founder of Retalix, and serial entrepreneur Nir Kalkstein, co-founder of Final and Medial Early Sign. “We are excited to partner with Nucleai’s impressive and experienced entrepreneurial team”, said Emanuel Timor, General Partner at Vertex. “Nucleai will dramatically improve the accuracy and efficiency of pathologists.  We believe that Nucleai has the vision and ability to leverage recent breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence technologies and become the global leader in digital pathology.” Clinical pathology is a medical specialty which diagnoses a disease based on laboratory analysis of bodily fluids or tissues and cells. Today, most diseases are diagnosed by pathologists. Nucleai is a company that works to “improve the efficiency of pathologists, therefore shortening the patient’s wait time for a diagnosis and reducing fatal errors,” according to the statement. The company was founded in 2017 by Avi Veidman, Eliron Amir, and Lotan Chorev, who are the firm’s current CEO, CTO, and VP of R&D, respectively. All three served together in the elite technological unit 9900 of the Israeli intelligence corps, specializing in computer vision. “Utilizing Artificial intelligence in the pathology domain holds great potential—state of the art technology has allowed us to obtain results that until recently, were considered impossible. We recently presented our results to a number of pathologists and their responses were enthusiastic,” said Veidman.  “We have teamed excellent investors and partners who are embarking with us on a challenging journey to improve patient care and save lives.” Nucleai also develops solutions for prostate, breast and gastrointestinal-related diseases. They plan to use their funds to recruit experienced machine learning researchers to speed up development.

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March 5, 2018 | Check Point CEO Gil Shwed was announced as the recipient of the first-ever Israel Prize for innovation and high-tech. Shwed is the co-founder of the Israeli cybersecurity giant. The new category for the prestigious prize was introduced this year by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who took to Twitter to congratulate Shwed. “Gil Shwed is a Startup National pioneer,” Bennett wrote. “His story is the story of Israeli high-tech. As a graduate of the 8200 IDF intelligence unit who founded Check Point, he blazed the trail and served as an inspiration for me and for thousands of Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs.” Israel Innovation Authority Chief Aharon Aharon said in a statement that “no one was more deserving than Gil Shwed to be the first to win the prize.” Founded in 1993 by Shwed, Marius Nacht and Shlomo Kramer, Check Point went public in 1996. Considered one of the world’s leading cybersecurity companies, Check Point provides solutions that protect customers from cyber attacks, including malware and other types of threats. Shwed was quoted by Globes as saying he was “moved” to receive the prize, “especially in an area so greatly associated with our country and Israeli society. The prize may have been given to me, but all the Check Point employees in the past 25 years deserve it.” He added, “Israel is a wonder, and our industry, the high-tech industry, is turning the spirit of innovation here into products that are improving the world and changing the lives of everyone in the world, regardless of where they live.”

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March 4, 2018 | Tel Aviv will be hosting the fifth annual Vegan Congress this week from March 8 to 9. Since 2014, Vegan Friendly Israel, a non-profit organization working to make the vegan lifestyle more accessible to Israelis, has put together lectures by local and international vegan activists for the event. This year’s international speakers include Australia’s James Aspey, who kept silent for a year to raise awareness on animal cruelty, author, and international activist Nick Cooney, former president of Mercy For Animals, and Joey Carbstrong, a celebrity vegan activist from Australia with thousands of followers on YouTube and Instagram. This year’s Vegan Congress is expected to have at least 1,500 participants, similar to last year’s event. Israel has become a popular destination for vegans due to numerous vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants, especially in Tel Aviv, which is home to 400 vegan and vegan-friendly kitchens. Late last year, the city was crowned “vegan capital of the world” by British online newspaper The Independent.

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March 1, 2018 | Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, Israel’s largest medical facility, announced this week that it is planning to build a new center for nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, which can be used for diagnosing and treating a host of diseases including a number of cancers, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. The hospital said in a press release that it has submitted a permit application for the 2,000-square meter, three-floor diagnostic and research center. The center will house a cyclotron, a nuclear reactor which will produce small quantities of nuclear isotopes for use in molecular imaging, in the basement floor, the hospital said. Nuclear isotopes are used in the detection of cellular changes which “will allow medical professionals to offer a personalized approach to diagnosis and therapy through earlier diagnosis and assessment of treatment efficacy,” the hospital statement read. The construction of the center is being funded by Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire businessman who owns stakes in steel giant Evraz, Norilsk Nickel and the UK soccer team Chelsea. Abramovich donated $20 million for the project, and has so far given Sheba a total of $57 million for various other initiatives, including to the Sheba Cancer and Cancer Research Centers, the Pediatric Middle East Congenital Heart Center and the Sheba Heart Center, the hospital said. Sheba’s Director-General Professor Yitshak Kreiss said in a statement, “Thanks to this generous donation made by Mr. Abramovich, we will be able to further our research in the field of nuclear imaging which will enhance our ability to make early diagnoses and offer a personalized medicine approach to our patients.”

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March 1, 2018 | Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Israel Police have launched a new initiative to develop crime-fighting tools for law enforcement using artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and Big Data. According to a statement by the university, BGU researchers will work alongside police officers to develop these tool in the newly inaugurated Center for Computational Criminology. Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheikh said, “The Israel Police’s Cyber Unit, which was created to lead the national effort to combat cybercrime, will be collaborating with BGU’s cybersecurity experts to constantly improve the police’s enforcement and prevention capabilities, by staying at the cutting edge of technological developments in the field.” Prof. Lior Rokach, head of the new Center, Chair of the Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering, and a leading expert on artificial intelligence said, “The last, most significant scientific breakthrough to change law enforcement was DNA testing. Today, we are on the threshold of the next big breakthrough: analyzing big data to discover hidden patterns to predict and prevent crime. The AI revolution of the past few years will prove to be even more significant than DNA testing for law enforcement, providing them with unprecedented investigative tools and new sources of evidence.” BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi said at the launch, “BGU is a recognized international leader in cybersecurity, IoT and Big Data research…The Center will bring together academic research expertise and the world of law enforcement to prevent crime in cyberspace and in general.”

