News Briefs

November 15, 2017 |  The Israeli Parliament amended a series of regulations that will “help ease fixed-income debt crowdfunding for startups and small businesses,” a Calcalist report said. Current regulations allow private companies to raise funds from banks or investors, venture funds, angels, or raise capital and debt financing from a group of up to 35 certified investors. In the past five years, 145 tech companies linked to Israel were funded through equity crowdfunding platforms, according to a report from IVC Research, an Israeli tech research company. Startups linked to Israel raised $173 million through equity crowdfunding in the first half of 2017.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 15, 2017 | Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen met with entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs of Israeli companies in New York praising their work in the United States. The Ministry of Economy released a statement Wednesday saying 94 Israeli-founded companies are currently traded on the NASDAQ, for a combined worth of $70 billion. The ministry added that exports to the US have also increased and currently stand at $11.6 billion. Cohen said that the fact that “94 companies are traded on the NASDAQ “indicates that Israel is a key player in the innovation and technology field.” Foreign investors understand that Israel is a country with breakthrough innovation, he said, calling on Israeli entrepreneurs in New York to “return home” and keep intellectual property in Israel, citing the intellectual property tax relief approved last December in Israel.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 14, 2017 | The Israeli tech company Sesame Enable, the creator of the first hands-free smartphone and a developer of hands-free control technologies for mobile devices, has opened its first US headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. The Hadera-based company was founded in 2012, developing its Open Sesame technology which enables users to operate smartphones through head movements and voice commands. The touch-free smartphone is primarily aimed at disabled users and those who cannot use their hands. It was developed by tech entrepreneur Oded Ben Dov and former electrical engineer Giora Livne, who became a quadriplegic following a serious accident over a decade ago. The technology is used in the Maryland Accessible Telecommunications (MAT) program which gives communications devices to disabled citizens, according to a report in the Washington Business Journal. Executives from Sesame Enable met Maryland Governor Larry Hogan during a trade mission to Israel in 2016. “Governor Hogan has been an active supporter of Sesame Enable for the past year as we searched for a US headquarters that would align with our vision of supporting people with physical challenges,” said Sesame Enable CEO and co-founder Oded Ben Dov, in a statement released by the governor’s office. “We chose Maryland because of the backing we have received from the state subsidy program, and Bethesda’s proximity to health institutions, including those focusing on veterans. In addition, we are now close to Washington, DC, where we know we’ll have opportunity to influence change needed to make our technology readily available to all Americans who can benefit from it.”

