News Briefs

July 16, 2017 | A program launched by the Israeli Innovation Authority will invest$20 million in high-risk research and development projects conducted by Israeli companies that have an annual turnover of over $100 million. The initiative will offer grants of up to 50 percent of the costs of R&D projects that have a high chance of failure, termed ‘crazy R&D’ by IIA growth division acting director Sagi Dagan. In doing so, the IIA hopes to facilitate the development of technologies for the future that will give the companies a competitive edge. Companies that are eligible for the R&D grants include Check Point Technologies ltd., Mobileye, and Wix.com.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 16, 2017 | Waycare, an Israeli startup that uses deep learning technology to create safer roads, has teamed up with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada to launch a pilot program that helps prevent crashes and improve traffic. Waycare has raised $515,000 since its founding in 2015 and is led by CEO Noam Maital.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 13, 2017 | Israeli  cloud workload management startup Spotinst has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Intel Capital and Vertex Ventures. The funding will help Spotinst grow and get closer to its vision of becoming “a cloud of clouds.” The company was founded in 2015 by CEO Amiram Shachar, Chief Architect Liran Polak, and CTO Aharon Twizer. This financing round brings the company’s total equity funding to $17.6 million.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 13, 2017 | Israeli cybersecurity startup Deep Instinct has completed a $32 million Series B funding round led by CNTP. Founded in 2014 by Guy Caspi and Eli David, Deep Instinct uses deep learning for cybersecurity. The company’s solution protects against zero-day threats and APT attacks with high accuracy, and is able to identify malware from any data source in real-time. The World Economic Forum recently named Deep Instinct a ‘Technology Pioneer,’ and NVIDIA’s 2017 Inception Awards labeled it ‘Most Disruptive Startup.’

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 13, 2017 | OwnBackup, an Israeli cloud-to-cloud backup and restore vendor, has raised $7.5 million in a Series B funding round led by New York-based private equity and venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners. The new funding will help the company expand and speed product innovation. OwnBackup has now raised more than $11 million since its founding in 2012 by Ariel Berkman and Eran Cohen.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 13, 2017 | Gong.io, an Israeli startup that uses natural language processing and machine learning to better sales and customer service, has raised $20 million. To date, Gong.io has raised $26 million. Investors Norwest Venture partners, Shlomo Kramer, Wing Venture Capital, and NextWorld Capital contributed to the round. Gong.io was founded in 2015 by Eilon Reshef and Amit Bendov. The new funds will benefit sales development and talent procurement.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 13, 2017 | The Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Israeli Securities Authority have issued a tender to find managers for four new high-tech funds. Set to be listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), the funds will have a minimum of $113 million in investments. The state has agreed to protect investors’ losses and allow pension savers to participate, with the goal of promoting investments within Israel.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 13, 2017 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have signed an agreement to create the Israeli-India Innovation Initiative Fund. The fund will be a platform for diverse technological cooperation between the two countries, leveraging the technological strengths of both nations. Each country will allocate $4 million annually over a five-year period for the fund’s activities. The fund will be run by the Israel Innovation Authority and the parallel executive agency under the auspices of the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 12, 2017 | WeWork raised $760 million, which puts the company’s valuation at $20 billion, according to Forbes. Founded in 2010 by Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann, WeWork is a co-working space company that will use the latest Series G financing round to expand its locations. Currently, WeWork offers office space in 15 countries and 49 cities. Thus far, the company has raised $1.7 billion from investors such as Alef, J.P. Morgan, Benchmark, and Goldman Sachs.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 10, 2017 | Israeli high-tech exits in the first half of 2017 reached a five-year low, both in terms of deal number and in total amount. In 57 deals worth a total of $1.95 billion, the average exit deal for 2017 so far is $34 million, compared to 2016’s exit average of $87 million. A likely explanation is the taxation and regulatory changes in the US and China, which alter the amount businesses can spend outside of the country.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 10, 2017 | Nearly a quarter of the technology startups that the Wall Street Journal references in its must-watch tech list are Israeli. Three of the six listed Israeli companies operate in the cyber security realm, a field that the “Startup Nation” dominates, second only to the United States. The entire list only includes a total of four cyber security startups, confirming Israel’s supremacy in the field. These companies have raised significant funds; Cybereason $100 million, Illusive Networks with $30 million, and Argus Cyber Security with $30 million thus far. The remaining three Israeli startups occupy places in the ride-sharing, fintech, and social media industries with Via, Lemonade, and Life On Air respectively. Via has raised $137 million while Lemonade has raised $60 million.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 9, 2017 | Israeli cyber security startup Fireglass has been acquired by the international firm, Symantec Corp. The exact amount is undisclosed, although there are suggestions that the deal is worth $250 million, according to Globes. Fireglass eliminates malware, ransomware and phishing threats by isolating the user devices from content and access points that could be harmful. Founded in 2014 by Guy Guzner and Dan Amiga, the startup has previously raised $20 million in one funding round.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 9, 2017 | According to Globes, Israeli startups raised more than $400 million in June. In the first half of 2017, the companies have raised almost $2 billion which is just below last year’s record total. Cybereason, an Israel cyber security company, raised the most last month with a $100 million financing round. Many other startups have similarly closed impressive rounds such as the image recognition company Trax raising $64 million and Eloxx Pharmaceuticals raising $6 million.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 6, 2017 | Ethernity Networks, an Israeli data network processing technology developer, raised $19.2 million on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The IPO’s only bookrunner was Arden Partners. Ethernity develops a technology that accelerates the network data processing used in Carrier Ethernet applications including mobile, security and data center markets, and telecom. Founded by David Levi in 2004, Ethernity is used globally with over 400,000 systems installed.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

July 6, 2017 | DBmaestro, an Israeli DevOps company, concluded a $4.5 million Series B funding round led by Vertex Ventures. The investment will help the company to launch its next-generation database automation solutions and extend its global sales and marketing reach. DBmaestro was founded in 2008 by CEO Yariv Tabac and has raised more than $7.5 million total.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]