July 12, 2015 | Israeli company Pursway, which uses “socializing data” to target opinion leaders for marketing purposes, is reportedly being sold to an unnamed company for tens of millions of dollars, according to a Calcalist report. Founded in 2005 by Elery Pfeffer, Ran Shaul and Guy Gildor, the company has so far raised $17.1 in three financing rounds.
News Briefs
July 12, 2015
Report: Israeli Company Pursway Sold
July 09, 2015
Software Startup Octopus Raises $2.5M
July 9, 2015 | Israeli startup Octopus has raised $2.5 million in a private financing round led by Singulariteam. Founded in 2013 by Tal Bar Or, Baruch Tagori and Jack Eshel, Octopus enables organizations to effectively manage all their security, safety and logistical requirements from one place.
July 09, 2015
Israeli Startup Apester Raises $5M
July 9, 2015 | Apester, an Israeli digital storytelling platform for publishers, has raised $5 million in a private financing round led by Mangrove Capital Partners. Founded in 2011 by Daniel Zadok, Edi Dubinin, Dan Shafir and Moti Cohen, Apester (formerly known as Qmerce) competes with Israeli startup PlayBuzz. Apester’s platform enables publishers to embed interactive polls, surveys, personality tests and video quizzes, to complement any editorial story and use the resulting data to shape future coverage.
July 09, 2015
Report: 888 Holdings Leads Race To Buy Bwin.Party
July 9, 2015 | Israeli online gaming giant 888 Holdings is leading the race to acquire Bwin.Party, according to a report by Egaming Magazine. Previously, Bwin merged with UK company PartyGaming in 2011. 888 Holdings was founded in 1997 by Avi and Aaron Shaked and Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak.
July 08, 2015
BGU Researchers Receive Horizon 2020 Grant
July 8, 2015 | Researchers at Ben Gurion University received a EU Horizon 2020 grant to develop ZERO-PLUS, a cost-effective system for Net Zero Energy (NZE) settlements. Dr. Shabtai Isaac and Dr. Erez Gal from the Department of Structural Engineering and Prof. Isaac A. Meir and Prof. David Pearlmutter from the Bonna Terra Department of Man in the Desert are taking part in the research.
July 08, 2015
SafeBreach Raises $4M
July 8, 2015 | The Israeli cybersecurity company SafeBreach announced that it raised $4 million from Sequoia Capital and serial entrepreneur Shlomo Kramer. As part of the investment, Sequoia partner Gili Raanan will become part of SafeBreach’s board of directors. This is SafeBreach’s first investment that it plans to use to expand its development in Israel and the US. SafeBreach was founded in 2014 by Guy Bejerano and Itzik Kotler.
July 08, 2015
WeWork Raises $433M
July 8, 2015 | The sensational coworking space WeWork announced that it raised $433.9 million in funding, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Because the investment wasn’t officially announced, the exact investors are still unknown. The recent funding could up WeWork’s valuation to $10 billion, up from a $5 billion valuation last December. WeWork was founded in New York by Miguel McKelvy and Adam Neumann.
July 08, 2015
Oramed To Receive $50M Investment From Chinese Firms
July 8, 2015 | Oramed Pharmaceuticals announced that it signed a non-binding letter of intent for a $50 million investment from two leading Chinese firms. The first is Sinopharm Capital Management, a top Chinese pharmaceutical investment company, and the second is Hefei Life Science & Technology Park Investments and Development Co., a Chinese firm that invests in early-stage companies and owns an insulin manufacturing plant. Oramed recently announced that it would begin advanced trials on its orally administered insulin pill. As part of their investment, the investors will receive a 10 percent stake in the company as well as the exclusive licence to market Oramed’s products in China. Oramed was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Jerusalem.
July 08, 2015
Moovit And Gett Cooperate
July 8, 2015 | Moovit and Gett will cooperate to improve their transportation services. Moovit users will now be able to compare arrival times from the point of origin to a destination according to public transportation information and Gett taxis. As part of the new feature, Moovit will also display estimated arrival times for Gett taxis, allowing users to order cabs if they so desire. However, the app will not feature a price comparison. Moovit was founded in 2012 by Nir Erez, Roy Bick and Yaron Evron. Gett, previously known as GetTaxi, was founded in 2010 by Roi More and Shahar Waiser.
July 08, 2015
Whipclip Raises $40M In Series C Funding
July 8, 2015 | The Israeli platform that allows users to share video clips taken from TV and music videos, Whipclip raised over $40 million in Series C funding. The funding round was led by Eminence Capital together with existing investors Institutional Venture Partners and Raine Ventures. Since it was founded, Whipclip has raised $62 million in funding, the majority of the total in the past year. The company will reportedly use the funding to accelerate product development and to grow its operations. In addition, Eminence Capital will join the company’s board. Whipclip was founded in 2014 by Ori Birnbaum and Richard Rosenblatt.
July 08, 2015
IDE Tech Among 50 Smartest Companies In The World
July 8, 2015 | The creator of desalination technology, IDE Technology was named one of the 50 smartest companies in the world by the MIT Technology Review. The companies on the list were selected by the magazine’s editors as companies that “displayed impressive innovations in the past year.” The only Israeli company on the list, IDE was ranked 18th, before companies like Facebook and Uber. IDE is jointly owned by Israel Chemicals and Delek Group.
July 07, 2015
Israel-China Meet To Establish Free Trade Agreement
July 7, 2015 | The Israeli Ministry of the Economy announced that it met with the Chinese Ambassador to Israel Mr. Zhan Yongxin to discuss establishing a free trade zone between Israel and China. Minister of the Economy Arie Dery met with the Ambassador on Monday to discuss the establishment of a free trade zone, among other issues. Both sides stressed their desire to strengthen the economic ties between China and Israel, namely through Chinese investment in the country. The Ministry of the Economy and the Foreign Trade Administration operate from five attaches in China: two in Beijing, one and Guangzhou, one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong.
July 07, 2015
Atrinet Signs Outsourcing Agreement With Nokia
July 7, 2014 | The provider of telecom network management solutions Atrinet announced that it signed an agreement with Nokia Networks to outsource the development, support and maintenance of its TAS Product-Line. In accordance with the agreement, Atrinet will ramp up its R&D in order to support Nokia’s needs and to back its commitments to customers. The said TAS Product-Line has been installed by a number of leading communications firms including AT&T, China Mobile, Orange and Vodaphone Group. Atrinet was co-founded by CEO Efi Levi, CMO Ohad Kramer and COO Meir Ben-Moshe.
July 07, 2015
Report: GetEat Raises $1M
July 7, 2015 | According to a “Geektime” report, the Israeli startup GetEat raised $1 million from private investors. The report stipulates that GetEat is now looking to raise another round to fund the platform’s expansion in Israel and the US. GetEat is a marketing platform that allows the owners of restaurants and food chains to easily create campaigns directed at a particular user. In addition, chefs and restaurant owners can take a picture of the food they just prepared and share it with users who are interested in purchasing the sale.
July 07, 2015
Report: StageOne Raises $65M Second Round
July 7, 2015 | According to a report in “TheMarker”, the venture capital firm StageOne raised $65 million in its second fund. The firm will invest in early stage companies in the communications and organic programming fields. The firm will invest 500,000-700,000 in each of its portfolio companies in an initial stage, and between 5-6 million in each company. StageOne Ventures was founded by Yuval Cohen in 2001.
