February 15, 2018 | WeWork, the international co-working space giant co-founded by Israeli Adam Neumann, with 212 locations and more than 200,000 members, has relaunched its WeWork Labs accelerator program with 27 spaces secured in 16 markets for 2018, according to a report in Tech Crunch. The WeWork Labs program ran in 2011, but was neglected as the company focused on other initiatives. With the relaunch, WeWork wants to offer very early stage startups a place to work and learn. The company has already opened its first location at 205 Hudson in New York City and will open its second in the Soho West office on March 1st. WeWork Labs will be run by the company’s former Head of Digital Roee Adler. While most companies in an accelerator might pay for inclusion and space with equity, WeWork will continue its rent-based formula by asking companies to pay for space at a rental fee determined before membership. WeWork is setting up a loose curriculum where members will receive access to educational resources and courses. The company will also hold small group sessions and bring in guest speakers for discussions and lectures. There is no graduation date, although WeWork members and community members will work towards an established end goal. According to the report, the company expects community managers at each WeWork Labs location to be “potential mentors, vendors, customers or collaborators.” WeWork Labs does not want to compete with other accelerators, but does want to partner with as many organizations as possible. They are also looking to customize each program based on location of the WeWork Labs facility.
News Briefs
WeWork Relaunches Early-Stage Startup Accelerator WeWork Labs
WeedMD Partners With Technion On Cannabis Database Project
February 14, 2018 | Canadian medical cannabis producer and distributor WeedMD has announced it has joined the Cannabis Database Project led by Israel’s prestigious Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The two groups “will be collaborating in the research of cannabinoid and terpenoid profiles of 25 of WeedMD’s cannabis strains,” a statement said. The Technion has already profiled more than 150 strains, including all of the strains currently available under Israel’s regulated medical cannabis market. The data collected from this research will be added to an international database that associates pharmacological effects used to determine effective cannabis treatments for clinical purposes in Israel. The Cannabis Database Project aims to produce an integrated database with both clinical data on cannabis patients as and data on cannabis usage history for patients in Israel and abroad. Data from growers, HMOs, and other sources will be used for analyses aimed to identify specific treatments and organize them on a website for patients and doctors. “WeedMD is in a unique position to contribute data for our research studies and we’re proud to welcome them to our Cannabis Research Project,” said Dr. David Meiri, Head of the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, who noted that members of the WeedMD team were recently hosted in Israel for important discussions on knowledge transfer and the collaboration.
Israeli Cyber Firm Perception Point Raises $8M For US Expansion
February 14, 2018 | Israeli cybersecurity startup Perception Point announced that it raised $8 million in a Series A funding round, led by Pitango Venture Capital along with State of Mind Ventures (SOMV) and Korea Investment Partners (KIP). The Tel Aviv-based company, founded in 2015, said it will use the funds to expand its global presence and product portfolio. Perception Point specializes in cyber threat detection and provides cloud and email solutions. It claims to have developed technology that “intercepts advanced attacks at the earliest possible stage of execution.” Perception Point CEO Yoram Salinger said in a statement, “Companies across industries are undergoing a transformation. As more and more move to the cloud, they require security solutions that are equivalent in terms of speed, scale and flexibility, while also being effective against the more advanced types of threats. At Perception Point, we saw an opportunity to serve both requirements – fusing the flexibility of a cloud solution with the threat visibility only possible at a CPU level.” Rami Kalish, the managing general partner and co-founder of Pitango Venture Capital, will join the company’s board of directors, Perception Point announced. SOMV’s Pinhas Buchris, a former managing director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, has been a member of the board since 2015 when Perception Point raised $2 million in a seed round led by SOMV.
