August 22, 2016 | Indian software company Wipro has invested $1.5 million in Israeli startup cyber security company Intsights. In a filing to the Bombay stock exchange, Wipro said it was acquiring a minority stake in the startup. Founded in 2015 by CEO Guy Nizan, VP Intelligence Alon Arvatz and CTO Gal Ben David, the Herzliya based company infiltrates the cyber-threat underworld to detect and analyze planned or potential attacks and threats. The company also provides advance warning and customized insight concerning potential cyber attacks, including recommended steps to avoid or withstand the attacks and delivers in-depth analysis of cyber threats originating from in-house sources, third-party sources or threat actors. Intsights raised $1.8 million in October 2015 from Glilot Capital Partners. Wipro made the investment through Israel venture capital firm TLV Partners.
News Briefs
Cyber Security Co. Intsights Raises $1.5M
Premature Baby Nutrition Co. Nutrinia Raises $30M
August 21, 2016 | Israeli biotech startup Nutrinia has closed $30 million Series D financing to fund two pivotal trials for registration. TPG Biotech led the investment, joined by H.I.G. BioHealth Partners and WuXi Healthcare Ventures, as well as existing investors including OrbiMed, Pontifax and others. The Ramat Gan based company is developing a proprietary oral formulation of insulin for intestinal malabsorption in preterm newborns and Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS) in infants. Nutrinia will use the proceeds to initiate two pivotal trials for registration in separate indications related to acceleration of gut maturation and adaptation: intestinal malabsorption in preterm newborns born between 26 and 32 weeks’ gestational age, and infants with SBS who are under 12 months old. Nutrinia was founded by Professor Naim Shehadeh head of Pediatric Diabetes Clinic at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, at the NGT incubator in Nazareth, which was supported by the Jacobs family, who invested in the company’s earlier investment round along with Maabarot.
[sharethis-inline-buttons]
Technion’s Formula Student Team Finishes In Top 10 In Europe
August 21, 2016 | The Technion’s fourth Student Formula team finished twice in the top ten in the Formula Student competitions held this summer in Europe. In the competition in Hungary, the team finished in 9th place (out of 34 universities) and in the Czech Republic in 8th place (out of 42). Ranking was based on a number of criteria, including business plan presentation, circling the track, a 22 km heat (endurance), driving in figure eights, fuel efficiency and acceleration to a distance of 75 meters. Technion’s Formula car, which competed in the combustion engine category, achieved especially good results in the acceleration heat, the 22 km heat and driving in figure eights – heats that were held on a wet course in the Czech competition. According to the team leader, student Evgeny Guy, “In both competitions the car performed as planned with no unusual problems. All in all, this was our most successful season to date, and we received warm compliments not only from the judges but also from other teams.”
[sharethis-inline-buttons]
Uber Acquires Self-Driving Truck Company Otto
August 18, 2016 | Uber, the world’s largest ride-hailing network, announced today it has acquired Otto, a 90-person startup co-founded by Israeli Lior Ron, which is focused on developing self-driving truck technology. Uber would not comment on the terms of the acquisition, but according to reports, Uber will pay roughly 1 percent of its most current valuation — a sum worth about $680 million after the inclusion of its most recent fund-raising — if certain internal benchmarks are met by the Otto team. Otto’s current shareholders will also be entitled to 20 percent of the profits of any self-driving trucking business the company is able to build over time. With the acquisition of Otto, Uber gets a fast infusion of self-driving expertise, including Otto co-founder Anthony Levandowski, one of the founding fathers of autonomous technology.
Ford Buys Israeli Startup SAIPS
August 18, 2016 | Car manufacturing giant Ford has acquired Israeli computer vision and machine learning company SAIPS. The acquisition of the Rehovot-based company is part of Ford’s pledge to develop a driverless car by 2021. No financial details of the acquisition were disclosed but media reports say Ford will pay several tens of millions of dollars. This is Ford’s first acquisition in Israel. Founded in 2013 by CEO Udy Danino, CTO Rotem Littman and US Branch Manager Noga Zieber Bullkich, SAIPS provides algorithmic solutions. The company has not raised any funds to date and after the acquisition will continue operating as an independent entity within the Ford corporation.
[sharethis-inline-buttons]
OurCrowd Licensed To Raise Funds In Singapore
August 18, 2016 | Israeli global equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd has been awarded a full Capital Market Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). With the license, OurCrowd is now able to market its equity crowdfunding platform in Singapore. Receipt of the license is part of OurCrowd’s targeting of Asia as a huge potential market for alternative investment in promising startups. As part of this, last March Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) invested US$10 million in Jerusalem-based OurCrowd, which invests in startups with differentiated and highly scalable technology products and services. Founded in 2013, OurCrowd has raised over $250 million for investment in almost 100 companies, and has already had eight companies in their portfolio either acquired by a multinational or listed publicly.
Optical Communications Startup ColorChip Raises $20M
August 18, 2016 | Israeli optical communications developer ColorChip has raised $20 million from Gemini Israel Funds, BRM Group, IGP, Vintage, HGL Capital, and Viola Credit. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Shimon Eckhouse and Prof. Shlomo Rushin of Tel Aviv University School of Engineering, the Yokneam based company has raised $80 million to date including the latest financing round and its previous financing round of $25 million in November 2015. IGP, Gemini and BRM led previous financing rounds. ColorChip is a privately held Israeli company that provides cost effective, dense, hyper-scale transceivers and advanced optical splitters. The funding will enable the Israeli company to ramp-up operations and accelerate product development.
