News Briefs

May 9, 2016 |The Israel Venture Capital Research Center (IVC) has published its IVC-Shibolet Israeli Private Equity Market Survey for the first quarter of 2016. The survey showed that Israeli private equity activity dropped in the first quarter of 2016: $265 million invested in 15 deals. In additon, the survey reported a 69% decrease in private equity deal making in in the first quarter of 2016 from the previous quarter. Regarding technology sector leads, it was found that software dominated PE market with 64% of all dollar proceeds. Also, straight equity continued as the favored investment mechanism – 80% of deals in the quarter.

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May 9, 2016 | New Israeli mobile application Earny has launched and announced it has raised $1 million in seed round funding from Sweet Capital Ltd. and Science Inc., with participation from Jeff Bonforte, SVP, Communications Products at Yahoo, and Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash. The app connects with users email and Amazon accounts in order to track their online purchases, find e-receipts, then price check those items to see if users got the best deal. If it finds a lower price, Earny will request a refund on the user’s behalf and the difference (minus the company’s 25 percent cut), will be credited back to the user’s payment card. Founded in 2015 by Israelis Oded Vakrat, Ilan Zerbib, and Dori Yona the team has also relocated to Santa Monica to work out of Science’s offices there.

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May 8, 2016 | Israeli walking navigation app Sidekix has raised $1 million in seed round funding from Israeli and Australian investors. Sidekix aims to help users  find new places that might interest them when out walking.  First available in London, its launch city, the company has  expanded to Paris, Berlin, and New York too. Sidekix was c0-founded in 2015 by Miron Perel, who serves as the CEO, CTO Eli Baram, and Marketing VP Jenny Drezin. The company has six employees and has its offices at the Tel Aviv port.

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May 8, 2016 | Pagaya, a data-driven online investment manager in the online lending market, announced today a $1.25 million seed investment led by Carmel Ventures, a member of the Viola Group. Avi Zeevi, Co-Founder and General Partner at Carmel, led the investment and joined the Pagaya board of directors. Pagaya’s advanced technology solution serves as a comprehensive online investment house for financial institutions investing in the online lending market. Based on its innovative machine learning algorithms, Pagaya serves as a manager of assets, advising large institutions as they invest in the rapidly growing multi-billion dollar online credit market. The company signed a distribution agreement for its products to selected Israeli institutions. Additionally, the company has signed agreements towards establishing a private $100 million fund to be managed by the company based on its technology. Pagaya was founded by Gal Krubiner (CEO), Avital Pardo (CTO) and Yahav Yulzari (VP Sales).

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May 8, 2016 | Israeli cancer treatment company Galil Medical has been acquired by UK healthcare company BTG plc for $110 million. Galil Medical, which has its development operations in Yokneam near Haifa, has developed cryoablation systems and needles for treating kidney, prostate and other types of cancer. BTG, traded on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq specializes in cancer treatments and medical devices and has a market cap of $2.2 billion. Galil Medical is a veteran company, which in the 1990s developed a minimally invasive medical device to burn tissues through needles used for freezing. Its first target was prostate cancer. In 2003, Galil Medical merged with UK company Amersham, which took a 75% stake, while Amersham in its turn was acquired by GE. Over the years Galil Medical raised $48 million from Investor Growth Capital, Thomas McNerney Partners and Vertical Group.

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May 5, 2016 | Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the late civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will attend a ceremony in Israel to honor three Israeli community activists on Sunday. He will be in Israel with attorney William Wachtel, son of the late attorney Harry Wachtel, King’s legal counsel during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The pair will honor singer and songwriter Idan Raichel, former Yesh Atid MK Pnina Tamano-Shata and journalist Anat Saragusti for their work on behalf of the Ethiopian community, to advance equal opportunities between communities, and to bring about understanding between Arabs and Jews. The three will receive the 2016 Unsung Hero Award from the Drum Major Institute (DMI) for Public Policy, originally founded as a civil rights organization by Harry Wachtel in 1961 and revived by William Wachtel in 1999. King III serves as an ambassador for the organization. DMI’s stated mission is “to eradicate poverty, racism and militarism/violence, through advocacy, empowerment and education.” It will be the first time the organization grants the award outside the United States and to non-U.S. citizens.

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May 5, 2016 | Israeli startup Via, which develops an on-demand transportation solution, has raised $100 million in Series C funding. The company has already closed $70 million in financing with a further $30 million in strategic investment to close in the coming weeks. This is the largest amount raised by an Israeli startup this year. The funding was led by Pitango Growth, along with leading venture capital firms and strategic investors from North America, Europe, and Asia, including Poalim Capital Markets and C4 Ventures. Previous investors Ervington Investments (representing Roman Abramovich), Hearst Ventures, and 83North (formerly Greylock IL) also participated in the round. The latest funds bring Via’s total investment to $137 million. Headquartered in New York City, the company’s development center is in Tel Aviv. Founded by Daniel Ramot and Oren Shoval, Via operates in New York City and Chicago and enables tens of thousands of passengers each day to seamlessly share their ride with others headed the same way. The financing will be used to drive growth in those two cities,expand into new ones, and aid municipalities and transit authorities seeking to improve their public transit services by using Via’s technology.

