News Briefs

November 12, 2015 | The German Space Agency (DLR ) and the Israel Space Agency signed an agreement yesterday to cooperate on civilian space exploration. Under the terms of the agreement, the parties will collaborate in research, Earth observations, space missions, communications, and deep space navigation.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 12, 2015 |Halutziot, the solar field project in the Western Negev, was inaugurated yesterday by the Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz. Built by Enlight Renewable Energy Solutions, in cooperation with the Noy Infrastructure and Energy Investment Fund, the field has a capacity of 55 megawatts, and will provide power to 18,000 homes in the surrounding area in Southern Israel.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 12, 2015 | Israeli flavoring company Frutarom – one of the ten largest flavoring companies in the world – has acquired 75 percent of the Polish company AMCO for $20.7 million, marking Frutarom’s eleventh acquisition in 2015. Founded in 1998, AMCO, has a R&D, production, and sales center in Poland, where is has become a market leader in seasoning blends, marinades, and functional ingredients for the food industry. Frutarom is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, with a market cap of $2.38 billion.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 12, 2015 | Fiverr has raised $60 million to “aggressively attract the vast majority of freelancers who still operate offline,” the company said. Founded in 2010 by CEO Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger, the Tel Aviv-based company has developed a marketplace where freelancers can advertise their skills and services, such as web design, writing, or marketing, each of which had a fixed price of $5 – until today. Now freelances will be able to set their own prices and Fiverr will instigate a new tiered pricing model, designed to enable sellers to pocket more cash and buyers to purchase large ticket items. The latest fundraising round was led by Square Peg Capital, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and Qumra Capital, and takes Fiverr’s total funding past the $110 million mark.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 12, 2015 | Israeli cyber security company Cymmetria has raised $9 million in their Series A fundraising round, led by Sherpa Ventures. Founded  in 2014 by a cohort from the Israeli Army’s elite technology unit 8200, Cymmetria has developed decoy servers called “honeypots” to distract would-be attackers away from their true targets. Based in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, the company has also received past investment from YC Combinator, Seedcamp, and Felicis.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 11, 2015 | Israeli security-as-a-service company AppDome has raised $13 million in their Series A fundraising round, led by Menlo Ventures, with addition investment from original investors Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and OurCrowd, as well as new investor investor Draper Nexus. Founded in 2012 by CTO Avi Yehuda, AppDome defends mobile apps against attack vectors such as malware, man-in-the-middle, pharming, and data harvesting. Recently named by Gartner as the 2015 Cool Vendor in Mobile Security, AppDome offers enterprises the ability to secure their apps by uploading the fully developed APK/IPA to a cloud-based security wrapping service. Following the wrapping process, the company can download a secure version of the app within minutes and distribute it via the App Store or Google Play.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2015 | Shani Elitzur, a doctoral student in the Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, has won first place in the inaugural Falling Walls Lab Israel contest, a program designed to encourage innovation in academic research. Elitzur developed a safer method for producing hydrogen, based on aluminium-water reactions that provide electric energy storage possibilities, in particular, for hybrid and fuel-less cars. Or Yahalom from Hebrew University won second place for a method that allows plants to “breathe” nitrogen in the air, thus saving farmers the need to use fertilizers. Oren Miron from Bar Ilan University won third place for his ability to diagnose autism in the early months of life. The three winners will represent Israel in the Falling Walls Lab international finals to be held in Berlin on November 8.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2015 | Israeli bio-med company Vascular Biogenics raised $15 million following the closure of its stock offering of 2,500,000 ordinary shares at $6.00 per share. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for the advancement of clinical programs, and for working capital. Founded in 2000 by CEO Prof. Dror Harats, Vascular Biogenics is a late-stage clinical bio-pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of gene-based treatments for cancer, including their lead drug, VB-111 that is being developed for recurrent glioblastoma, or rGBM, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8 2015 | XURA, formerly known as Comverse, will lay off 130 employees, according to Calcalist. The Israeli software company acquired Acision earlier this year, changed its name to Xura in September, and has since embarked a company-wide restructuring plan to return to growth and profitability. According to the agreement, employees will receive generous severance, and the company agreed not to lay off more employees by 2017.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2015 | Five months after scrapping a planned partnership agreement between Tel Aviv, Ramalla and Amsterdam, the Dutch capital ratified an amended cooperation agreement. The cooperation pact with Ramallah and Tel Aviv is a compromise over an original plan, which was initiated two years ago but encountered opposition from pro-Palestinian activists.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8 2015 | The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will head to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week in a bid to strengthen their ties with the British capital. On a three day trade mission to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah, Mr Johnson will tell business leaders, key investors, and senior politicians that London’s incredible depth of skills, vibrant communities and worldwide links should make it their first choice of economic partner. In Tel Aviv, the Mayor will be accompanied by representatives from 15 London tech firms, all of whom are looking to boost their bottom line by partnering with Israeli tech experts. The Mayor will attend events at Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Google Campus where he will be looking to encourage even more of Israel’s tech businesses to list or grow globally through the city. He will also meet with Mayor Ron Huldai, who is serving his fourth consecutive five-year term as Mayor of Tel Aviv and aims to position the city as a global center of innovation and creativity.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8 2015 | Johns Hopkins University and Luminox-Health, an Israeli healthcare startup specializing in digital medicine, will collaborate with a new entity that will invest $30 million into Israeli digital medicine ventures, according to Globes. The cooperative agreement will be officially announced next Wednesday at the Peres Peace Center, at an event titled “Israel Launches its New Innovation Frontier.” Former Israeli Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres, Chief Scientist Hasson, and representatives of Johns Hopkins and Luminox-Health are expected to take part in the event. This agreement comes after the university signed a multi-year agreement with Israeli health startup Luminox in September to establish an accelerator for Israeli digital health startups.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 8, 2015 | The Israeli founded software giant Amdocs plans to buy the Israeli company cVidya for $30-40 million. Founded in 2000 by CEO Alon Aginsky, cVidya develops revenue analytics and revenue assurance systems. In 2009, cVidya bought ECtel from Elron Electronic Industries for $20.5 million, and to date, the company has raised $46 million, most recently from Battery Ventures and Carmel Ventures.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 5, 2015 | Israeli fashion application MySizeID has raised $4 million from undisclosed investors. Founded in 2014 by CEO Ronen Luzon, MySizeID designs fashion apps, including the recent launch of SizeUp, which contains a 3D measuring algorithm.

 

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

November 5, 2015 | Israeli online payments solution company Payoneer will provide cross-border payment solutions to Amazon in the US, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the UK. A simple and convenient way for sellers to receive their Amazon payments, Payoneer is the first external payment solution with which Amazon has partnered. Founded in 2005 by entrepreneur Yuval Tal, Payoneer has raised $90 million to date, including $50 million in August. With 500 employees worldwide, the company is today headquartered in New York with its R&D center in Tel Aviv.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]