June 23, 2015 | The Israeli company that allows for in-app purchase in mobile games, Soomla announced that it raised $5.5 million in its initial round of funding. The funds will be used to continue building its platform called ‘Grow’, allowing publishers to share data across games. The company reports that its service is already used by up to 4,000 games and 400 million users. Soomla was founded in 2012 by Gur Dotan, Refeal Dakar and Yaniv Nizan.
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June 23, 2015 | The smart crop irrigation company CropX announced that it received $9 million in funding from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s venture capital firm Innovation Endeavors. GreenSoil Investments and Finistere Ventures also participated in the round. CropX uses mobile sensors to collect an array of data from farms, like soil structure, topography and moisture levels to determine how much water is needed for each crop. CropX was founded by Isaac Bentwich in 2013.
June 22, 2015 | Ben Gurion University of the Negev Prof. Richard Isralowitz received an award from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). He received the award in recognition for his “Contributions to Scientific Diplomacy Through Outstanding Efforts in International Collaborative Research on Drug Abuse and Addiction.” Isralowitz is the Director of the Regional Alcohol & Drug Abuse Research Center (RADAR) in Ben Gurion’s school of social work. The center was established in 1995 to promote international relations between researchers and experts that deal with substance abuse prevention.
June 22, 2015 | The Israeli provider of identity solutions, SuperCom announced that it raised $25.2 million in a secondary offering on NASDAQ. The company raised the said amount at a share price of $12 per share. It is possible that the offering’s total will grow by an additional $8.3 million if the underwriters decide to buy more shares. SuperCom is managed by its CEO and President Arie Trabelsi and is headquartered in Herzliya.
June 21, 2015 | The European Union will support a joint project between Israel’s Elbit Systems and Norway’s Nicarnica Aviation that will help commercial pilots deal with threats of volcanic ash during flight. The companies signed an MOU to develop a system called AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector) to help pilots avoid dangerous ash-filled areas. Now through the European Union’s Eurostars program, the project will receive funding. Elbit Systems was founded in 1966 by Elron Electronic Industries.
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June 21, 2015 | The predictive marketing company MentAd raised $4.7 million in Series B funding in a round led by Blumberg Capital and OurCrowd. The round, which follows a $1.2 million seed round and a $3.5 million Series A round, also saw participation from Edison Investments, Titanium VC and Flint Capital. MentAd was founded in 2011 by Yuval Baror and Daniel Romano and is based in Stanford, California.
June 21, 2015 | An innovative platform that notifies travelers when there is a cheaper rate to their destination, FairFly announced that it raised $2 million in Series A funding from Blumberg Capital. As part of the funding deal, Alon Lifshits from Blumberg Capital will join the company’s board of directors. Currently, FairFly’s services are only available in Hebrew, but the company hopes to use the funding round to expand overseas. FairFly was founded by CEO Ariel Siman-Tov, CMO Gili Lichtman and CTO Ami Goldenberg, graduates of IDC’s Zell Entrepreneurship Program.
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June 21, 2015 | The deal for the sale of a controlling stake in Israel’s The Phoenix Holdings to China’s Fosun Group has closed. Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group signed an agreement to sell 52.31 percent of the company for NIS 1.823 billion (approx $476 million). The Phoenix Holdings was founded in 1949 by David Hachmi.
June 21, 2015 | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Microchips Biotech announced a partnership to explore integrating Microchip’s implantable drug delivery device into Teva’s products. The goal of such a partnership would be to improve the outcomes for patients that engage in chronic therapy. Microchip’s innovative technology can administer drugs over a period of months to years, releasing the drugs at pre-determined times.
June 21, 2015 | The early detection of medical conditions company EarlySense announced that it will prepare for a NASDAQ IPO. The prospect was proposed at a recent conference “From Seed to IPO” held at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. According to a “Globes” report, EarlySense was presented at the conference as a company “on the verge of an IPO”. EarlySense was founded in 2004 by Avner Halperin.
June 21, 2015 | In lieu of one of the worst droughts in California’s history, the City of Beverly Hills has announced a partnership with Israel to learn about water-saving technologies. The agreement is part of a larger agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and California Governor Jerry Brown to foster economic cooperation and development, signed in March 2014. Besides water technology, the agreement is set to include cooperation initiatives on a number of other topics, including cybersecurity, public health and disaster preparedness. The final agreement is expected to be signed sometime this summer.
June 21, 2015 | The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced that it will donate $5.5 million to improve healthcare in Israel. The grants will focus on Israel’s southern communities including a medical rehabilitation center in Sderot, a regional medical center for the Halutza community, and an expanded dispatch center for United Hatzalah. Since 2009, the Helmsley Charitable Trust has donated over $150 million to a number of charitable organizations in Israel.
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June 21, 2015 | A delegation of 100 leaders of major German companies will head to Israel to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the countries. The companies represented in the group include SAP SE, BMW, Bosch. Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom and more. The delegation will spend two days in Israel at events organized by the Ministry of the Economy.
June 21, 2015 | Israel has signed a deal with the World Bank to provide its knowledge in water technologies to developing countries. According to the deal, Israel will commit $500,000 to the Water Global Practice initiative that is part of the World Bank in order to help developing countries face grave water security challenges, an issue that Israel has dealt with hands on since the country was established in 1948. The deal will also have Israeli experts travel to countries in need to present potentially life-changing technologies, as well as have experts from said countries come to Israel to learn about desalination and drip irrigation technology.
June 18, 2015 | Lumenis, the developer of medical software tools in a number of fields, will be acquired by XIO Group for a total of $510 million, at a value of $14 per share. Goldman Sacs advised the deal for the Israeli company and Morgan Stanley for the Chinese investment firm XIO Group. Lumenis is headquartered in Yokneam, Israel and is headed by CEO Tzipi Ozer-Armon.