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Visa’s New Innovation Lab In Tel Aviv To Tap Into FinTech Startups
February 13, 2018 | Visa announced that it is launching a new innovation studio in Tel Aviv this week, which will serve as a shared space for the US multinational corporation to work with Israeli FinTech startups “developing the next generation of payment solutions,” Visa said in a statement. The studio will be located at Visa’s offices on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, in the heart of the city’s financial scene. The company announced that it has selected four Israeli companies for immediate collaboration: AU10TIX, which automates customer ID authentication and onboarding initiation; HopOn, which has developed an innovative mobile payment and ticketing platform for public transportation; Idomoo, which offers personalized video as a service platform, and which in partnership with Arkia Israeli Airlines and Visa launched a local marketing campaign that addressed passengers with personalized videos on the advantages of using a Visa card at tourism destinations; and Personetics, which offers AI-powered cognitive banking solutions that allow for personalized customer experiences. Visa has innovation studios in Berlin, Dubai, London, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, San Paolo, Singapore, and Stockholm. The Tel Aviv studio will “streamline Visa’s integration with the local fintech start-ups, and enhance the collaboration with the local venture capital funds, other fintech centers, as well as Visa partners and customers in Israel and abroad,” the company says. Shahar Friedman, the head of the new studio and the acting general manager for Visa in Israel said, “Visa’s Innovation Studio is uniquely positioned to engage with Israel’s unparalleled fintech ecosystem as a gateway to thousands of Visa clients and retailers worldwide, who look for solutions to their challenges, or new ways to differentiate themselves in their competitive landscapes.”
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Israeli Entrepreneur Tapped to Lead Techstars’ Barclays Accelerator In Tel Aviv
February 12, 2018 | Israeli entrepreneur Hila Ovil-Brenner has been appointed the new managing director of the Tel Aviv-based Barclays Accelerator, powered by the Techstars program, the two companies announced in a joint statement. Ovil-Brenner will manage the three-month accelerator, a unique international program for startups in the fields of cybersecurity and financial technology. Ovil-Brenner, a serial entrepreneur, is the founder of the WhiteSmoke Software company, and Yazamiyot, Israel’s largest community for female entrepreneurs. She also set up Google Campus for Moms, an international innovation program for new mothers on maternity leave, run jointly by Yazamiyot and Google. The Barclays Accelerator, launched in 2014, is a unique partnership between the British multinational bank and Techstars. It offers ten selected startups and entrepreneurs access to a wealth of resources, including experts, mentors, and investors in the fields of cybersecurity, insurance tech, fintech, and enterprise software as part of the 13-week program. The startups also have free access to the Rise Tel Aviv co-working space., and can draw up to $120,000 of investment from Techstars. Applications for the Barclays Accelerator close on February 25. The program will kick off on May 27 and conclude with a Demo Day on September 5 of this year.
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UK Israel Tech Hub Launches New Health Accelerator Matching Israeli Startups with NHS
February 12, 2018 | The UK Israel Tech Hub, based at the British Embassy in Israel, announced the launch of the UK Israel Dangoor Health Initiative, a new accelerator aimed at connecting Israeli startups in the digital health field with the UK National Health Service (NHS). The British Ambassador to Israel, David Quarrey, will be hosting an event on Monday to launch the program. The accelerator will select at least two early-stage digital health startups each semester and provide them with the guidance and tools to navigate the UK’s health system. It is backed by British-Jewish philanthropist David Dangoor, son of Sir Naim Dangoor, and is named after the family. Dangoor told the British daily Jewish News this week, “we are absolutely at the threshold of a healthcare revolution and I’m hoping that Israel and the UK will be at the forefront of that, hand-in-hand.” The UK Israel Tech Hub is working on the program together with the IBM Alpha Zone accelerator, which will prepare and deliver those startups through their 20-week deep immersion program, and DigitalHealth.London, a program aimed to speed up development and digital innovations across healthcare and adopted by the NHS. Israeli digital health startups will be chosen by the IBM accelerator and DigitalHealth.London. The program will run for four semesters over two years.
