July 19, 2015 | The Israeli gaming company 888 Holdings beat out the British company GVC to acquire Bwin.party Digital Entertainment. 888 will acquire the British-Austrian gaming company for a total of $1.4 billion, according to the company. As a result of the merger, 888 is poised to become one of the strongest gambling companies in the business, as well as strengthening the company’s presence in sports gambling. 888 was founded in 1997 by Avi and Aaron Shaked and Ron and Shai Ben-Yitzhak.
News Briefs
July 19, 2015
888 Acquires Bwin For $1.4B
July 19, 2015
Showbox Raises $8.5M In Series A Funding
July 19, 2015 | The Israeli-developed cloud-based video production tool Showbox announced that it secured $8.5 million in Series A funding. Investors in the round include the CEO of AMEX Travel Charles Petruccelli, IMAX Chairman Brad Wechsler, Wix co-founder Giora Kaplan, TPG partner Karl Peterson, among others. Showbox was founded in 2013 by Effi Attad and Tomer Afek.
July 19, 2015
Pebbles Interfaces Acquired By Facebook’s Oculus
July 19, 2015 | According to reports, Facebook’s company Oculus is set to acquire Pebbles Interfaces for up to $60 million. Oculus is a virtual reality company that is developing solutions for the social network, hoping to use Pebble’s interface that can focus on and detect users’ hand movements. The technology has already been incorporated into Oculus’ VR glasses, with the hand movement tracked by a camera on the glasses’ frame. Pebbles Interfaces was founded in 2010 by Israel and Nadav Grossinger.
July 16, 2015
Israeli Water Experts Head To California
July 16, 2015 | The Ministry of the Economy announced that a delegation of Israeli water purification and management experts are headed to the West Coast of the United States to further Israel and California’s cooperation in water management. The Israeli companies participating in the delegation include Atlantium, Amiad and Triple T, which will meet with US companies Leprino Foods, Costco and Coca Cola. In addition, the Israeli delegation will meet with the world’s biggest beer producer Anheuser-Busch, PSOMAS and water utility companies from Los Angeles and San Francisco. The companies will also meet with the water and agriculture minister for the State of California.
July 16, 2015
Keeprz To Be Acquired For $50M
July 16, 2015 | The Israeli startups Keeprz is set to be acquired by Como, formerly known as Conduit Mobile, for up to $50 million. Keeprz is a loyalty enhancement platform for small to mid-sized businesses. Once the deal is finalized, Keeprz 17 employees are set to join Como’s 100 employees in their company offices in Nes Tziona. Keeprz, which is part of Zipory, was founded in 2012 by Danny Albocher, Liran Mayost, Yair Holtzer and Orit Balicer Tsur.
July 16, 2015
Red Hill To Issue Another NASDAQ Flotation
July 16, 2015 | Red Hill Biopharma is set to issue another flotation on the NASDAQ stock exchange based on a shelf prospectus. Red Hill hopes to raise tens of millions of dollars in its offering. The flotation was underwritten by Nomura, Roth Capital Partners, MLV & Co., and HC Wainwright & Co. Red Hill Biopharma was founded in 2009 and develops drugs for the treatment of stomach ulcers, among other conditions.
July 15, 2015
Tyto Care Raises $11M
July 15, 2015 | The Israeli medical device company Tyto Care announced that it raised $11 million in its latest funding round, according to a “Geektime” report. The company’s platform allows parents to perform basic medical examinations at home, sending the results to the child’s doctor. The round was reportedly led by a major American strategic investment firm as well as Teuza Venture Capital. The current round brings Tyto’s total funding to $18.5 million. Tyto Care was founded by Dedi Gilad and Ofer Tzadik.
July 15, 2015
Report: Radware To Hire 100 Additional Employees In Israel
July 15, 2015 | According to a report in “TheMarker”, the Israeli company Radware announced that it plans to hire 100 additional workers at its Israeli R&D centers. Radware, which has research and development centers in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, is headquartered in the US. Radware was founded in 1997.
July 15, 2015
Report: Bkstg Raises $20M
July 15, 2015 | According to reports in “TheMarker”, Ran Har Nevo has raised $20 million for his latest project, Bkstg. The platform hopes to directly connect between musicians and their fans. Har Nevo joins Israelis Ron Zuckerman and Ori Birenbaum who came up with the idea for the platform. Har Nevo has been named the CEO of Bkstg with Zuckerman and Birenbaum, the founders of the startup WhipClip that recently raised $40 million, are on the board of directors.
July 15, 2015
BGV Closes Second Fund
July 15, 2015 | Benhamou Global Ventures announced that it has closed funding on its second fund BGVII, a fund for early and seed stage startups. The first investment from the fund was made in Qubell, an application deployment and configuration management platform for web-scale applications. In addition, BGVII invested $2.2 million in Israeli startup Ayehu, according to reports. BGV is based in the Silicon Valley and focuses on early stage companies in the enterprise information technology category.
July 15, 2015
NeuroDerm To Raise $58M In Secondary Offering
July 15, 2015 | The Israeli company developing a treatment for Parkinson’s Disease, NeuroDerm announced that it plans to raise $58 million in its secondary offering. The company plans to raise the said amount, including green shoe options, at a share price of $15.60. NeuroDerm held its IPO in November of 2014, in which it raised $45 million. Since, the share price has risen by nearly 60 percent, bringing the company’s market cap to $272 million. NeuroDerm was founded in 2003 and is based out of Rehovot.
July 15, 2015
Wix, Facebook Pair Up On Advertising Campaigns
July 15, 2015 | Wix announced that it will team up with Facebook to allow Wix users to generate automatic advertising campaigns on the social network. This is added to other features in Wix’s product line for small businesses, including ShoutOut, a tool to send newsletters, among others. Facebook will now allow Wix users to generate advertising campaigns from their ShoutOut subscription lists. In addition, Facebook’s Lookalike feature will be employed to target the best audiences for the ads. Wix was founded in 2006 by Giora Kaplan, Nadav Abrahami and Avishai Abrahami.
July 15, 2015
Report: ASI To Be Acquired For $30M
July 15, 2015 | According to a “Globes” report, the US medical equipment company Danaher has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Israeli company Applied Spectral Imaging (ASI) for $30 million. The company develops and sells computer imaging solutions for laboratories. ASI’s products have received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration. ASI was founded in 1993.
July 15, 2015
Canada-Israel Collaborate On Smart Grid Technology
July 15, 2015 | The Canada-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (CIIRDF), together with EllisDon and Rafael agreed to collaborate on smart grid technology to develop a more sustainable approach to energy management. The deal is valued at $14 million and hopes to develop next-generation smart grid management tools that will improve energy efficiency and conservation, reduces waste and lowers cost for utilities, operators and customers. “This bilateral project exemplifies the value of Canada-Israel R&D partnerships in energy and the value of CIIRDF as a platform for bilateral collaboration,” said Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist, Ministry of Economy, Israel.
July 15, 2015
Report: Ayehu Raises $3M
July 15, 2015 | According to a Geektime report, the IT solutions company Ayehu announced that it raised $3 million in funding. The round was led by Arik Benhamou’s venture capital firm BGV, which invested $2.2 million of the sum. Ayehu was founded in 2007 by Gabby Nizri and Yaron Levy Nizri.
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