News Briefs

November 1, 2017 | A business school in Bangalore, India is launching an Israel Center on campus to deepen India-Israel academic collaboration. The center at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) is set to open November 5, according to a report in the Times of India. Israel’s Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon said “the vision of the agreements between our academic institutions materializing into real centers of learning and rapprochement is a big part of the fruition of our growing partnership.” The chairperson of the Israel Center, Professor Abhoy K. Ojha, said the center “aims to become a leading research and networking place,” that will provide “students, researchers and business managers and firms with deep understanding of Israeli and Indian business, supporting and promoting diversified body of research and teaching related to Indo-Israeli business.” IIM Bangalore Director Professor G. Raghuram said the goal of the center is “to forge academic relationships between IIMB and institutions in Israel, so that there is mutual learning for impact on Indo-Israeli business relationships in the domains of innovation, technology, start-ups and scaling up of organizations.”

November 1, 2017 | Israeli car sensor company Innoviz Technologies has raised another $8 million from Samsung Catalyst and Softbank Ventures Korea in a Series B financing round announced last month, bringing the total raised so far to $73 million. Since it was founded in 2016, Innoviz, which develops technologies for autonomous driving, has raised a total of $82 million. Its High Definition Solid State LiDar (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor has been hailed as “disruptive” and “first-class.” The Kfar Saba-based company has previously raised funds from a range of investors including Delphi Automotive PLC, Magna International, 360 Capital Partners, Amiti Ventures and Delek Motors.

November 1, 2017 | The decision was announced at the 2107 Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv. The automaker also partnered with Israeli-based venture capital firm Pitango Venture Capital and invested in Pitango’s seventh fund, which focuses on seed and early-stage investments. This is the first time Hyundai will partner with a venture capital firm, Pitango’s managing general partner told Calcalist. German manufacturer Volkswagen Group will also set up shop in Israel. Its center will be similar to the Future Centers already set up in Berlin, California and Beijing. The German manufacturer hopes to establish itself as a software and services company. Car technologies and the car-sharing economy are booming in Israel. Pitango has already invested in several mobility startups, such as Via Transportation, which already announced a partnership with Mercedes-Benz Vanes and Graphcore, developing hardware systems that accelerate AI and machine learning. [Photo: Ales_Kartal]

November 1, 2017 | Six research teams made up mainly of Israeli and Canadian scientists have been awarded $5 million in funding to advance cancer research in their respective fields. The six teams were selected out of 56 proposals in the framework of the Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program launched two years ago. The winning proposals focus on research on “overcoming therapeutic resistance in high fatality cancers” such as liver cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. The six Israeli scientists, who form part of teams of Canadian scientists as well as a number of researchers from India, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and China, were selected from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Sheba Medical Center. The recipients were part of the program’s third call for proposals. The fourth call, set for later this month, will focus on neurobiology. The Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program, a $35 million program, is the joint initiative of the Azrieli Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, the International Development Research Center (IDRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

October 31, 2017 | German automotive firm Continental is in advanced talks to buy Israel’s Argus Cyber Security firm for a reported $400 million, according to reports in the Hebrew press. Argus, founded in 2013, specializes in “end-to-end” security solutions that protect “smart” cars from hackers and malicious software and is said to be one of the only companies working to come up with cybersecurity solutions for a future autonomous car. Continental is the world’s second-largest supplier of car parts with some $40 billion in annual sales. Argus and Continental already collaborate and earlier this month “jointly launched a technology for delivering over-the-air vehicle software updates with Continental subsidiary Elektrobit,” according to Automotive News. Argus and Continental have declined to comment on the expected sale.

October 31, 2017 | Israel’s mPrest, a software company provides monitoring and control systems and famously had a hand in developing the Iron Dome missile defense system used by the Israeli military, has nabbed a $10 million investment from Vector Ltd, New Zealand’s leading multi-network infrastructure company, which will also act as mPrest’s reselling partner in the Oceania region. The Israeli firm provides “solutions for the defense, security, utility and Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) sectors including “Internet of Energy” software. Earlier this year, Vector became a client of the Petah Tikva-based mPrest, with the New Zealand company deploying mPrest’s Distributed Energy Resource Management product – mDERMS, to its intelligence grid, serving over a million private and corporate clients. CEO of mPrest Natan Barak said in a statement following the investment: “Our partnership with Vector is what we strive for – a happy customer who gains confidence in our software and comes back not only wanting to invest in it, but also to help replicate its success for other customers.” Vector Chairman Michael Stiassny told Reuters: “If we are going to develop something that is going to change the way we do things then why shouldn’t we share in the fruits?”

 October 30, 2017 | Israeli-based open-source video platform Kaltura has announced that the following US universities: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NY, Stanford, and Michigan will begin using their Live Kaltura livestreaming service as well the platform itself for the transfer of video content. This will enable students and faculty to gain access to content libraries outside their universities. Ron Yekutiel chairman and CEO of Kaltura says this will increase the number of students beyond the university’s physical campus and therefore, increase revenue. The volume is expected to reach 100 million people a year.  On October 23, Kaltura also announced that the University of Queensland is now leveraging their product within the university’s Learning Managing System.  This is in conjuction with Blackboard, a virtual learning environment.  Recently, Kaltura conducted a study that examines the use of a video library while learning.  The survey, which included more than 1,000 participants from universities, showed a 135% increase in the amount of students who chose to study remotely. Kaltura was founded in 2006 by Ron Yekutiel, Eran Etam, Michal Tsur, and Shay David.