Tel Aviv U. Researcher Win MetLife Award
August 16, 2o16 | Dr. Inna Slutsky of Tel Aviv University won the 2016 MetLife Foundation Promising Investigator Award in Medical Research for Alzheimer’s Disease from the American Foundation for Aging Research for her exemplary medical research in Alzheimer’s disease. The award was presented on July 25, 2016, with the during the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto. Dr. Slutsky, the first Israeli scientist to ever receive a MetLife Foundation Award, is a member of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience. She has focused her research on the breakdown of communication lines between brain cells in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.
[sharethis-inline-buttons]
IsraAID COO Wins Mohammad Ali Humanitarian Award
August 15, 2016 | In recognition of Israeli humanitarian organization IsraAid‘s contribution to humanitarian aid work around the world, Navonel Glick, the organization’s chief operating officer, has been selected to receive the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award at the Ali Center’s annual gala dinner in September. IsraAid recently helped the people of Fiji in the wake of Cyclone Winston. They currently focus on water purification and desalination in the village of Vuma in the island of Ovalau. IsraAID is Israel’s leading humanitarian non-governmental organization and is committed to providing life-saving emergency relief and durable solutions for populations affected by natural disasters, epidemics and post-conflict situations. Voni is one of six leaders under 30 to receive the Core Principle Award from the Center. The award was named after Ali’s six core principles: confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect, and spirituality.
Israel Wins Another Medal At Rio Olympics
August 14, 2016 | Ori Sasson claimed the bronze medal in the judo men’s over- 100 kilogram competition on Friday, giving Israel two medals in a single Olympics for the first time in 12 years after fellow judoka Yarden Gerbi had ended the drought three days earlier. Israel had gone without an Olympic medal since windsurfer Shahar Zubari won a bronze eight years ago. Sasson took Israel’s total medal total to nine since it began participating in the Summer Games in 1952. He joined judokas Yael Arad (Silver – Barcelona 1992) and Oren Smadja (Bronze – Barcelona 1992), windsurfer Gal Fridman (bronze – Atlanta 1996, gold – Athens 2004), canoer Michael Kolganov (bronze – Sydney 2000), judoka Arik Ze’evi (bronze – Athens 2004), Zubari (bronze – Beijing 2008) and Gerbi on arguably the most prestigious list in Israeli sports.
Israel Wins Top Two Prizes At Global Innovation Awards In China
August 10, 2016 | Israeli startups took the top two awards at the finals of the Global Innovation Awards 2016 (GIA 2016), a global startup competition featuring 21 startups from around the world competing for $1.5 million in cash prizes. NiNiSpeech, which developed a revolutionary digital platform for treating speech disorders, took first place and AerialGuard, which developed an autonomous navigation system for unmanned aircraft, came in second. This is the second consecutive year that an Israeli startup won first place in the competition. Last year, Israeli startup DiaCardio, developer of innovative software for decoding echocardiograms, took first prize. Israel was represented in the competition by Israeli ambassador to China Matan Vilnai and Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) partner, Yoav Tzruya, both of whom spoke at the event. According to Tzruya: “The fact that an Israeli startup won the competition for the second year in a row not only demonstrates Israel’s technological edge and out-of-the-box thinking, but also the Israeli tech market’s relevance for global markets, specifically with a focus on China.”
Deep Instinct Wins Startup Award In Las Vegas
August 9, 2016 | Israeli startup Deep Instinct, which uses artificial intelligence in deep learning for cyber security, has been awarded the Most Innovative Startup award at the Black Hat IT cyber security conference in Las Vegas, one of the world’s most prestigious cyber security conferences. Deep Instinct’s deep learning app for cyber security, launched in November 2015, is in the patent registration processes. The app facilitates advanced capabilities in detecting security threats and breaches with an innovative degree of accuracy, and makes it possible to prevent them from materializing in real time.
Israel Buys GAMA’s Voice Response Systems
Aug. 8, 2016 | Israeli telecommunication company GAMA Operations will supply additional emergency interactive voice response systems to the Israeli government. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 1995, and headed by CEO Eyal Alon, GAMA has developed a diverse portfolio of software products, from interactive emergency notification systems to virtual receptionist applications with speech recognition features. Current clients of GAMA, a portfolio company of private equity firm Hagshama, include IBM and Visa.
Car Automation Startup Innoviz Raises $9M
August 8, 2016 | Innoviz Technologies Ltd. has raised $9 million in a Series A financing round. Investors included venture capital funds Vertex, Magma and Amiti Ventures, as well as Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Investments and Properties Ltd. and Zohar Zisapel. Zisapel is the company’s chairman and is described as a co-founder. Innoviz is developing a sensor called Lidar sensor a laser sensor that performs a highly accurate scan of the car’s surrounding and builds a detailed 3D image. The company’s technology is called High Definition Solid State Lidar and, according to the company, enables a high level of performance and accuracy compared with current mechanical solutions.
Kaltura Raises $50M From Goldman Sachs
August 8, 2016 | Kaltura the Israeli-U.S. startup that helps organizations manage their video content, has raised $50 million from the U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs and says it is on its way to an initial public offering. Sources said the Goldman Sachs investment round values Kaltura in the hundreds of millions of dollars, though short of the $1 billion that would have won it the coveted status of “unicorn.” The round brings its total fundraising to about $160 million. Formed in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, the company is mature by startup standards, counting 1,000 paying corporate and educational customers whose video content is seen by an average of 700 million people a month. Ron Yekutiel, Kaltura’s CEO and chairman, told TheMarker the Goldman Sachs investment signaled the company’s strategy of avoiding an exit and remaining independent.
