News Briefs

December 10, 2105 | Israeli flavoring company Frutarom has acquired Hong Kong company Inventive for $17 million, including Inventive’s corporate debt. With sales offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai and a production facility in Zhaoqing, Inventive serves global food and beverage manufacturers operating in China, as well as those exporting their products to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and South America. According to Frutarom president and CEO Ori Yehudai, this acquisition, Frutarom’s 12th acquisition this year, is a continuation of the company’s strategy designed to achieve rapid international growth.

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December 10, 2015 | German electronics giant Bosch will establish a research and development center in Tel Aviv, Globes reports. The announcement comes off the heels of Board Member Uwe Raschke’s visit to Israel as part of Bosch’s collaboration with Ledico, an Israeli company which imports the German company’s vehicle products.

 

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December 10, 2015 | Jerusalem based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Intec Pharma announced that it is entering a Phase I clinical trial with its third pipeline product. The treatment is based on its Accordion Pill platform technology which opens in the stomach just before reaching the intestine and releases drugs slowly at the desired absorption point. The current line of drugs is being developed for the prevention and treatment of gastroduodenal and small bowel Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) induced ulcers. Led by CEO Zeev Weiss, the company raised $27 million in its Nasdaq IPO this year after the FDA approved its filing for Phase III trials for another pipeline drug designed to treat Parkinson’s disease.

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December 10, 2015 | Israeli agricultural biotechnology company Evogene is partnering with chemicals giant BASF to develop new herbicides. Under the three-year cooperation agreement, Evogene will use its genetic-screening platform to identify new chemicals potentially useful as herbicides. Compounds that successfully pass the screening will continue in BASF’s development process, and if such chemicals are brought to market, it is believed that Evogene will receive royalty payments. Founded in 2002 and run by CEO Ofer Haviv, Evogene already has agreements with large agricultural and biotech companies companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta, and Bayer.

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December 10, 2015 | Hong Kong and Israel have launched the Research and Development Cooperation Program to encourage industrial R&D collaboration and technology development between the two ecosystems. Under the Cooperation Program, Hong Kong and Israeli companies that are engaged in industrial R&D collaboration can apply for government funding for their joint R&D projects. Applications for the Cooperation Program are open all year round.

 

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December 9, 2015 | Yesterday, Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced an innovation program called Ideas Boom as part of his government’s Global Innovation Strategy. Under the program, Australian startups will have access to innovation hubs in key international markets, including in Israel. “Landing Pads will be created in key global innovation hotspots including Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv to give Australian entrepreneurs and start-ups a short-term operational base”Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb said. “A Landing Pad provides for a collaborative workspace and facilities including office space and meeting rooms for up to two months, as well as accelerated access to international business networks, entrepreneurial talent, business development and investment opportunities.”

 

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December 9, 2015 | Israeli video startup Interlude has raised $18.2 million in their latest investment round led MGM Studios. Warner Music Group, Samsung, Sequoia Capital, and Intel Capital also participated in the round, bringing the total amount raised by the company to more than $36 million. The new funding will enable the company to expand its network of content creators, improve its technology, and diversify its content genres. Founded by CEO Yoni Bloch in 2010, Interlude creates interactive video content so that viewers may choose the outcome of the story. The company says that its videos, many of which are branded content and music videos, generate on average 10 times more engagement than traditional videos.

 

 

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9 December 2015 | Israeli semiconductor manufacturer Orbotech announced that one of its subsidiaries, SPTS Technologies, has received orders totaling approximately $57 million in value from an unnamed global manufacturer of packaged die. Bought by Orbotech for $370 million last year, SPTS supplies advanced wafer processing solutions for the global semiconductor and related industries. Founded in 1981 by Dr. Shlomo Barak, Orbotech develops and manufactures automated optical inspection (AOI) and related imaging and computer-aided manufacturing systems. The company’s products enable highly accurate, high-speed, and automated optical inspection in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards, flat panel displays, and IC packaging. The company is headquartered in Yavne, Israel and operates in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific.

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December 9, 2015 | Israeli startup Anodot, which has developed machine learning algorithms for big data analytics, announced it closed a $3 million Series A funding round led by Disrupt-ive Partners. The company will use the funding to accelerate its product road map and expand its sales activity, focusing on the ad tech, e-commerce, IoT and manufacturing industries in the U.S. and EMEA.  Anodot’s data agnostic analytic tools automates the discovery of outliers in all business and operational data. The company was founded in June 2014 by CEO David Drai (former CTO of Gett), Chief Data Scientist Dr. Ira Cohen (former Chief Data Scientist at HP Software), and Shay Lang, and has so far raised $4.5 million.

 

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December 8, 2015 | Austin, Texas-based Revionics has acquired Israeli Marketyze in a deal reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars. Revionic develops lifecycle price optimization software for retailers, while Marketyze develops platforms to collect and compare data on competitors for retailers. The two companies plan to collaborate on a competitive pricing business strategy, according to a joint press release. Founded in 2011 by CEO Onn Manelson and CTO Nave Ronen, Marketyze will soon be converted into the Israeli R&D headquarters in Ra’anana for Revionics.

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December 8, 2010 | Lemonade, a NYC-headquartered peer-to-peer insurance startup, has raised $13 million in their Series A round, according to tech.eu. The capital comes from Tel Aviv-based Aleph and Sequoia Capital. Founded by Israeli entrepreneurs Daniel Schreiber (formerly the president of Powermat) and Shai Wininger (a co-founder of Fiverr), Lemonade hasn’t yet released their platform, but as their website says ‘coming soon.’

 

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December 8, 2015 | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Eagle Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BENDEKA™, (bendamustine hydrochloride) injection, a liquid, low-volume (50 mL) and short-time 10-minute infusion formulation of bendamustine. BENDEKA is approved for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and for the treatment of patients with indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that has progressed during or within six months of treatment with rituximab or a rituximab-containing regimen. Efficacy in CLL relative to first-line therapies other than chlorambucil has not been established.

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December 8, 2015 | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem conferred an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree upon Joachim Gauck, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, at the University’s Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem. The award was presented by the President of the Hebrew University, Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, and the Rector of the Hebrew University, Prof. Asher Cohen. The award was conferred in recognition of President Gauck’s exemplary public service and his defense of democracy, in particular his devotion to a free and unified Germany along with his dedication to bring justice to the German people; in tribute to his advocacy against global racism, extremism and anti-Semitism and his determination to preserve the memory of the Holocaust; and in appreciation of his support for higher education and his solidarity and friendship with the State of Israel.

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December 8, 2015 | TravelersBox, the Israeli startup that is installing automatic foreign currency exchange portals, has signed a cooperation agreement with Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada. Under the agreement, TravelersBox will install 10 new machines at the airport before Christmas Eve. Founded in 2013 by Tomer Zussman, Idan Deshe and Dror Blumenthal, TravelersBox allows travelers to deposit foreign currency change and bills and receive a direct transfer to their Paypal account in their preferred currency. The company also allows customers to purchase gift cards at a number of major retailers.

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December 8, 2015 | Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will visit Israel February 25, 2016 to be the keynote speaker at Think Next, Microsoft’s annual conference held at its R&D center in Israel. He will also will meet with customers, developers and students. Before becoming CEO Nadella was previously Executive Vice-President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise Group, a role in which he made a number of visits to Israel.

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