September 16, 2015 | Ilex Medical, a leading Israeli medical device supplier, saw its share price rise at the announcement of a large tender in South Africa. The company reports that its South African sub-subsidiary has won a tender from the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) to replace existing blood testing mechanisms with those that can detect viruses. The value of the tender is estimated at $110 million. Ilex Medical is a publicly traded company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and is headquartered in Israel.
News Briefs
September 16, 2015
Ilex Medical Wins Large S African Tender
September 16, 2015
Hola Raises $17M In Series C Funding
September 16, 2015 | The Israeli video distribution network for publishers Hola announced that it closed a $17 million Series C funding round. The round was led by Iris Capital together with existing investors Horizons Ventures, DFJ among others. The funding will be used to help Hola users cut publishers costs for delivering video by up to 90 percent, while increasing speed and reliability. Hola was founded in 2008 by Ofer Vilensky and Derry Shribman.
September 16, 2015
QS: Hebrew University Best In The Middle East
September 16 | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was ranked first in the Middle East on a list of the best colleges published by British higher education data provider Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Globally, the Hebrew University was ranked at No. 148; the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, at No. 198; Tel Aviv University, at No. 203; and Ben-Gurion University, at No. 259. Topping the list are MIT, Harvard and Cambridge. The ranking was mostly based on academic reputation.
September 16, 2015
Report: Qualcomm Lays Off 100 Employees In Israel
September 16, 2015 | San Diego-based chip maker Qualcomm has laid off 100 of its 450 R&D center employees in Israel, according to a Calcalist report. The downsizing is part of a global move to lay off 4,500 employees. Qualcomm Israel is headed by Arik Mimran, who manages the company’s three locations in Haifa, Cesarea and Hod Hasharon. Last year, the company closed its Beit Shemesh office, laying off 50 employees.
September 16, 2015
SodaStream Partners With PepsiCo
September 15, 2015 | The Israeli creator of the home-soda machine, SodaStream announced that it will partner with PepsiCo. The agreement will provide SodaStream users with PepsiCola pods to make their own soda. The move come as part of its competition with pod leader Keurig, which has partnered with Coca Cola on its soda pods.
September 16, 2015
BIRAX To Allocate £3M To Medical Research Projects
September 15, 2015 | BIRAX, or the British Israel Research Academic Exchange, announced that it will award seven research projects with £3 million by 2017. The money will go towards grants for binational medical research projects.
September 16, 2015
Fundbox Raises $50M From Bezos, Kutcher
September 15, 2015 | The Israeli financial technology startup Fundbox announced that it raised $50 million from a number of prominent investors. The round was led by Spark Capital Growth, a new investor in the company, together with Jeff Bezos of Amazon’s fund Bezos Expeditions, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, and Entree Capital. Existing investors Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Shlomo Kramer and Blumberg Capital also participated in the round. Fundbox, which allows for automatic payments to small businesses, was founded in 2012 by Eyal Shinar, Tomer Michaeli and Yuval Ariav.
September 16, 2015
Leadspace Appoints Israel, US Personnel
September 15, 2015 | The provider of B2B leads for businesses, Leadspace, announced that it data analytics and intelligence expert Assaf Monsa will become the General Manager in the company’s Israeli office. In the US, David Thomas has joined Leadspace as a Senior Director of Inbound Marketing at the company’s San Francisco office. The new appointments were funded in part by the recent investment of $18 million in the company. Leadspace was founded in 2012 by Amnon Mishor.
September 16, 2015
KKR Invests $42M In Optimal+
September 15, 2015 | The American multinational private equity firm KKR announced that it will invest $42 million in Israeli big data analytics company Optimal+. KKR will be investing alongside existing investors Carmel Ventures and Pitango. The funds will reportedly be used to support Optimal+’s global expansion, and KKR will gain access to Optimal+’s network of companies and technology experts as part of its investment. Optimal+ was founded in 2005 by company CEO Dan Glotter.
September 16, 2015
$1.67B In PE Investments In Q2/2015
September 15, 2015 | According to the IVC Research Center, private equity (PE) investment in Israel reached a quarterly record in the second quarter of 2015. The research body reports that there were 29 investments in Q2/2015 totaling $1.67 billion. The first half of 2015 was one of the strongest, with a total of 41 private equity deals that totaled $2.1 billion. According to IVC, the majority of the private equity investments were made by foreign PE funds.
September 16, 2015
Airbnb Partners With City Of Tel Aviv
September 15, 2015 | The city of Tel Aviv is partnering with the hosting website Airbnb to create an interactive city guide. Airbnb announced that this is the first partnership made by the company with a municipality. The interactive guide is set to include maps, photographs and local recommendations made by Airbnb hosts. Airbnb was founded by Brian Chesky in 2008.
September 16, 2015
Argus Cyber Security Raises $26M In Series B
September 15, 2015 | The Israeli automotive cyber security startup Argus Cyber Security announced that it raised $26 million in Series B funding. The funds were raised from Magna International, Allianz SE, the SBI Group and existing investors Magma Venture Partners, Vertex Venture Capital, and Zohar Zisapel. The funding will be used to support the rapid expansion of Argus’ development and customer support teams as market demand dramatically increases. Argus was founded in 2013 by Oron Lavi, Yaron Galula and Ofer Ben Noon.
September 16, 2015
Aran Packaging Establishes US Headquarters
September 15, 2015 | The Israeli packaging company Aran Packaging will invest $5.2 million in the establishment of its US headquarters in Greer, South Carolina. The move is set to create up to 63 jobs in Greenville county. Aran Packaging was founded in 1983 and has a presence in more than 40 countries.
September 16, 2015
Report: France To Establish Tel Aviv Tech Hub
September 15, 2015 | The French government will reportedly open a technology hub in Israel. The Tel Aviv hub will join with France’s other international tech hubs in New York, San Francisco, Boston and London. The announcement was made as part of a French Tech Days event in Tel Aviv, in which a delegation of technology companies from France were given the opportunity to sign cooperation agreements with their Israeli counterparts.
September 10, 2015
Israel Signs Agreements With Beverly Hills, LA To Provide Water Tech
September 10, 2015 | The State of Israel entered into separate agreements with the Beverly Hills City Council and the Los Angeles Country Board of Supervisors on the topic of water management. The agreement with Los Angeles County was described as follows: “a resolution between Los Angeles County and the State of Israel for the purpose of establishing a formal relationship that fosters the exchange of research and information, facilitates joint developments, and enhances relationships and opportunities to incubate solutions to the water crisis.” Beverly Hills established a similar agreement with the state of Israel in order to combat one of the worst droughts in California’s recorded history.