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Israeli Startup MercuRemoval Wins 1st Place In LA Cleantech Open Awards
February 12, 2018 | Israeli cleantech startup MercuRemoval won first place in the seed track of the 2017 Global Ideas competition at the Cleantech Open awards, held in Los Angeles last week, the company announced in a statement. The environmental firm has developed a unique technology, under the exclusive license of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for the removal of mercury emitted by gasses of various industrial processes. The Cleantech Open Global Ideas program is a global search for the most promising clean-technology ideas and is held annually in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW.) The runner-up in this competition was Matteco, a German startup manufacturing high-quality rubber products from recycled scrap tires. Cleantech Open is the world’s largest accelerator of early-stage clean technology companies and since 2005, has trained and supported 1,2000 early-stage cleantech startup ventures. In 2017, the accelerator became a program of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI.)
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Israeli Fintech Startup Behalf Raises $150M
February 11, 2018 | On-demand financing company Behalf, which provides loans and on-demand payment tools to large and small business in the US, has secured $150 million in debt financing, the company announced last week. The round was led by a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management. Viola Credit of Israeli-based Viola Group also participated in the round. Both companies also made a private equity investment in Behalf. This replaces the $100 million in debt previously raised by the company. Brothers Benjy and Shai Feinberg founded Behalf in Ra’anana, Israel, along with Jeremy Esekow in 2011. The company’s software tech, based on big data, predictive analysis, and algorithms, allows users to get cash advances on the spot with flexible repayment terms.
AI-Powered Catering Startup Platterz Raises $15M
February 11, 2018 | Toronto-based AI-powered corporate catering platform Platterz has recently closed a $15 million Series A funding round led by Tel Aviv-based firm Aleph Venture Capital, the company announced this month. The ‘predictive meal builder’ platform providing on-demand catering options for corporate lunches, meetings, and events, plans to use the funds to “accelerate product development and global expansion in 2018”, according to a statement from the company. Platterz was founded by Israelis Eran Henig and Yishay Waxman, who came together when a mutual friend introduced the two entrepreneurs, the Financial Post reported in 2016. Both had already exited other tech companies. Aleph is also the venture capital fund with investors behind WeWork and Lemonade. Other investors in the Platterz investment round include existing investors AltaIR Capital and Globalive Capital.
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Taiwan Science Ministry To Set Up Tech Division In Israel
February 11, 2018 | Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) announced that it will be launching a new tech division in Israel, expected to be in operation this summer, according to a report in the Taipei Times. A source in the ministry, speaking to the news site on condition of anonymity, said, “Taiwan and Israel are very similar — both are densely populated and have limited resources,” adding that Taiwan is seeking to draw on Israeli research and expertise on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biomedical tech, and its experience in developing innovative business models. The official said Taiwan will send local talent to Israel to work in the high-tech field through the ministry’s “Learn, Explore, Aspire, Pioneer” program, which sends persons under 40 years of age to the US’s Silicon Valley and France for 6-to-12-month internships. The ministry has 16 overseas tech divisions that work with Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs offices abroad.
Israel Is 3rd Most Educated Country In The World
February 9, 2018 | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an economic organization with 35 member countries creating policies to improve economic and social well-being around the world, has ranked Israel as the 3rd most educated country in adult education of 10 listed countries, above the United States, which came in 6th place. The OECD looks at adult education level as defined by the highest level of education completed by the 25-64-year-old population in three areas: below upper-secondary, upper secondary and tertiary education in the form of a two-year degree, four-year degree or vocational program. According to the OECD, 49.90 percent of Israeli adults between the age of 25 and 64 have completed some kind of adult education, almost 4 percent above the US. Canada ranked as the most educated country with 56.27 percent and Japan came in second place with 50.50 percent. Other countries on the list included South Korea in 4th place, the United Kingdom in 5th, Australia, 7th, Finland, 8th, Norway, 9th, and Luxembourg, 10th.
5 Israeli Universities In Top 200 Asia University Rankings For 2018
February 8, 2018 | Five Israeli universities — Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, the University of Haifa, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev — ranked in the top 200 of the 350 institutions published in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2018 this week. The 6th annual Asia University Rankings 2018 published by Times Higher Education weekly magazine ranks the top 350 institutions from 25 countries/regions based on the same criteria as the World University Rankings, but “recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia’s institutions,” Times Higher Education said. Tel Aviv University was the highest-ranked Israeli higher education institution, taking the 25th spot in the rankings, but slipping three spots from last year’s rankings. Hebrew University took the 27th spot, while Technion ranked 41st. The University of Haifa took the 100th place and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba was in the 104th spot. The rankings for these institutions are based on 13 performance indicators across areas that include teaching, research, international outlook and more. The National University of Singapore took the #1 spot for the third year in a row. China’s Tsinghua University and Peking University — both institutions that collaborate with Tel Aviv University — came in 2nd and 3rd place behind the University of Singapore.
