February 2, 2017 | Israeli digital marketing and ad services company WhiteSmoke has acquired Israeli company Wise Data Media for up to $5.3 million. The acquisition is part of WhiteSmoke’s growth strategy to deepen its operations in web and mobile ad services and expand operations in video ads. Wise Data Media has developed a technological solution for advertising media buying processes, with a focus on video advertising – automatically with no human intervention. Wise Data Media Corporation was founded in 2012 by CEO Tomer Sade, former CEO of Publicis Group’s E-dia og IL advertising agency and CEO of the advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi Interactive Israel. As part of the acquisition Sade and 16 Wise Data Media’s employees will join WhiteSmoke’s Israel office.
News Briefs
WhiteSmoke Acquires Wise Data Media
Fintech Co. Earnix Raises $13.5M
February 1, 2017 | Israeli fintech startup Earnix has raised $13.5 million from previous investors Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Vintage Investment Partners and from Israel Growth Partners (IGP), a new investor, bringing the total the company has raised to date to $25 million. Earnix has developed advanced predictive analytics solutions for making decisions about and pricing banking and insurance products. The Ramat Gan based company’s integrative solutions are designed to help financial institutions all over the world achieve business, growth, and profit targets. The solutions facilitate optimal decision-making about the product, pricing, and marketing, with tailoring to dynamic marketing conditions.
Radware Buys SaaS Company Seculert
February 1, 2017 | Israeli cyber security and application delivery solutions developer Radware Ltd. has acquired Seculert, an Israeli SaaS cloud-based provider of protection against enterprise network breach and data exfiltration based in Petah Tikva. No financial details about the deal were disclosed. Seculert was founded in 2010 by CEO Dudi Matot, CTO Aviv Raff, and COO Alex Milstein and has raised at least $16 million from YL Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.
Algorithm Co. Feedvisor Raises $20M
February 1, 2017 | Israeli algo-commerce company Feedvisor has raised $20 million in a Series B financing round led by General Catalyst, which included participation from existing investors Square Peg Capital, Jal Ventures, Oryzn Capital and Titanium Investments. Larry Bohn, managing director of General Catalyst will be joining the Feedvisor board. Tel Aviv-based Feedvisor’s was founded in 2011 by CEO Victor Rosenman and has raised $33 million to date including the latest financing round. The new capital will be used to expand Feedvisor’s product offering and accelerate the growth of its US operations. The company has developed algorithmic repricing and demand planning for eCommerce marketplace sellers.
Israeli Startup Inovytec Raises $3M
January 31, 2017 | Israeli startup Inovytec, which develops emergency medical devices, has received $3 million in strategic investment from Vincent Medical Holdings, which is based in Hong Kong. Founded in 2011 by Dror Matalon and Udi Kantor, Inovytec provides advanced non-invasive critical care devices for pre-hospital and out-of-hospital use, by professional and non-professional caregivers under emergency conditions.
Vention Medical Buys Israel’s Lithotech Medical
January 30, 2017 | US company Vention Medical has completed the acquisition of Israeli company Lithotech Medical. Based in Katzrin in the Golan Heights, Lithotech has developed complex nitinol (nickel titanium) wire-based technologies for use in the design and manufacture of medical devices. Capital Point Ltd., which owns a 13.6% stake in Lithotech, reported that the acquisition is for 10 million shekels ($2.64 million) in cash and a further NIS 3 million ($793,000) in milestone performance payments. Founded in 2001 as part of the Katzrin incubator, Lithotech Medical employs a multidisciplinary team of more than 100 technical experts including physicists, material and mechanical engineers, and regulatory and quality control experts. The team has designed and developed more than 100 products for customers worldwide, with dozens of products currently on the market.
Israel’s Rounds Bought Buy KIK
January 26, 2017 | Israeli group video chat platform Rounds has been bought by Canadian chat platform Kik. Founded in 2008 by CEO Dany Fishel and COO Ilan Leibovich, Rounds has raised $24 million to date from Sequoia, Samsung Ventures, Rhodium, Verizon, DFJ’s Tim Draper and other investors. No financial details about the acquisition were disclosed but sources in Israel believe Kik will be paying about $60-80 million.
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Business Travel Co. TripActions Raises $14.6M
January 25, 2017 | TripActions, an Israeli business travel management startup, raised $14.6 million in funding. The funding is led by Oren Zeev of Zeev Ventures with Arif Janmohamed of Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating in the round. TripActions was founded in 2015 by StreamOnce co-founders Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig.
Co-work Office Startup Mindspace Raises $15M
January 25, 2017 | Mindspace, an Israeli company that creates boutique coworking spaces for startups and corporates, has raised $15 million from private investors to help it expand to the US and further across Europe. Founded in 2014, the WeWork rival has already opened four creative coworking spaces across Europe and Israel. The company has spaces in Berlin and Hamburg, as well as two in Tel Aviv. The company, which is co-headquartered in Berlin and Tel Aviv, said it plans to use the Series A funding to open five new facilities across the US, Germany, and Israel. After the expansion, which will take it from 150,000 sq ft up to 350,000 sq ft, Mindspace will be able to accommodate 5,000 members worldwide.
