June 29, 2015 | As Mylan nears its takeover of Perrigo, Israeli investment institution were ensured by the company that it would maintain Perrigo’s research and development activity in Israel. Perrigo employs some 1,000 Israelis, and not just in its R&D center. In addition, Mylan’s CFO John Sheehan ensured Tel Aviv Stock Exchange CEO Yossi Beinart that Mylan would remain committed to being listed on the TASE following the acquisition. Mylan is expected to acquire Perrigo at a $32.9 billion value, according to estimates.
News Briefs
June 29, 2015
Mylan Assures R&D Will Remain In Israel
June 29, 2015
Pluristem Raises $17M In Shelf Prospectus
June 29, 2015 | The stem cell therapeutics company Pluristem announced that it raised $17 million from private investors in a shelf prospectus. The offering was issued at $2.50 per share and was held without an underwriter. The company did not specify how it will use the funds. Pluristem was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Haifa.
June 29, 2015
Israeli Entrepreneurs Supported In EXIST Program
June 29, 2015 | At the “Made in Germany” event held today (Monday) in Tel Aviv, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Brigitte Zypries, announced that the German government would invest €500,000 annually in Israel entrepreneurship. The funds will be invested through the Ministry for Economic Affair’s EXIST program for startups, which will now officially expand to Israel as of Fall 2015. EXIST is a government-supported program in Germany to encourage startup projects that come out of universities and research institutes.
June 28, 2015
YC Backs Cymmetria
June 28, 2015 | The Israeli cybersecurity company Cymmetria is know the first Israeli security company to be backed by Y Combinator. Cymmetria’s unique platform shifts the balanced between hackers and hacked by embedding networks with decoys and other tricks designed to draw hackers in and catch them. Y Combinator is a well-known American seed fund that invests small amounts of money in selected startups for 7 percent equity. Cymmetria was founded in 2014 by Gadi Evron and Dean Sysman.
June 28, 2015
Hadasit Bio Signs Letter Of Intent For Chinese Investment
June 28, 2015 | Hadasit Bio-Holdings announced a letter of intent to raise $2 million from a Chinese business group. Hadasit invests in R&D companies in the medical and bio-technology fields that are in clinical or advanced stages of moving toward clinical trials. The interested Chinese business group specializes on the health sector, namely the pharmaceutical industry. Hadasit Bio-Holdings is the technological transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
June 28, 2015
Forter Honored With Silver Stevie Award
June 28, 2015 | The Israeli fraud prevention solution Forter was presented the Silver Stevie Award for ‘Best Startup of the Year’ in the Business Products category. The startup was presented the award at the 13th annual American Business Awards ceremony in Chicago, Illinois. Forter is a fraud prevention solution for online businesses and mobile payments technology that enables behavioral analytics and real-time decision making. The startup was founded in 2013 by Liron Damri, Alon Shemesh and Michael Reitblat.
June 28, 2015
Former J.P. Morgan VP Joins iAngels
June 28, 2015 | The Israeli co-investing platform for early-stage startups iAngels announced that it has appointed Darya Fuks as a Portfolio Manager. Fuks used to be a Vice President at J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank and will lead deal flow and due diligence activities at iAngels. Fuks has a breadth of experience working in the US and Israel, as well as experience in conducting global corporate finance transactions. iAngels was founded in 2013 by Shelly Hod Moyal and Mor Assia.
June 28, 2015
Amazon Seeks To Hire Israeli Engineers
June 28, 2015 | The international Internet company Amazon plans to hire up to 100 Israeli engineers in the next 18 months. The Israeli engineers will be hired to work at Amazon’s various departments including: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Development Centers, as well as the Israeli company that was recently acquired by Amazon, Annapurna Labs. Amazon established its office in Tel Aviv in 2014 to support the growth of its AWS cloud services and to expand its customer base.
June 28, 2015
Checkmarx Raises $84M From Insight VP
June 28, 2015 | The Israeli cybersecurity company Checkmarx announced that it raised $84 million from the New York venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate its growth globally. Checkmarx was founded in 2006 by Matt Siman and employs 150 individuals in the US and Israel. Some of Checkmarx notable customers include SAP, Salesforce.com, Coca Cola and the US Army.
June 28, 2015
Ottawa Funds Canada-Israel Health Research Program
June 28, 2015 | The Canadian province of Ottawa has invested in the Canada-Israel Health Research Program, a joint effort between the countries to increase research in the areas of neuroscience and biomedicine. The seven-year-long and $35 million program is set to fund up to 30 different research projects. The initiative is a joint effort shared between the Azrieli Foundation, the International Development Research Center (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Israel Science Foundation.
June 28, 2015
William Hill Establishes Startup Accelerator In Tel Aviv
June 28, 2015 | The UK gambling service provider William Hill announced that it will open startup accelerators in London and Tel Aviv. As part of their accelerator, William Hill will offer startups a £25,000 ($39,000) investment and office space for the 12 weeks of the program. The program will be geared towards early-stage startups. William Hill established a presence in Israel in 2008 together with Teddy Sagi’s Playtech.
June 25, 2015
Report: WeWork Nears $10B Valuation
June 25, 2015 | The co-working space WeWork is raising a new round that could put the company at a $10 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg reports. In December the company raised funds at a $5 billion valuation, which made it one of the most highly-valued private tech companies in the world. WeWork was founded in 2010 by Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann and has three branches (and counting) in Israel.
June 25, 2015
Report: IC Power To Issue NYSE IPO
June 25, 2015 | Kenon Holdings will reportedly list IC Power on the New York Stock Exchange at company valuation of $1.5 billion, according to a “Calcalist” report. Kenon, which was previously part of Israel Corp, is a full shareholder in IC Power, a company that develops and operates power plants in Latin America, the Caribbean and Israel. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Credite Suisse are expected to underwrite the offering. IC Power was established by Israel Corp in 2007.
June 25, 2015
Qwilt Raises $25M In Series D Funding
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une 25, 2015 | The video networking company Qwilt announced that it closed a $25 million Series D round led by Disrupt-ive. This round brings Qwilt’s total funding to $65 million, including new investors Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors and Cisco Investments. Qwilt is headquarted in Redwood City, California and was founded by Alon Maor and Dan Sahar in 2010.
June 25, 2015
IdeaSpace And Israeli Embassy To Bring Filipino Startup To DLD
June 25, 2015 | IdeaSpace, the non-profit startup incubator, and the Israeli Embassy in the Philippines are organizing a competition in which it plans to bring a local Filipino startup to the annual DLD Tel Aviv Digital Conference. In order to qualify for the competition, startups must have a revenue of no less than $30,000 and must be working on a prototype of their innovation. The winning startup will become the official Filipino delegation to DLD Tel Aviv, which will be announced on July 10th.
