July 30, 2017 | Israel’s Outbrain, a content discovery platform, has acquired Slovenia’s Zemanta, a cross-channel media-buying platform designed for the promotion and distribution of marketing content. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Outbrain intends to use Zemanta’s technology to enable new budgets from programmatic partners, brands and agencies to flow into their network. Since its founding in 2006 by CEO Yaron Galai and CTO Ori Lahav, Outbrain has raised $194 million and acquired five companies (including Zemanta).
News Briefs
July 30, 2017
Outbrain Acquires Slovenia’s Zemanta
July 30, 2017
Japan’s ORIX Buys Stake In Israeli Firm Ormat
July 30, 2017 | Japanese company ORIX has purchased 22.1 percent of Israeli geothermal energy company Ormat Technologies for $630 million. The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, will give Ormat exclusive rights to develop, own, operate and provide equipment for ORIX geothermal energy projects in all markets outside of Japan. Ormat was founded in 1965 and went public in 2004. It is currently led by CEO Yehudit Bronicki.
July 30, 2017
Digital Health Platform Somatix Raises $6M
July 30, 2017 | Somatix, a body motion data (BMD) management platform used for digital health, has raised $6 million in a series A funding round led by Digitalis. The company’s technology uses various sensors built into wearable devices to remotely maintain continuous, bi-directional contact with those under their care. Somatix was founded in 2015 by CEO Eran Ofir and CTO Uri Schatzberg. To date, the company has raised $7.5 million. [Photo: courtesy]
July 30, 2017
Israel To Launch First Environmental Research Satellite
July 30, 2017 | Israel’s first environmental research satellite, VENµS, will be launched into space August 2 on the “Vega” launcher from French Guiana. This is the second satellite project in which Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has been involved, following the successful launch of the nano-satellite BGUSAT earlier this year. VENµS is Israel’s first scientific observation satellite to conduct agricultural and ecological research, and Prof. Arnon Karnieli, head of the Remote Sensing Laboratory at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, is its principal investigator. [Photo courtesy of Ben-Gurion University].
July 27, 2017
Budding Startup PerimeterX Raises $23M
July 27, 2017 | Israel’s PerimeterX, a provider of behavior-based threat protection technology for cloud, web and mobile, has secured $23 million in a Series B funding round led by Canaan Partners. The new funding will allow PerimeterX to expand in the U.S. and internationally, and broaden its platform into new areas. PerimeterX was founded in 2014 by CEO Omri Iluz and CFO Ophir Ashkenazi and has raised $34.5 million in total.
July 27, 2017
Israeli Cyber Firm Votiro Raises $9M
July 27, 2017 | Israeli cyber-security startup Votiro has raised $9 million in a funding round led by Australian investor Divergent Group. Votiro intends to use the funds for global expansion, building a broader presence in Asia Pacific and the US, and establishing headquarters in Australia. Votiro was founded in 2009 by CEO Itay Glick and CTO Aviv Grafi. The company has more than 1.5 million users and has raised $12 million in total.
July 27, 2017
Israeli Startup WalkMe Raises $75M
July 27, 2017 | Israel’s WalkMe, a cloud-based digital adoption platform for businesses, has raised $75 million in a funding round led by Insight Venture Partners. The company will use the funding to evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities, strengthen its global reach, and invest in talent. WalkMe was founded in 2012 by CEO Dan Adika, president Rafi Sweary, CPO Eyal Cohen, and Yuval Shalom and has raised $167.5 million to date.
July 27, 2017
Mobility Tech VC Maniv Raises $40M
July 27, 2017 | Maniv Mobility, an Israeli venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to mobility tech, has raised $40 million. This was twice the target value, and is indicative of the increasing interest in Israeli automotive companies since the acquisition of Mobileye for more than $15 billion this year. An affiliate of Maniv Investments, which was founded in 1997 by Michael Granoff, Maniv Mobility invests in early-stage companies in the new mobility sector. Its portfolio consists of 15 mobility technology startups, mostly in Israel, with some in the US.