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Cyber Security Co. SentinelOne Raises $70M
January 25, 2017 | Israeli cyber security company SentinelOne today announced that it has raised $70 million in Series C financing. New investor – and current SentinelOne customer – Redpoint Ventures led the round along with new investment from actor Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s firm, Sound Ventures. Existing investors Third Point Ventures, Data Collective, Granite Hill Capital Partners, Westly Group, and SineWave Ventures also participated in the round, bringing the total investment in SentinelOne to more than $110 million to date. SentinelOne was founded in 2013 by CEO Tomer Weingarten and CTO Almog Cohen. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company’s development offices are in Tel Aviv. About half the company’s workforce of 200 are in Israel and SentinelOne hopes to hire 70 more people in Israel in 2017.
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IVC-APM: VC first investments down 23%
January 25, 2017 | First investments by venture capital funds in Israel fell 23% from 440 in 2015 to 341 in 2016, according to the IVC Research Center – APM & Co. report released today. The report analyzes first investments in Israel by venture capital funds in the past five years, and ranks the most active venture capital funds in Israel in 2016. Israeli venture capital funds made 146 first investments, 30% down from the 210 first investments made in 2015, while first investments by foreign venture capital funds dropped 15%, from 230 in 2015 to 195 new deals in 2016. The fall represents both a decline in the number of funds placing first investments to begin with, as well as a decrease in the average number of first investments per fund for both Israeli and foreign funds to 2.7 and 1.5, respectively, lower than the five-year average.
At the top of 2016’s Most Active VC Funds Ranking were three venture capital funds, each having completed eight first investments in 2016. While all three are considered early stage, low-placement, small funds, their new portfolio strategies in 2016 were varied. UpWest Labs, a micro VC with roughly $9 million under management, performed six first investments in seed rounds, in addition to two A rounds. Singulariteam, managing a total of $152 million in three funds, evenly split its eight first investments of 2016 between seed and A rounds. OurCrowd funds, managing a total of $20 million in two funds – OurCrowd First and OurCrowd Qure – tended to invest in relatively later rounds, placing first investments in seed (3), A (4) and B (1) rounds.
[sharethis-inline-buttons]Secret Double Octopus Raises $6M
January 24, 2017 | Israeli cyber security company Secret Double Octopus announced today that it has closed a $6 million Series A funding round. The financing round included Jerusalem Venture Partners, Liberty Media’s Israel Venture Fund, Iris Capital, Benhamou Global Ventures and angel investor Yaniv Tal. The investment will be used to expand R&D efforts and accelerate growth in key markets, including the US and Europe. Based in Beersheva, Secret Double Octopus was founded in 2015 by Chief Science Officer Prof. Shlomi Dolev, CTO Dr. Shimrit Tzur-David, CEO Raz Rafaeli and VP R&D Chen Tetelman. The company pioneers keyless multi-shield connectivity and authentication.
Cyber Security Co. Cybellum Raises $2.5M
January 24, 2017 | Israeli cyber security company Cybellum has raised $2.5 million in a seed financing round led by Blumberg Capital. The company will use the funding to fuel its expansion, including opening a US office in 2017, and to further its R&D efforts. Founded in 2015 by CEO Slava Bronfman and Michael Engstler, both veterans of the intelligence corps of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Tel Aviv-based Cybellum’s mission is to create a real and direct solution to cyber problems, specifically zero-day attacks. Zero-day attacks are cyber attacks against software flaws that are unknown and unpatched. The company also announced the discovery of three new zero-day vulnerabilities that are currently unpublished, unpatched and are potentially being used in the wild.
Pluristem Raises $15M, Can-Fite $5M
January 23, 2017 | Two biomed companies, Pluristem Therapeutics Ltd. and Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd., announced financing rounds at the end of last week. Pluristem raised $15 million, after enlarging its planned offering, while Can-Fite raised $5 million. In May, Pluristem, an Israeli company developing placenta-based therapy products, announced that it was awarded a NIS 12.7 million (approx. $3.3 million) grant from the Israel Innovation Authority (previously the Office of the Chief Scientist ‘OCS’) of the Israeli Ministry of Economy & Industry. The grant will support Clinical trials and R&D activities for calendar year 2016. Pluristem was founded in 2001 by Shai Meretzki. Can-Fite is an Israeli biopharmaceutical company founded in 1994 with fully integrated pharmaceutical discovery and clinical development capabilities. The company has an advanced pipeline of proprietary compounds in phase 2 and 3 clinical development stage, which address autoimmune-inflammatory and cancer diseases.
Wix Buys flok
January 23, 2017 | Wix.com Ltd., the popular Israeli DIY website company, entered into an agreement to acquire flok, a Tel Aviv-based customer loyalty and engagement platform. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Since it was founded in 2011 by Ido Gaver and Eran Kirshenboim, flok has raised $19 million. Wix, a leading global software platform for small businesses to operate online with millions of registered users in 190 countries, was founded in 2006 by Giora Kaplan, Avishai Abrahami, and Nadav Abrahami and has raised over $58 million.
