June 15, 2017 | Israeli bio-pharmaceutical company Eloxx has raised $24 million from Catalyst CEL Fund, Israeli venture capital fund for life sciences Pontifax, and others. The company develops treatments for patients with rare genetic diseases triggered by mutations like Cystic Fibrosis and Cystinosis. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Silvia Noiman, Eloxx recently merged with Sevion Therapeutics and became a Sevion subsidiary. Sevion will use the name Eloxx and attempt to list its shares on Nasdaq. [Photo: GeneG]
News Briefs
June 15, 2017
Israel’s Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Raises $24M
June 14, 2017
Technion Launches $200M VC Fund
June 14, 2017 | The Technion Research & Development Foundation (TRDF) has partnered with UG Capital Management Ltd (UCG) to establish a $200 million venture capital fund. The fund will focus on technology and science companies associated with the Technion-Israel Institute of technology, and its alumni. UCG is a Chinese venture capital firm, part of the larger United Gain Investment. The partnership will support the Technion’s efforts to commercialize its faculty’s inventions.
June 14, 2017
Israel’s Bancor Raises $153M In 3 Hours
June 14, 2017 | Bancor, an Israeli startup that has developed a virtual currency conversion platform, yesterday raised $153 million in just three hours. This Initial Coin Offering is the second-largest fundraising campaign in the blockchain industry, according to Bancor. Founded in 2016 by Guy Benartzi, Eyal Hertzog, Yehuda Levi and Galia Benartzi, Bancor enables its users to instantly convert or trade their money.
June 13, 2017
Toronto Stock Exchange Seeking Israeli IPOs
June 13, 2017 | Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) have announced that Canada’s leading equity markets have expanded into Israel. Yossi Boker, who has more than 25 years’ experience in entrepreneurship and high-tech in Israel, has been appointed to lead the expansion as the Head of Business Development. The move will give Israeli companies access to North American investors who can support companies at all stages of growth. It will also encourage Israeli companies to conduct initial public offerings (IPOs) on TSX. TMX Group, which operates the TSX and TSXV markets, has labeled Israel as a key market going forward. [Photo: Raysonho]
June 13, 2017
Frutarom Completes Nutrafur Acquisition
June 13, 2017 | Israeli company Frutarom, one of the world’s largest companies in the field of flavors and specialty ingredients, has acquired 21 percent of the shares of Spanish natural ingredients company Nutrafur for $2.36 million, and is now the sole owner of Nutrafur. In September 2015, Frutarom – which was founded in 1933 by Yehuda Araten and Maurice Gerzon – purchased 79 percent of the shares of Nutrafur. [Photo: Courtesy of Taura]
June 11, 2017
Motorola, OurCrowd Launch Startup Incubator In Jerusalem
June 11, 2017 | Telecom giant Motorola Solutions, Israeli crowd-funding firm OurCrowd, Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries and the Hebrew University’s technology transfer arm Yissum have launched an early-stage startup incubator in Jerusalem, Israel. The incubator will focus on big data; analytics; artificial intelligence; fintech; storage; Internet of Things (IoT); and computer vision. [Photo: Gila Brand)
June 08, 2017
Hebrew University Among Best In World
June 8, 2017 | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel’s finest, according to the new 2018 QS World University Rankings, and ranks 145th in the world, rising three spots from last year. The rankings place the Hebrew University among the top 15 percent of the 980 higher education institutions surveyed by QS, and among the top 1 percent of the 26,000 universities in the world. To compile the rankings, QS analyzed 75 million citations from 12 million papers, and 115,000 survey responses from employers and academics, as well as considered more than 4,000 universities before evaluating 980 of them. The Hebrew University was founded in 1918 by such innovative thinkers as Albert Einstein, Martin Buber and Sigmund Freud. [Photo: Grauesel/WikiVoyage]
June 07, 2017
Computer & Entrepreneurship Program Accredited
June 7, 2017 | Israel’s Council for Higher Education has accredited IDC Herzliya‘s double-major undergraduate program in computer science and entrepreneurship. It’s the first-of-its kind dual-degree academic program approved in Israel. A nonprofit interdisciplinary academic center, IDC Herzliya was founded in 1994 by Prof. Uriel Reichman. [Photo: Courtesy]
June 06, 2017
Sports Tech Startup PlaySight Raises $11M
June 6, 2017 | Israeli startup PlaySight, which specializes in immersive sports video and analytics technologies, has raised $11 million in a funding round led by Verizon Ventures and veteran professional golfer Greg Norman. Founded in 2013 by Chen Shachar, Evgeni Khazanov and Yoram Bentzur, the company has so far raised a total of $16 million. [Photo: Courtesy]
June 05, 2017
Israeli Startup Belkin Laser Raises $5M
June 5, 2017 | Israeli startup Belkin Laser, a portfolio company of Israel’s RAD Biomed accelerator, has secured $5 million in funding from Zicom Holdings, Rimonci Capital and the European Union (grant). The capital raised adds to the $1.5 million previously raised by the company. Belkin Laser develops a laser device for glaucoma patients who will receive short, efficient treatments, instead of the eye drops used today. Belkin Laser was founded in 2013 under a license agreement from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University. Its product is based on Prof. Michael Belkin’s invention. [Photo: TobiasD]
June 04, 2017
National Australia Bank, OurCrowd To Collaborate
June 5, 2017 | The National Australia Bank (NAB) will collaborate with Israeli crowd-funding company OurCrowd to provide its clients with direct access to exclusive OurCrowd startup investments. The first of its kind in Australia, the collaboration provides NAB clients with access to OurCrowd, which in recent years has raised over $440 million from 20,000 investors across 112 countries. Founded in 2012 by CEO Jon Medved, OurCrowd is a global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors who together invest in Israeli startups.
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June 04, 2017
Apax Israel Buys Local ‘3M’ Division For $200M
June 4, 2017 | Investment firm Apax Israel is acquiring 3M’s traffic safety and security division, which is largely based in Israel, for $200 million. The division’s electronic monitoring technologies are used by law enforcement agencies in dozens of countries around the globe.
June 01, 2017
Porsche To Invest In Israeli Driverless Car Technologies
June 1, 2017 | Luxury car manufacturer Porsche said today it plans to invest tens of millions of Euros in Israeli autonomous car technologies. The German automaker, which will launch an innovation center in the Startup Nation, said it will initially invest an eight-figure sum. The company didn’t specify the Israeli startups it’s interested in. [Photo: Porsche]
June 01, 2017
Urban Place Raises $12M
June 1, 2017 | Israeli shared office space startup Urban Place has raised $12 million in a private funding round that included angel investors Claude Bismuth and Bernard Kalfon. The company plans to use the funds to open locations in Europe. Founded in late 2015, and headed by CEO Romain Levy, Urban Place currently operates in Tel Aviv, with plans to expand to Jerusalem, Haifa and Herzliya.
May 30, 2017
Israeli AI Startup Inflowz Raises $3.5M
May 30, 2017 | Israeli artificial intelligence startup Inflowz has completed its seed funding round, securing $3.5 million from Israeli venture capital firm Glilot Capital Partners. Founded earlier this year by Avinoam Nowogrodski, Rachel Haim, and Ori Ronige, the startup provides AI sales process optimization platforms.