July 26, 2017
Israel To Invest $3M In Coding Bootcamp
July 26, 2017 | The Israel Innovation Authority has tapped $2.8 million for a new coding bootcamp program to rapidly train high-tech employees. The goal is to create an alternative route to joining the hi-tech workforce, focused on market needs, in a maximum 12-month training track, aimed at college graduates in the sciences who are interested in a career shift to computer programming. As of April 2017, market demand for programmers exceeded those available by 2.5 times. Therefore, the program aims to prepare 250 ready-to-work employees at the end of the first year, and 450 new employees by the end of the third year.
July 26, 2017
Cybersecurity Startup Nyotron Raises $33M
July 26, 2017 | Nyotron, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, has completed a $21 million financing round led by DGB Investments. Founded in 2008 by Nir and Ofer Gaist, the company has developed innovative technology that protects against known and unknown cyber attacks by securing endpoints. The technology offers protection regardless of the type of threat or the attack vector, making it one of the most advanced solutions available. Nyotron is being used by organizations such as El Al Airlines and the Israeli military, and has raised a total of $33 million to date.
July 26, 2017
SimilarWeb Raises $47M, Now Worth $753M
July 26, 2017 | SimilarWeb, an Israeli digital market intelligence company, has raised $47 million in a Series F financing round. Founded in 2007 by Or Offer and Nir Cohen, the company monitors web and mobile app traffic like competitor Nielson. Companies use the analytics from SimilarWeb to increase their business growth. Viola Growth led the round with participation from CE Ventures, Saban Ventures, and other unnamed investors. To date, SimilarWeb has raised $112.2 million, performed three acquisitions, and is now valued at $753 million, bringing it closer to the $1 billion “unicorn” status.
July 25, 2017
AgTech Startup Prospera Raises $15M
July 25, 2017 | Prospera, an Israeli AgTech startup, has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round, which brought the company’s total investment to $22 million. Using advanced data analytics, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, Prospera analyzes vast amounts of farm data and optimizes all aspects of production. Qualcomm Ventures led the investment round, which was joined by Cisco Investments, ICV, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Prospera was founded in 2014 by Daniel Koppel, Raviv Itzhaky, andShimon Shpiz.
July 25, 2017
Booking.com To Open R&D Center In Israel
July 25, 2017 | Booking.com, the world’s largest hotel booking site, is opening a research and development center in Tel Aviv. It is projected that the company will recruit dozens of local employees by year’s end. Founded in 1996 by Geert-Jan Bruisma in Holland, Booking.com was sold to Priceline in 2005 for $135 million. Today, the corporation employs more than 15,000 people and books approximately 1.2 million room nights per day.
July 24, 2017
Israel’s Checkmarx Acquires UK’s ‘Codebashing’
July 24, 2017 | Israeli company Checkmarx, a leader in application security testing solutions, acquired Codebashing, a British application security education company, for $5-$10 million. This acquisition allows Checkmarx to introduce continuous, in-context, bit-sized secure coding training, which will allow its customers to grow their in-house security skills and have fewer initial code vulnerabilities. Founded in 2006 by Maty Siman, Checkmarx has so far raised $92 million in three funding rounds from investors such as Insight Venture Partners, XT Investments, and Ofer Hi-Tech. Checkmarx’s users include five of the world’s top 10 software vendors, four top American banks, and many Fortune 500 and government organizations.
July 23, 2017
Fashion Startup Syte.ai Raises $8M
July 23, 2017 | Israeli fashion startup Syte.ai has raised $8 million in a Series A funding round led by NHN Ventures. This new funding will allow the company to market and grow in the US. Founded in 2015 in Tel Aviv by Helge Voss, Idan Pinto, CEO Ofer Fryman and Lihi Pinto Fryman, Syte.ai uses deep-learning technology to make images shoppable. So far, the visual search engine has raised $10.1 million.