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 14, 2017 | The University of Juba opened the country’s first Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Center on Monday, a result of a partnership with the Israeli aid organization IsraAid, STEM Synergy, the Mark Gelfand Family Charitable Fund and UNESCO, IsraAid said in a statement. The center will provide an “educational platform for South Sudanese youth, training them to become engineers, technicians, mechanics and physicians who will contribute to the economic and social development of South Sudan,” IsraAid said. Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan, James Wani Igga attended the event.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 14, 2017 | Fifteen Israeli ICT and Life Science companies were selected to present their technologies to the Chinese market at the annual Israeli roadshow in China, an event organized by the Israel Innovation Authority in cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. While more than 160 Israeli companies signed up, only 15 were selected out of 40 by a Chinese investors’ delegation in a preliminary pitching event held in Israel in July 2017 by the Israeli Innovation Authority. During the roadshow, Israeli companies visited Shanghai, Changzhou and Beijing and held more than 100 B2B meetings to promote cooperation. The companies also participated in pitching events in Changzhou and Beijing, presenting their products and technologies to dozens of investors, investment groups and companies like Fuson, PingAn Ventures, Go Capital, and San Power. The pitching events were organized as competitions and three Israeli companies won modest monetary awards in each city. The winning companies in Changzhou were Life Science companies Brainsway, Vectorious Medical Technologies, and OrthoDrill Medical. The winning companies in Beijing were ICT companies Myndlift, CellO-Photonics, and Brainster.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 13, 2017 | Israeli regenerative medicine company Collplant has raised about $7.4 million in private placement due to a number of filings submitted by the company to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange over the past three months, according to a report in Calcalist. In November, the Ness Ziona-based company announced a private placement agreement with Ami Sagi, father of Israeli-born businessman Teddy Sagi. The agreement was worth $1.05 million. They also announced an agreement with Israeli investment company Meitav Dash Investments for $1.34 million. In September, the company had a private investment agreement of $5 million signed with Alpha Capital Anstalt of Lichtenstein. In June of this year, Collplant filed a U.S. patent application for a collegen-based bio-ink for “3D printing of tissues and organs.” The company wants to establish its ink in the market and is negotiating with companies in organ printing. Collplant develops medical treatments using plant-based collagen. Human collagen can be harvested from a plant that is created with a combination of human genes and tobacco plant DNA. The company was founded in 2004 by Oded Shosheyov.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 13, 2017 | Researchers at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have decoded a mechanism that leads to why some patients of thyroid cancer appear to be unaffected by iodine treatment. Iodine is a standard treatment for the disease, but is causing a resistance of thyroid tumors. According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, some patients are developing a distant metastases or local recurrence that is resistant to iodine therapy, causing low survival rates. Iodine treatment is based on partial or full removal of the gland in the front part of the neck, through surgery, with a supplement of radioactive iodine if necessary. Thyroid cells transfer iodine through specific channels that allow the radioactive iodine to enter the cancer cells in the body and destroy them without harming other tissues.The research was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This research was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) and offers hope for more successful treatments in the future.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 12, 2017 | Israeli pharmaceutical company Nextar Chempharma Solutions will set up an incubator and development center for medical cannabis products, accepting at least six companies per year for the project with initial investment of between $100,000 and $400,000, according to a report in Globes. Nextar will provide a variety of services to the participating companies, “including laboratory and analytic testing, business development, and clinical trial management services.” Nextar will also provide cannabis development services to external companies and will independently develop its own cannabis products, according to the report which added that the company has signed an initial cooperation deal Australia’s Budding Tech, an organization that works in the medical cannabis sector. Nextar is excepted to invest $5 million in the venture.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 12, 2017 | Israel and India inaugurated a beekeeping development center over the weekend in the city of Ramnagar in the province of Harnaya in northern India. The center is officially called the Center of Excellence for Integrated Beekeeping Development, and is one of 18 centers of excellence set up through the Indo-Israeli Agricultural Project (IIAP), a collaboration project between the Indian Federal Government, Indian State Governments and Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation – MASHAV, the Israeli Embassy in Israel said in a statement. The embassy said the Beekeeping center in Ramnagar was the first of its kind between India and Israel, and will address a number of issues like “Queen Rearing, Quality Control Labs, Enhanced Production, Honey Production Value Chain, [and] Pollination.” The IIAP is active in nine states across India, and is set to include seven more states in the next phase. The Israeli ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, said in a tweet on Friday that a dairy farming center of excellence would soon be inaugurated but did not specify where. “Centers of Excellence are an integral part of India and Israel’s growing partnership. Haryana is one of the first to implement this tool for its farmers, and has more IIAP centers than any other state. I hope to see more states open IIAP centers across India, and that the private sector too joins us in the endeavor to bring advanced agro-technology to Indian farmers,” Carmon said in a statement.

What a grand inauguration of the @MASHAVisrael #MIDH #Beekeeping #CenterofExcellence in #Ramnagar, #Haryana with the August presence of CM @mlkhattar @cmohry #agriculture Minister @OPDhankar and many,many farmers and beekeepers. Congratulations! @IsraelinIndia pic.twitter.com/KX80YGPcsx

