October 29, 2015 | iAngels, the Israeli co-investment platform that allows private investors access to early-stage investment opportunities, announced today the addition of a new core competency: secondary offerings. “Traditionally, employees with equity ownership had to wait until the pre-IPO or IPO stage to realize their capital gains,” said Shelly Hod Moyal, Founding Partner at iAngels. “For startups struggling to attract and retain top talent, the ability to offer liquidity to their employees while still scaling up will be a key competitive advantage.” While equity crowdfunding has enabled investors to access early-stage deal flow, later-stage opportunities have remained the exclusive territory of venture capital and private equity funds. With iAngels’ announcement of secondary offerings, its investment community can now access later-stage opportunities.
News Briefs
iAngels Offers Marketplace For Early Liquidity Of Employee Stock Options
Colorado Signs Partnership Agreement With Israel
October 29, 2015 | Colorado and Israel signed a joint industrial R&D Agreement to encourage cooperation between researchers and entrepreneurs. Under the agreement, Israeli companies will team up with Coloradoan companies to co-develop and commercialize innovative products. The companies will receive financial support from both states. In Israel, support will be granted by the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and in Colorado participants will be supported through a new fund established by the State of Colorado to support the initiative.
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MassChallenge Opens In Jerusalem
October 29 2015 | MassChallenge announced the expansion of its global accelerator network to Jerusalem, which will focus on promising startups across Israel, and will also serve as an entry-point for entrepreneurs globally who are keen to join Israel’s innovation economy. The no-equity, competition-based accelerator will launch in early 2016, with sponsorship from the Jerusalem Development Authority, the City of Jerusalem, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, The Kraft Group, Bank Hapoalim, EMC, and Herzog Fox Ne’eman. Earlier this year, MassChallenge announced that Israel Ganot, founder of Gazelle and veteran executive at eBay and PayPal, will lead MassChallenge Israel as Managing Director.
[sharethis-inline-buttons]MUV Launches Bird IoT Device
October 28, 2015 | MUV Interactive, a developer of technologies for active human sensing, today announced the launch of Bird™. Bird is an intuitive device worn on the tip of the finger that transforms any surface into a multi-touch interface with 3D interactive capabilities. Bird communicates with the user’s devices, enabling rich interaction with anything from displayed content and smart home appliances to IOT devices and drones.
GreenIQ Wins CiConnect Prize
October 28, 2015 | GreenIQ, an Israeli IoT startup, was named the winner of the CiConnect 2015 RBC Innovation Award. GreenIQ’s Smart Garden Hub controls irrigation scheduling based on current and forecasted weather and saves up to 50% on the outdoor water consumption. Founded in 2013 by CEO Odi Dahan, GreenIQ has already raised over $2 million in financing.
Australian Delegation Visits The Startup Nation
October 28, 2015 | Wyatt Roy, the Australian Assistant Minister for Innovation, will be leading a delegation of entrepreneurs, industry representatives and government officials on a week long tour of Israel. “It’s important that we learn as much as we can from Israel, they are a global leader in innovation,” Roy said. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Australia is seeking to develop a more innovation-based economy.
Teddy Sagi Purchases Another London Property
October 28, 2015 | Market Tech Holdings, which is majority owned by Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi, said it has bought the freehold of 49 Chalk Farm Road for £5.2 million. Market Tech already holds about 14 acres of land in North London, including the whole of Camden Market, an outdoor marketplace for more than 1,000 food and retail vendors. As well as launching a new version of the website www.camdenmarket.com, Sagi has also converted underused properties into a co-working space called The Interchange, which he hopes will attract more entrepreneurs and start-ups to Camden.
Report: Chinese Medical Giant Invests $25M In Ornim
October 28, 2015: The largest medical device company in China, Fosun Pharma, has invested $25 million in the Israeli life science company, Ornim, according to Calcalist. The Petah Tikva-based company previously raised $30 million in two rounds of fundraising from Orbimed. Founded in 2004 and run by CEO Israel Schreiber, Ornim has developed a more cost effective, non-invasive monitor of cerebral blood.
Aquarius Spectrum Raises $2.2M
October 28, 2015 | Israeli startup Aquarius Spectrum has raised $2.2 million from Hutchison Water, after participating in the Hutchison-Kinrot Technology Incubator. Founded in 2009 and run by CEO Zeev Efrat, Aquarius Spectrum has developed an automatic monitoring and leak detection solution for water pipe systems. So far, the company’s sensors are in 4 cities, including Jerusalem, monitoring over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of water pipes daily.
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CodeMonkey Wins Credit Suisse Prize
October 28, 2015 | Together with OurCrowd, Credit Suisse named CodeMonkey, an educational start-up which provides a new way for children to learn real computer programming, winner of the Credit Suisse Pitching Ring Award 2015. 200 entrepreneurs, investors, start-ups and experts from Israel and abroad attended Credit Suisse’s second High-Tech Forum in Tel-Aviv. Founded in 2014 and run by Jonathan Schor, CodeMonkey will participate in one of Credit Suisse’s global investment conferences in Asia or the USA, and will be in the running to receive a potential $500,000 investment by OurCrowd.
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SmartZyme Raises $4M
October 28, 2015 | Israeli bio-medical company SmartZyme has raised $4 million from healthcare investment fund Orbimed. The new injection of capital will enable the company to further develop their platform for protein design, which the team is currently using to build a glucose monitoring system, as well as other diabetes treatments. Founded in 2013 and run by CEO and Co-Founder Shilo Ben-Zeev, SmartZyme holds offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Ness Ziona, Israel.
Cato Networks Raises $20M
October 27, 2015 | Israeli network security startup Cato Networks has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round. The financing, led by Steve Krausz, General Partner at US Venture Partners (USVP), and Theresia Gouw, Founder of Aspect Ventures, will enable the company to execute its go-to-market strategy and recruit top-tier talent. Founded in 2015 by Shlomo Kramer and Gur Shatz, Cato Networks builds network security for mobile and Cloud-enabled enterprises.
Signals Group Raises $15M
October 27, 2015 | Signals Group, a big data analytics company, today announced it has raised $15 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Sequoia with participation from existing investor TPY Capital. Shmil Levy, a partner at Sequoia Capital Israel, will join the Signals board. Founded in 2009 by CEO Gil Sadeh and CTO Kobi Gershoni, Signals Group collects, analyzes and pairs disparate external data sources for Fortune 500 companies including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and PepsiCo.
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Hebrew University Opens AgTech Fund
October 27, 2015 | The technology-transfer company of Hebrew University, Yissum, has established Agrinnovation, an investment fund focused on agricultural innovations. The first round of funding closed at $4 million, led by the Victor Smorgon Group from Australia. Other investors include Yissum and the Provident Fund of the Employees of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the upcoming days, a group of Chinese-Israeli investors will also join the fund, which is expected to raise a total of up to U.S. $6 million. Led by Dr. Ido Schechter, the fund will invest in advanced agtech technologies and establish of new agricultural start-ups.
Gifting Service Jifiti Raises $3.3M
October 27, 2015 | Jifiti has closed a $3.3 million funding round, led by the Liberty Israel Venture Fund, a subsidiary of the Liberty Media Corporation. Jifiti’s existing investors include the Schottenstein Store Corporation, Jesselson Investments, the Simon Property Group and Stephen Milstein, founder of Burlington Coat Factory (acquired by Bain Capital). Founded in 2011 by CEO Yaacov Martin,CTO Meir Dudai, and CMO Shaul Weisband, Jifiti has raised nearly $7 million for its online gifting service. The company’s clients includes IKEA, DreamWorks Animation, Sears and Evite.com