October 30, 2017 | Haifa-based flavor and fragrance company Frutarom will acquire Israeli-based biotech company Enzymotec, for about $210 million, according to a statement from the company. Enzymotec will become a subsidiary of Frutarom. The merge means full integration of Enzymotec’s R&D, sales, marketing, production, and logistics and the expansion of both Enzymotec’s and Frutarom’s current customer bases. Frutarom believe Enzymotec’s nutrition segment will play an important part in future profits and growth strategy for both companies in terms of the expansion of pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, infant formula, and elderly clinical nutrition. The total assets acquired in the merger as of June 30, 2017 were at $147.8 million. Enzymotec develops and manufactures nutritional ingredients and medical foods, driven by state-of-the-art technologies. It was founded in 1998 by Sobhi Basheer. Frutarom is a global flavor and fine ingrediants company founded in 1933.[Photo: Courtesy]

October 29, 2017 | The Israeli fintech company BondIT has raised $14.25 million through the Chinese investment firm Fosun, the company’s first in an Israeli financial company. BondIT, founded in 2012 and based in Herzliya, develops comprehensive analytics solutions for the fixed income market using data science and AI’s machine learning. Founder and CEO Etai Ravid said following the announcement last week that “the long-term vision of BondIT is to bring significant efficiency to the global bond markets through the application of artificial intelligence and data science.” Fosun will have representation on BondIT’s board.

October 29, 2017 | Israel-based venture capital firm Grove Ventures announced that it has raised $110 million in commitments for its fist fund. The firm, run by the inventor of the USB Dov Moran, invests in early-stage Israeli startups with a focus on groundbreaking technology in IoT, Cloud and Big Data. Moran founded and headed M-Systems Inc., the company that invented the USB flash drive, which was then bought in 2006 by by SanDisk Corp. for $1.6 billion. Grove Ventures, based in Ramat Hasharon, was set up in 2015. Israeli-born Guy Resheff manages the firm’s US operations. The firm said in a statement that it was “interested in expanding the possibilities available for talented entrepreneurs who present innovative technologies and allow Israeli companies to grow in the international market.” So far this year, Grove Ventures has invested in the Tel Aviv-based startup Astralink, which develops an AR solution for construction sites to manage errors, IoT startup WilioT Ltd, also based in Tel Aviv, and Spry Health, a Palo Alto-based company co-founded by an Israeli which develops health management technologies and remote patient monitoring.

October 26, 2017 | The urban coworking space company WeWork awarded at least a dozen Israeli  startups over $1.5 million at the WeWork Creator Awards, a global initiative to recognize Israeli innovation with a social cause. The event, held on October 26, 2017 at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, is part of a WeWork global initiative to recognize creators around the world for efforts in innovation. Finalists were presented in Incubate, Launch, and Scale categories. The nine finalists in the Incubate category received a free 1-year membership to a WeWork coworking space of their choice in Israel. Finalists like wheelchair accessible bag startup Handy Bag, and online games for peace community Games For Peace, in the Launch category were asked to present a 1-minute pitch about their startup to a group of judges and the crowd. Finalists in the Scale category like female software developer community SheCodes and education network startup Tovanot B’Hinuch were asked to do the same.  In the Launch category, judges chose companies QueenB, VoiceItt, ItWorks, and Resymmetry to win a 250,000NIS prize ($72,000) and  ALS patient eye device maker startup Eye Assisting Communication to win a 455,000NIS  (about $130,000)prize. In the Scale category, judges chose companies like CodeMonkey, Tovanot B’Hinuch and A.M.A.L to win a 630,000NIS ($17,869). Certain winners will have the chance to pitch their ideas again in New York at the global finals.

October 26, 2017 | Israel’s David’s Sling anti-missile battery system won the prestigious Technology Pioneer Award for ground-breaking achievement at the 2017 Multinational Ballistic Missile Defense conference in Boston on Tuesday. David’s Sling, known as Magic Wand in Hebrew, is designed to intercept incoming missiles with ranges of 40-300 kilometers (25-190 miles). It was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a leading Israeli defense technology company partly owned by the government which develops and produces defense and military technologies for use by the Israeli military and for foreign export. Rafael served as the contractor for the system, working with the US defense company Raytheon Missile Systems. David’s Sling is the product of a joint effort by the Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) and the US Missile Defense Agency.

October 26, 2017 | Israeli-founded mobile app platform SkyGiraffe, which markets an online service developing mobile apps from their headquarters in California, has been bought by California-based online work management platform ServiceNow. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a source told Calcalist that it was made for around $50 million. The acquisition will be completed by the end of 2017. To date, SkyGiraffe has raised about $10 million from investors like the SGVC venture firm from Los Angeles. While they have headquarters in San Mateo, California, they also have offices in Tel Aviv. Service Now was founded in Tel Aviv in 2012 by Itay Braun and Boaz Hecht.

October 25, 2017 | San Francisco-based smartphone and tablet repair startup, Puls, is expanding its partnership with Google. The startup with offices in Tel Aviv and San Diego, will extend its in-home repairs to Google’s Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. It is already Google’s official repairs go-to for Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones. Puls uses parts supported by Google for its repairs. It is accessible through Google’s official support website. According to Puls CEO and co-founder Eyal Ronen, Google customers will now be referred to Puls for repairs. Puls only began working with Google in the past six months, through a successful pilot that had Google approve the service. Puls completed a $25 million funding round in August, led by Red Dot Capital Partners with contribution from Samsung NEXT. It has raised $43 million since it was founded in 2015. Puls Technologies was founded by Eyal Ronen and Itai Hirsch. [Photo: Maurizio Pesce]