— Daniel Carmon🇮🇱 (@danielocarmon) November 10, 2017

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 9, 2017 | Israeli clinical stage biotech company MitrAssist has raised $30 million, in a funding round led by Fosun Pharma, the pharmaceutical arm of China-based pharmaceutical company Fosun International. China’s Ping Ang Insurance Company also contributed to the round. The heart valve company received $16 million according to its pre-closing valuation of $80 million. The company will also receive an additional $14 million according to a pre-closing valuation of $136 million when it begins clinical trials within a year. The Caesarea-based company developed a heart valve implant that can be installed through a thigh catheterization into an artery, without invasive heart surgery. The company was founded in 2009 by Gil Naor.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 9, 2017 | The State of Israel and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which hopes to bring with it a new chapter of business development between the two regions. The Consul General of Israel in New York signed the memorandum on November 6 along with Pennsylvania Secretary of Community and Economic Development Dennis Davin and Ambassador Dani Dayan at Thomas Jefferson University. Dayan said that this document will open the gates for many Israeli companies in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania and that both regions have economically reinvented themselves along the same lines of innovation. The signing came after a series of panel discussions and one-on-one meetings at the Greater Philadelphia-Israel Big Data and Digital Health Summit, on November 6, where Israeli startups met with potential investors. Nineteen startups made the trip as part of a delegation. The MOU is the 14th Israel has signed in the United States.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 9, 2017 | Israeli-founded real estate technology startup Compass raised $100 million in a Series E funding round, the company announced on November 8th. The round was based on a $1.8 billion valuation.Compass has raised a total of $325 million. It raised $75 million in August 2016. Revenues for the company this year except to be $350 million. The round was led by Fidelity Investments with participation from Wellington Management. Through mobile tech, Compass matches buyers and renters to homes of interest. Compass will use the new funds to expand across the U.S., with sights set on cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Seattle. It will also enhance its platform, combining client data with transactions and listings to provide recommendations for agents. Compass is based in New York but was founded by Israeli Ori Allon in 2012.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2017 | Israel’s reviews and user-generated content marketing platform Yotpo has raised $51 million. The round was led by ClalTech, the Israeli investment arm of American holding company Access Industries. Daniel Shinar, CEO of ClalTech, will join Yotpo’s Board of Directors. The funding included new investors Vertex Fund and the contribution of existing investors like Bessemer, Marker LLC, Vintage, Blumberg Capital, Rhodium, and 2B-Angels. To date, the Tel Aviv-based marketing platform has raised $101 million with the current funding included. The company plans to use the funds to develop the platform and continue their global expansion including the establishment of a second office in the US and recruit 150 additional employees to its current offices in New York, Tel Aviv, and London. They also plan to upgrade the company’s technology and add new features. Yotpo reported that its revenues have quadrupled in the last 20 months. Yotpo uses its marketing platform to help online businesses grow their companies through reviews and other user-generated content that boosts sales and creates “social proof,” so consumers can see that the brand is popular among other consumers. The company was founded by Omri Cohen and Tomer Tagrin in 2011.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2017 | The city of Haifa and the Car2Go company have launched a shared transportation project that is the first of its kind in Israel. It is based on electric vehicles and charging stations. One hundred Renault Zoe vehicles will start operating in the city under this project, with 40 vehicles operating in November and 40 more beginning in December 2017. The shared project is designed for short and medium-length trips mainly within the city. The payment, NIS 1.20 or about $0.34 per minute, is based on travel time only, with no other commitments. But rides are expected to be free of charge for the first two months, once you register for the program. The service is based on an app that directs subscribers to available vehicles and parking spaces with a charging station. The vehicle can be ordered up to 15 minutes before the trip. Over 2,000 people have already registered for the service, according to Israeli daily CTech. The project is expected to expand to the Krayot region of the Haifa metropolitan area and 100 more vehicles will be added depending on the results of the project in 2017. Three hundred parking spaces have been set aside for the project. [Photo: Courtesy]

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2017 | Research Italy, the Portal of Italian Research reports that the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will provide financial backing for the establishment of a joint Israeli-Italian biorobotics laboratory.  Both countries has called to public and private Italian universities and research bodies for proposals to establish a virtual Italian-Israeli lab. Proposals are due by January 4, 2018. The objective for this center is to set up a long-term platform for bilateral cooperation, develop future projects, promote exchange between researchers, and share knowledge and ideas on biorobotics, a field that Research Italy is an area that both countries excel in.  The call for proposals is falls within the framework of the Agreement on Industrial, Scientific and Technological Research and Development Cooperation Between Italy and Israel. MOST will fund the project at about $250,000 over the first three years of activity of the lab. The research teams for both countries will select a project for the establishment of a joint virtual lab. The call for proposals is to universities in collaboration with an Israeli scientific partner.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]