Israel Diamond Exchange Launching Two Cryptocurrencies
February 8, 2018 | The Israel Diamond Exchange is launching two separate digital currencies, Reuters reported this week, in an effort to revive the industry, make trading more efficient, and more transparent. Eli Avidar, managing director of the exchange, told Reuters, “This industry is facing challenges, and this is going to in a lot of aspects address those challenges … the profitability element of the business, the speed of doing business, money laundering aspects and the problematic elements of banking nowadays. The first coin will be known as the Cut, and will be “available only to dealers on a peer-to-peer basis,” with traders from around the world being eligible to “receive digital wallets after being vetted by the exchange, similar to today’s background checks,” according to the report. This aims to solve money transfers between traders and retailers. Pre-sale of the coin started this week and use of it will commence over the coming weeks, Avishai Shoushan, CEO of the year-old CARATS.IO, which created the coins for the exchange, told Reuters. The second coin, Carat, will be issued later this year and is meant “for institutional and retail investors who want to invest in the diamond market without taking possession of physical diamonds,” the report said. “We are creating a way for people to invest in the market without actually buying and selling diamonds,” Shoushan explained.
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US Developer Of Non-Surgical Skin Cancer Treatment Opening Tel Aviv Office
February 7, 2018 | Florida-based medical device company Sensus Healthcare, a developer of non-invasive treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers using superficial radiation therapy (SRT), announced on Wednesday that it was opening an office in Tel Aviv to expand its footprint in the Middle East and Europe. Sensus Healthcare CEO Joe Sardano said opening an office in Israel, “the epicenter of cutting-edge aesthetic dermatology,” is an “obvious and natural next step” for the company as it seeks to bring its SRT-100 Vision systems, currently installed at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva and Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, to the world. Sensus Healthcare’s CTO Kal Fishman said, “A deeper foothold in Israel gives us access to collaborate with some of the most creative minds in the industry, which will ultimately help us to improve our technologies and expand our footprint across the globe.” He added, “Sensus’ commitment to non-invasive dermatological technology makes entering this progressive market a very logical choice.” The SRT-100 Vision system “features a unique integration of multimodality therapy and image-guidance technologies with software integration to provide enhanced precision, safety and quality in delivering SRT, electronic brachytherapy (eBx) and Grenz Ray therapy (GRT) in a seamlessly integrated and scalable platform,” according to a company statement. It received FDA clearance for the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers and keloids in 2015.
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Houzz Acquires Israeli Startup IvyMark For Reported $40M
February 7, 2018 | The Israeli-founded interior design company Houzz, valued recently at $4 billion, has acquired an Israeli startup that developed a business management tool for designers and vendors for an undisclosed amount, but according to Globes report ranges between $30-40 million. Alon Cohen, Houzz co-founder and president, said in a press release, “IvyMark has built an incredible platform and team that align with our mission of providing the best experience for home renovation and design, by helping design professionals manage their business. We are excited to bring the power of IvyMark’s software and community to more professionals.” IvyMark, headquartered in New York with Tel Aviv offices, was founded in 2016 and previously raised $2.9 million from Disruptive VC, Pitango, and NFX. IvyMark cofounder Lee Rotenberg said the company was “delighted to join forces with Houzz, a natural fit for IvyMark when it comes to innovation, culture, and user base.” Alexandra Schinasi, also an IvyMark cofounder said, “Houzz will allow us to continue on our mission of modernizing the way interior designers do business, while introducing Ivy to a massive audience and opening the door to new opportunities.” Houzz is headquartered in Palo Alto.