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February 28, 2018 | Israeli startup Edgybees, whose First Response app used augmented reality to help emergency teams respond to the Northern California wildfires and post-hurricane flooding in Florida, announced Wednesday that it has completed a $5.5 million seed round led by Motorola Solutions Venture Capital and Verizon Ventures. VC companies OurCrowd, 8VC, NFX, and Aspect Ventures also participated in the round. Edgybees technology enables augmented reality (AR) on high-speed platforms like drones and cars. Its technology was first applied to an AR racing game for drones, released in conjunction with drone leader DJI in early 2017. Later that year, Edgybees released First Response, a drone-flying app being used by emergency responders to orient themselves in confusing environments and to better track rapidly evolving circumstances. The drone flying app was first used by officials operating in the Florida Keys in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, where they leveraged mapping overlays to identify distress calls in flooded areas. First Response was most recently used by local authorities in the Northern California fires last October. “What started as technology powering a racing game is now saving lives around the world. The overwhelming response by commercial and industrial drone users looking to leverage AR, and partner with us in the fields of fire, public safety, and search & rescue has been amazing, and we can’t wait to expand the next set of drone applications into new markets,” Edgybees co-founder and CEO Adam Kaplan said in a statement.

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February 28, 2018 | Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a developer and manufacturer of military and commercial aerospace technology, announced this week that it was partnering with Starburst, a global accelerator focused on aerospace and defense sectors. IAI will participate in selecting startups that meet its criteria for the accelerator. Additionally, overseas startups already participating in the accelerator will present technologies pre-selected by IAI. “The model will enable IAI to identify innovative technologies that can contribute to its current and future growth engines and technological roadmap and maintain its position as a technological spearhead, through technical collaboration and equity investments in the forefront of aerospace technology,” an IAI statement said, adding that the IAI-Starburst collaboration is “the first step in realizing IAI’s objectives to become a significant technological player and strategic partner for startups in the aerospace & defense fields, by offering technological and business expertise, technology validation, mentoring and access to such startups’ potential markets.” The Paris-based Starburst accelerator has a presence on three continents with offices in London, Munich, Singapore, Paris, Montreal, and San Francisco. It is comprised of 300 startup companies and 26 companies, including Boeing and GE Aviation, the statement said. In one of their first collaborations, Starburst will bring its first 2018 selection committee to Israel to hear pitches from 10 startups from Israel and abroad at the Aerospace Shark Tank on March 7 in Tel Aviv. Founded in 1953, IAI is Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company, specializing in developing and manufacturing advanced, state-of-the-art systems for air, space, sea, land, cyber, and homeland security.

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February 28, 2018 | Over 10 foreign stock exchanges have “shown interest” in buying a stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), a source close to the exchange told Reuters Tuesday. “More than 10 exchanges have signed nondisclosure agreements,” the source said but did not provide any further details. Last September, the TASE became a for-profit exchange and offered “to buy out its shareholders to list on its own bourse in 2019 at a value of about $150 million,” Reuters reported. CEO Itai Ben-Zeev said this month “TASE has commitments from member banks to buy back 71.7 percent of their shares, a stake that will be sold to a large foreign exchange as a strategic partner ahead of going public, according to Reuters. Member banks would hold a 22 percent stake in TASE. TASE has until April 18 to accept this share buyback offer, where it can buy back its shares from the member banks

 

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February 27, 2018 | Israeli cybersecurity company CyberX, which develops cyber security solutions for the Industrial IoT market, announced that it raised $18 million in a Series B funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners, bringing the total amount it was raised so far to $30 million. The company was founded in 2013 by CEO Omer Schneider and CTO Nir Giller, both veterans of the IDF’s elite Unit 8200, the elite cyber security unit. It intends to expand in the United States and Europe.

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February 27, 2018 | Israeli mobility status AI company Anagog announced Monday it has closed a Series B financing round, led by German automotive giant Daimler AG and US venture capital firm MizMaa Ventures, according to Reuters. No financial details on the funding round were disclosed at the time of this announcement. “We are very pleased and honored to welcome Daimler and Mizmaa as our new investors,” said said Anagog CEO Ofer Tziperman, in a statement.  “Our ongoing business collaboration with Daimler has been a perfect opportunity to recognize the mutual synergies between Anagog’s array of mobility innovations and Daimler’s long-term vision of mobility services. We are also delighted to have the experienced team of Mizmaa on-board. Their intimate knowledge of our potential markets will be a superb asset for Anagog. Anagog, a Tel Aviv-based company founded by Gil Levy and Yaron Aizenbud in 2010, is the developer of JedAI, the first on-handset AI engine that converts sensors data in real-time and predicts mobility status and location information. Anagog and Daimler launched the EQ Ready App last year, helping drivers decide whether they should switch to more eco-friendly car technology by comparing their travel to data from electric and hybrid vehicles. Daimler has been a part of Israel’s budding automotive tech scene for some time now, opening a Mercedes-Benz research and development center in Tel Aviv last year and collaborating with Israeli-founded startup Via to bring ride-sharing to Europe through their Mercedes-Benz Vans business unit.

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