June 25, 2015 | The world’s largest hotels group, InterContinental sent a delegation of 60 managers and executives to Israel for the company’s annual conference. Besides the conference, InterContinental employees learned of the vast high-tech knowledge in Israel and were exposed to the latest in hospitality technology coming out of the country. Some of the Israeli startups that pitched to the hotel executives included EyeOnn, Bizzabo and Vatbox, among others.
News Briefs
June 25, 2015
InterContinental Holds Annual Conference In Israel
June 25, 2015
Redis Labs Raises $15M In Series B Funding
June 25, 2015 | Redis Labs announced that it raised $15 million in Series B funding in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures and Carmel Ventures. Silicon Valley Bank also participated in the round. Since the company was founded in 2011, it has raised $28 million and the new funds will be used to market and sell Redis Lab’s hybrid database offering. Redis Labs is headquartered in Mountain View, California and was founded in Yiftach Shoolman and Ofer Bengal.
June 25, 2015
Moblin Wins Silver Lion Award At Cannes Lions Archive
June 25, 2015 | The Israeli mobile marketing platform Moblin won the Silver Lion Award at the Cannes Lions Archive. The application that Moblin developed for Proctor & Gamble company Always was what won the company the prize. It’s project, called BeckMeApp, was selected out of 40,000 projects for its wild success in Israel, with over 2 million downloads in eight countries. Moblin was co-founded by VP of Business Development Omri Argaman.
June 25, 2015
Ministry Of Science Signs MOU With Lockheed Martin
June 25, 2015 | The Israel Ministry of Science, Space and Technology will partner with Lockheed Martin to improve the science, space and technology curriculum in Israeli high schools and kindergartens. Lockheed Martin plans to share its experiences as an industry leader and will take part in the program’s different activities. The pilot will begin in October at three kindergardens in the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva together with the municipality, the Rashi Foundation and the Ministry of Education. The Ministry and Lockheed will also partner during the International Astronautical Congress to be held in October 2015 in Jerusalem.
June 24, 2015
Market Tech Announces Plans For Camden Markets
June 24, 2015 | Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi’s company Market Tech Holdings will overhaul the open-air Union Street Market in London to construct a two-story market and adjacent boutique hotel. The architects who were meant to design Google’s new headquarters, AHMM are currently drawing up the designs for the new complex, which will be submitted later this year. The goal of the Union Market re-vamp is to attract “higher-value tenants” as opposed to the current vendors at the market. In addition, Market Tech will develop an e-commerce website for the markets, as well as a co-working space in the Camden Stables Market.
June 24, 2015
PhotoMedex Sells XTRAC Division For $42.5M
June 24, 2015 | The Israeli medical aesthetics company PhotoMedex sold its XTRAC division for the treatment of vitiligo and psoriasis to Mela Sciences for $42.5 million. The acquisition will help PhotoMedex recover the debt from its acquisition of LCA opthalmological clinics. PhotoMedex is headquartered in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania and is headed by CEO Dolev Rafaeli.
June 24, 2015
Yotpo Raises $15M
June 24, 2015 | The Israeli sales promotion company Yotpo announced a $15 million funding round led by Marker LLC. Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors and Vintage Investment Partners were new investors in the round, together with existing investors Access Industries, Blumberg Capital, Rhodium and 2b-angels. The company will reportedly use the money to speed up product development and to expand its US office in New York. In addition, Yotpo announced that former CEO of GoDaddy Warren Adelman will join the company’s board of directors. Yotpo was founded in 2011 by CEO Tomer Tagrin and CTO Omri Cohen.
June 24, 2015
Adama And Phytech Announce Commercial Partnership
June 24, 2015 | Adama Agricultural Solutions and Phytech, an Israeli agritech company, entered into a commercial collaboration to establish Adama as the preferred business partner for the global commercialization Phytech’s PlantBeat System. The PlantBeat System is an alert-driven system that combines predictive algorithms, data analysis and other features that can impact the quality and yield of crops. Adama was founded in 1945 and Phytech was founded by Zohar Brenner.
June 24, 2015
NFL Hall Of Famers Visit Israel To Preview Israeli Tech
June 24, 2015 | Nineteen members of the US Pro Football Hall of Fame visited Israel to preview the latest technologies coming out of the country. Their visit was hosted by the Israeli equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd as well as Jnext, the Jerusalem Development Authority that seeks to promote entrepreneurship in the city. The trip was entitled “Touchdown in Israel: Mission of Excellence” and was organized by the New England Patriot’s Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft and Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer. The delegation was presented with innovations from ten different companies, seven of which are funded through OurCrowd’s platform, including: ReWalk, EIMinda, OrCam and Inpris, among others.
June 24, 2015
Israeli Digital Health Entrepreneurs Visit UK
June 24, 2015 | Israeli entrepreneurs in the field of digital health were in the UK this week to present cutting-edge technology that could improve patient’s lives and reduce healthcare costs. The delegation, which was made up of the founders from notable Israeli health tech startups like HelpAround, Telesofia Medical and Healthy.io, was organized by the UK Israel Tech Hub and Start-Up Nation Central and visited the UK cities of London and Manchester. The UK has put an emphasis on digital health tools in recent years and is the largest EU spender on tele-health and tele-care.
June 24, 2015
Mapme Raises $1M In Seed Funding
June 24, 2015 | The user-generated mapping tool Mapme announced that it raised $1 million in seed funding from angel investor Gigi Levy and Daniel Recanati. Mapme is a tool that allows organizations and companies to create maps based on particular interests and topics for the benefit of their customers. Mapme has launched its beta in over 30 countries, serving over 90 ecosystems. Mapme plans to use the funds to fuel its global expansion and to continue product development. Mapme was founded in 2015 by CEO Ben Lang.
June 23, 2015
Prof. Daniel Rittel Awarded Prestigious Engineering Prize
June 23, 2015 | Prof. Daniel Rittel of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology was awarded the Angoila Gili e Cataldo Agostinelli International Prize for 2015. The award is bestowed annually by the Academy of Sciences in Torino, Italy. Prof. Rittel is a professor of mechanics and is the head of the Mechanics of Materials Center at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion.
June 23, 2015
Prof. Yoram Meital Wins First UMass Intercultural Understanding Award
June 23, 2015 | Ben Gurion University of the Negev Prof. Yoram Meital was awarded the first University of Massachusetts Lowell Medal for Intercultural Understanding. He was given the award for “his extensive work in the area of peace and conflict studies and his continued efforts to promote understanding and creative thinking in the context of the potential transition to democracy in the Middle East”. Prof. Meital is the Chairperson of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy.
June 23, 2015
Report: Medivizor Raises $500K From Abramovich
June 23, 2015 | According to a “Calcalist” report, the Israeli-Russian company Medivizor has raised $500,000 from the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Medivizor is an Israeli startup founded in 2014 by Tal Givoly that provides people with serious or chronic medical conditions access to personalized health information and updates.
June 23, 2015
Ministry Of Finance Considers Tax Breaks For Israeli IP
June 23, 2015 | Israel’s Ministry of Finance is considering altering the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments to grant a tax break to companies that transfer their intellectual property (IP) to Israel. According to a “Globes” report, the committee, headed by former Ministry of Finance Director General Yael Andorn, will submit its recommendations to current Finance Minister Moshe Cahlon for review. The tax break will be stipulated on a number of conditions, one of which requires that the IP be tied to domestic manufacturing. The initiative comes as a number of Israeli entrepreneurs, namely Gil Shwed of Check Point Software, assert that due to a lack of tax benefits in Israel, they prefer to register their IP overseas.
