News Briefs

December 28, 2015 | Israeli 3D printing startup Nano Dimension has received an R&D grant from the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) at the Ministry of Economy. The grant will be used for the development of a unique 3D printer designed to print multilayer electronic circuit boards (PCBs) for any product containing electronic circuits. The OCS has approved a development budget of up to $1.13 million and will contribute up to 50% of the expenditure. This is the second consecutive year that the company has received funding from the OCS. Founded in 2012 by CEO Aymeric Sallin, Nano Dimension has so far raised $13.1 million, including investment from the Morris Kahn family and Comverse CEO Zeev Bregman.

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December 29, 2015 | Israeli medical device company GlucoVista has raised over $2 million in new funding for its glucose monitoring wristband for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients. Their wearable technology includes a wearable glucometer and infrared light that measures the natural thermal infra-red radiation emitted from blood glucose. The company has so far raised $2.7 million from six investors, according to a Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Founded in 2006 by CEO Efraim Landa and CTO Jonathan Gerlitz, the New Jersey-headquartered company is currently conducting clinical studies with hospitals in Israel.

 

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December 29, 2015 | Computer Science Profs. Orna Grumberg and Assaf Schuster from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology have been recognized as Fellows by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) – the world’s largest computing machinery association, which recognizes outstanding contributions by leaders in the computing world. Prof. Orna Grumberg conducts research on theory and verification of computer hardware and software (Computer Aided Verification – CAV), for automatic testing of complex systems, while Prof. Assaf Schuster researches parallel, decentralized, cloud-based computing and scalability of calculations. The Technion professors are two out of three Israelis who were recognized this year by the ACM. The third Israeli, Prof. Mooly Sagiv of Tel Aviv University, is a graduate of the Technion Faculty of Computer Science, where he also earned his doctorate.

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December 28, 2015 | Eucalyptus Growth Capital, a new investment fund co-managed by Intel’s former Chief Product Officer David Perlmutter, is aiming to raise $300 million to invest in Israeli technology companies with the goal of eventually listing them on the Nasdaq Stock Market. According to Reuters, the fund plans to raise an initial $100-$140 million in the first half of 2016 from investors in the United States, Europe and Asia. In terms of investments, the fund is looking at six companies with sales of over $30 million. Along with Perlmutter, the fund is co-managed by former CEO of Allot Communications Rami Hadar, and CEO of Tamir Fishman Eldad Tamir.

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December 28, 2015 | Orgenesis, an Israeli-founded biotech company specialized in diabetes treatment, has raised $10 million in new financing and, per a prior agreement, allows Orgenesis to fulfill its obligation to finalize the acquisition of MaSTherCell, a Belgian Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) specialized in cell therapy development for advanced medicinal products. Following the transaction, MaSTherCell will continue to function and be managed as a separate bio-manufacturing company. Founded in 2008 by Sarah Ferber, Head of the Endocrine Research unit at Sheba Medical Center in Israel, Orgenesis has developed a novel and patented cell therapy called “cellular trans-differentiation” that converts patients’ own cells into functioning insulin-producing cells as a treatment for diabetes. Continued development of this regenerative medicine could potentially provide a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

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December 28, 2015 | Israeli biopharmaceutical company NovellusDx has raised $10 million to further develop its cancer treatments. It has been previously reported that the company has already raised two seed rounds of $8 million each, and will use the current funds towards clinical trials of its diagnostic technology which identifies tumor-specific genetic mutations, regardless of whether the mutation has previously been linked to a tumor type. Their live cell assay also measures the impact of a drug on a specific tumor, and in particular, the drug’s effect on cell signaling pathways. Founded in 2012 and led by CEO Haim Gil-Ad, NovellusDx is one of a number of life science companies in the Jerusalem Bio-Park working on genetics-based personalized medicine.

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December 24, 2015 | Israeli startup Feedvisor has closed a $5 million venture funding round led by Square Peg Capital. Founded in 2011 by CEO Victor Rosenman, the Tel Aviv-based startup has developed an algorithmic pricing and revenue intelligence platform for online retailers.

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December 24, 2015 | Israeli video ad company Innovid has raised $27.5 million in a private financing round. Investors in this round include New Spring Capital, Sequoia Israel, and Israeli VC firm Genesis Partners. Founded in 2007 by Israeli Zvika Netter, Innovid is a leading video platform for advertisers to create, deliver and measure video experiences on any device.

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December 23, 2015 | Israeli semiconductor giant, TowerJazz has signed a three year agreement with Semiconductor Laboratory, an Indian government owned institute, responsible for design and development of very-large-scale integration (VLSI) devices and development of systems for telecommunication and space sectors. Under the terms, Tower will provide support to help establish the Laboratory’s wafer reclaim capabilities and provide training on the establishment of chemical lab capabilities. The deal will generate revenues of approximately $35 million, which are incremental to TowerJazz’s revenues from its existing manufacturing facilities.

 

 

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December 22, 2015 | Enlight Renewable Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Eurocom Group, has announced a €100 million joint venture with Israeli insurance giant Migdal to invest in the renewable energy projects globally. Under the terms of the agreement, the new partnership will be jointly owned by Enlight (51%) and Migdal (49%) and will invest in renewable energy projects outside Israel. Enlight specializes in initiating, developing, and operating projects that generate electricity from solar and wind power in Israel and Europe, and is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange with a market cap of $243 million.

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December 21, 2015 | Israeli startup PayKey has won the Mobile Monetization Summit Startup Competition, in which more than 100 startups competed. PayKey, which enables payments in social network chats, was founded by Daniel Peled and Ofer Markovich.

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December 20, 2015 | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has announced the opening of its first Chinese campus in Shantou, China, where it will partner with Shantou University. Construction of the Guandong Technion Israel Institute of Technology began last week, off the heels of a $130 million donation from investor Li Ka Shing, who has invested in a number of Israeli startups. The campus will offer Technion engineering degrees at all levels, from bachelor’s to doctorate. The school plans to enroll an initial class of 100 students for chemical engineering in 2016, and eventually, will enroll 4,000 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students.

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December 20, 2015 | Israel was ranked at number 18 in the United Nations Human Development Index, published last week. The index measures development in countries based on three main parameters: life expectancy, education, and income. Norway placed first on the list for the 12th straight year, followed by Australia and then Switzerland. Israel was in 18th place, ahead of Luxembourg and Japan, and behind the US, UK and South Korea.

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December 18, 2015 | Israeli medical device company ReWalk announced that its robotic exoskeleton, which enables paralyzed people to walk, won insurance coverage from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA said it would cover the $77,000 cost of the device for some 42,000 U.S. army veterans who were left paralyzed from war injuries. ReWalk was founded in 2001 by Amit Goffer, who was paralyzed in an accident in 1997 and began developing the technology four years later. The device was approved by the FDA in 2014 for individuals to use at home and the company has since listed on the Nasdaq.

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December 16, 2015 | Early-stage venture capital firm USVP announced the closing of USVP XI, a $300 million fund that will invest in Series A in companies based in the U.S. or Israel, in four core sectors: cyber security, enterprise software, consumer mobile and e-commerce, and healthcare. “The firm’s highly-selective Israel strategy has generated a 7X return on invested capital since our first investment in Israel,” remarked Rick Lewis, General Partner. “USVP also is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the emerging IT-enabled healthcare services sector, with proven software and healthcare expertise integrated into a single firm and fund.”

 

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