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May 5, 2016 | Israeli startup TravelersBox announced a new partnership with Viber allowing travelers to deposit leftover currency to Viber accounts. With TravelersBox, an ATM-like machine at airports, travelers can now credit their Viber Out accounts directly via TravelersBox kiosks by depositing their leftover foreign coins and bills into various eWallets and online accounts, now including Viber, before departing for their home country. Founded in 2013 by Tomer Zussman and Idan Deshe, TravelersBox already operates more than 75 kiosks in eight countries and plans to expand even further throughout Asia, expecting to add more than 150 more kiosks this year. Currently, TravelersBox kiosks operate in Manila (Philippines), Tokyo (Japan), Milan (Italy), Toronto (Canada), Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara (Turkey), Tel Aviv (Israel) and Tbilisi (Georgia), and very soon will be launching in India and other airports throughout Asia. Viber is an instant messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) app for smartphones developed by Viber Media which was founded in 2010 by four Israeli and Belarussian partners: Talmon Marco, Igor Magazinnik, Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha, with Marco as its CEO.

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May 4, 2016 | Israeli gesture recognition company eyesight Technologies has raised $20 million from Shenzhen-based technology group Kuang-Chi. This is the first Israeli investment by the new $300 million technology investment fund announced by Kuang-Chi earlier this week. Part of the investment reportedly will be used to fund joint initiatives in Hong Kong and China. eyeSight is developing touch-free interfaces for digital devices, such as televisions, tablets, and smartphones. The software does not require special hardware, but uses a smartphone or network camera and the company’s eyeCan technology is used by the Windows user interface. Based in Herzliya, the company was founded in 2005 by CTO Itay Katz.

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May 4, 2016 | Israeli recruitment startup Woo (formerly Highr.io) announced it has raised $2 million, bringing Woo’s total funding to $4.35 million. This funding from current investors comes on the heels of the company’s $2.35 million seed round in February and will be used to accelerate growth and R&D, as Woo moves to expand its footprint into key technology-focused regional markets across the US. Woo lets employees anonymously contact top tech companies to see what jobs are available and how much they pay. With offices in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, Woo was founded in 2015 by CEO Liran Kotzer and CTO Ami Dudu.

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May 4, 2016 | Public transportation app Moovit has announced it will be integrated with the ride-sharing app Uber in 131 cities in 22 countries. Moovit uses official transit data plus crowdsourced data to give riders the best information about potential routes. With Uber integration, ride sharing becomes yet another option for managing local trips, in addition to public transportation. Moovit’s Uber integration will be rolling out gradually over the next few weeks across the U.S., U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Uruguay, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Greece. Moovit is already available in over 800 cities and more than 60 countries. Founded in Israel in 2011, and run by Co-Founder and CEO Nir Erez, Moovit has already raised $81.5 million in funding from the likes of BRM Capital, Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth Partners and Gemini Israel.

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May 3, 2016 | Israel’s Azrieli Group Ltd. is entering the e-commerce field by acquiring the business of the Buy2 Networks Ltd.  e-commerce website for $16.5 million (62 million NIS). According to Azrieli, it is acquiring Buy2 Networks subsidiary Netex New Media as part of its strategy aimed at building a new digital growth engine in Israel. Buy2 Networks has 60 employees, and operates a broad range of e-commerce websites and services, such as home and garden products, electrical and consumer electronics products, fashion and cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, products for parents and children, sports and camping, etc. The company’s e-commerce platform contains over 20,000 different items available for online purchase. Azrieli Group, one of Israel`s prominent investments companies,  is comprised of Israel’s leading nationwide chain of income-producing properties (shopping malls and offices).

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May 3, 2016 | Israeli flavors and food ingredients company Frutarom Industries Ltd. has acquired 100% of German partnership Extrakt Chemie Dr. Bruno Stellmach GmbH &Co. KG, together with the property on which Extrakt Chemie’s plant is situated, for approximately $6 million in cash plus the assumption of debt (net) amounting to approximately $2.2 million. For the fiscal year ended February 2016, Extrakt Chemie’s revenue was some $10 million. The purchase agreement includes a mechanism for future consideration conditional on the business performance of Extrakt Chemie during 2016 and 2017. The transaction was independently financed. Extrakt Chemie was established in 1969. It develops, produces and markets specialty solutions of natural extracts, some that include plant-sourced enzymes for use mainly as raw material (API) in the pharmaceutical market, with proven benefits in, among other things, the treatment of liver diseases, digestive problems and the prevention of infections. Besides Germany, it is also active in Denmark, Switzerland, France and Austria and in Australia. It has about 35 employees. Frutarom was founded in 1933 by Yehuda Araten and Maurice Gerzon.

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May 3, 2016 | Israeli payment technology provider Zooz has closed a $24 million financing round led by Target Global Ventures and including Fang Fund, iAngels, Kreos Capital and existing investors Blumberg Capital, lool ventures, Rhodium, Claltech (Access Industries’ Israeli tech vehicle), XSeed Capital, CampOne Ventures and angel Eilon Tirosh. Zooz will use the funding to accelerate its growth, develop new products, open new markets, and increase its presence in existing markets. ZooZ CEO Oren Levy and CTO Ronen Morecki founded the Ra’anana based company in 2010. Zooz has grown considerably since its last round in July 2014 and has opened offices in London, Berlin and San Francisco.

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 May 3, 2016| Israeli startup Sensiya has been bought up by the musician will.i.iam’s consumer tech label i.am+ for an unknown sum. Sensiya is a mobile SDK that allows application developers to serve a personal, tailor made experience for every user. Users will soon be able play music without their phones, via wearables made by i.am+. Founded in May 2014 by Noam Fine and Yossi Marouani and located in Bnei Brak, Sensiya currently has 25 employees. The startup’s investors include Yossi Vardi, Shlomo Nehama, Avi Shechter, and Stav Shacham.

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