News Briefs

September 10, 2015 | Mellanox, a supplier of end-to-end interconnect solutions for servers, announced that it has been honored with the 2015 Israel-America Chamber of Commerce award. Mellanox received the award in recognition of its “innovation and technology excellence, and developing human capital”. Mellanox counts a number of US government organizations and agencies among its clients, as well as leading cloud and Web 2.0 companies. Mellanox was founded in 1999 by Eyal Waldman, Shai Cohen and Roni Ashuri.

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September 10, 2015 | The app discovery platform ironSource and Supersonic, a mobile monetization platform, announced that their companies will merge. The companies will see the merging of their executive teams as well as their platform services. The agreement will enable a wider product offering on a larger scale, providing developers and advertisers with a complete end-to-end solution for mobile monetization and marketing. ironSource was founded in Tel Aviv in 2010 and Supersonic was founded in 2009 by Gil Shoham and Arik Czerinak.

 

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September 10, 2015 | The Israeli drone technology startup Dronomy announced that it raised $1.5 million in funding in a round led by Battery Ventures. Lool Ventures, Oryzn Capital, angel investor Tovio Annus, Saul Klein, and Josh Silverman, the former CEO of Skype. Dronomy’s technology aims to revolutionize the commercial and consumer drone markets by making it easier and safer to fly drones autonomously, especially in cluttered outdoor environments. Dronomy was founded in 2014 by Ori Aphek.

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September 10, 2015 | Aerie Pharmaceuticals and Ramot at the Tel Aviv University announced a research collaboration and licensing agreement for an age-related macular degeneration product. Aerie is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapies for the treatment of glaucoma and other eye diseases. Ramot is the technology transfer company of the Tel Aviv University.

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September 9, 2015 | The Israeli mobile user acquisition platform Taptica announced that it acquired Facebook Marketing Partner AreaOne for $17 million. Taptica hopes that AreaOne will help it expand its mobile offerings on social media outlets. AreaOne will bring in its existing clients which include Baido, IGG, ChangYou and Boyaa Interactive. AreaOne was founded in 2011 by Alon Michaeli.

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September 9, 2015 | The Israeli maritime data and analytics company Windward announced that Retired US Army General David Petraeus and Dan Senor will join the company as investors. “We are privileged to have General David Petraeus and Dan Senor join us as we mark five years on this incredible journey,” said Ami Daniel, the co-Founder and CEO of Windward, of the announcement which marks Windward’s fifth anniversary as a company. Windward was founded in 2010 by Ami Daniel and Matan Peled.

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September 9, 2015 | The Israeli food conglomerate Tnuva announced that it will invest in FoodTech initiatives through the TechForGood accelerator. Tnuva hopes that by joining the accelerator it can increase its exposure to breakthrough technologies and startups in the foodtech sector. Tnuva was founded in 1926 and was acquired for $2.5 billion by Chinese company Bright Food in 2014.

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September 9, 2015 | The Israeli company Ability will merge with the US blank check company Cambridge Capital Acquisition Corporation. The purpose of the merger is reportedly to enter Wall Street through Cambridge Capital’s existing NASDAQ listing. Ability will be valued at $192 million for the stock merger, with each stock priced at $10.10 per share. Ability was founded in 1994 and specializes in intelligence communications for governments, armies and police forces.

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September 9, 2015 | Microsoft has confirmed its acquisition of the Israeli cloud security company Adallom for an undisclosed amount. Adallom exposed security flaws in Microsoft’s Office365 software in 2013. It is estimated that Microsoft will pay between $250-320 million for the acquisition of Adallom, and that the acquisition may signal the establishment of a cyber security R&D center for Microsoft in Israel. Adallom was founded in 2012 by Adam Rappaport, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik.

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September 9, 2015 | The Israeli company developing technology for the quick quality detection of drinking water Lishtot won the StartUp Open 2015 competition that was held in Jerusalem by the Global Entrepreneurship Network. As part of its win, Lishtot will represent Israel at the Global Entrepreneurship Network’s global contest to be held in November. Lishtot was founded in 2015 by CEO Netanel Raisch and Dr. Alan Bauer.

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September 9, 2015 | The online global freight network Freightos announced that it raised $14 million in Series B funding. Existing investors Aleph, Annox Capital, ICV and OurCrowd participated in the round together with new investors MSR and Sadara Ventures. Freightos, which has raised $23.3 million since it was founded in 2012, automates the routing and pricing of international freight shipments. The company was founded by Zvi Schreiber.

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September 9, 2015 | The financial technology firm FeeX announced that it raised $2.75 million. FeeX provides a service that allows users to save money on their retirement and other plans by comparing fees that go along with these services. The funding was raised from the Collaborative Fund, Vikram S. Pandit, as well as existing investors. FeeX was founded in 2013 by Waze co-founder Uri Levine, CEO Yoav Zurel, David Weisz and Eyal Levine.

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September 9, 2015 | The Israeli information technology security firm Check Point identified a bug in the WhatsApp messaging service. Check Point discovered that the new WhatsApp on Web platform could provide hackers access to information belonging to some 200 million users, out of WhatsApp’s 900 million. Check Point informed WhatsApp of the glitch on August 21st and since the company has released a patched-up version of the software. Check Point was founded in 1993 by Gil Shwed.

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September 9, 2015 | Ben Gurion University of the Negev Prof. Nathan Cherny is the first Israeli to be awarded the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) award. Prof. Cherny is one of the founders of the ESMO Palliative and Supportive Care Working Group that has played a key role in introducing palliative care into the medical oncology curriculum. Prof. Cherny will be presented with the award at the European Cancer Congress to be held in Vienna, Austria. The acclaimed ESMO Award was established in 1985 to annually recognize an ESMO member who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of medical oncology and who understands the importance of promoting medical oncology as a specialty within the international community. 

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September 9, 2015 | The Ben Gurion University of the Negev Prof. Chaim Hames was asked by the Research Council of Norway to join the Scientific Selection Committee for the Norwegian Centres of Excellence in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Prof. Hames is the head of the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters. “The invitation by the Research Council of Norway is a recognition of the caliber of research we are conducting at the Center and at BGU in general,” said Hames in a statement. 

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