News Briefs

April 13, 2015 | Intec Pharma is reportedly set to reach an agreement with a major pharmaceutical company worth $150 million, according to a “Globes” report. According to the terms of the reported agreement, Intec will develop its delayed release accordion pill for drugs entering the intestine. In addition, “Globes” reports that the agreement stipulates an additional $1 million for initial R&D and a possible rights agreement regarding the development and distribution of the drug. Intec Pharma was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Jerusalem.

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April 13, 2015 | The international biomed fund OrbiMed is considering raising a second fund in Israel, according to a “Globes” report. OrbiMed reportedly hopes to raise between $200-250 million, though the group has not yet begun recruiting investors. In Israel, OrbiMed is headed by Senior Managing Director Dr. Nissim Darvish together with Anat Naschitz and Erez Chimovits, among others.

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April 13, 2015 | The American company Avid will acquire Israeli company Orad Hi-Tech Systems for a reported $60 million. Orad is the provider of real-time 3D graphics, video serves and asset management solutions based out of Kfar Saba, Israel. Orad was founded in 1993 by Avi Sharir and Ofir Benovici.

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April 12, 2015 | The Israeli biotechnology company Kadimastem announced that it plans to begin human trials for its stem-cell ALS treatment in the second-half of 2016. The announcement follows an impressive 24-hour approval from the FDA to move forward with the clinical trial process that resulted from the publication of the company’s pre-clinical findings. Kadimastem was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel.

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April 12, 2015 | TabTale, a mobile game publisher based in Israel, announced that it will acquire Sunstorm Games. TabTale will acquire the Las Vegas-based kids mobile game developer for an undisclosed amount. TabTale itself was recently ranked within the top ten mobile game publishers worldwide in terms of downloads on the Apple App Store. TabTale was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv.

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April 12, 2015 | The Israeli renewable energy company Energix Group announced that it acquired the rights to a $101 million wind farm in Poland. The wind farm will reportedly be able to generate up to 50 megawatts of power when it is completed by the end of the year, later to produce up to 192 megawatts for use by utilities in Poland. Energix was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Ramat Gan, Israel.

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April 12, 2015 | The Dutch businesswoman Nina Storms is in talks with Israeli T.V. personality Erez Tal to head the formats and production company that she wants to establish in Israel. The goal of such a company would be to develop and produce television formats and content to be marketed to a global audience. “Globes” reports that Storms has considered establishing such a company in Israel for some time. Storms’ owns a number of content companies in Denmark and Europe, including Flare Media, and has an estimated wealth of €240 million (approx. $256 million).

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April 12, 2015 | The European accelerator Startupbootcamp, within the framework of its FastTrack Fintech, will visit Israel to scout out companies to participate in the program. The FastTrack Fintech program will be conducted simultaneously in 19 countries and the program will be opened to about 10 Israeli companies. Startupbootcamp is a startup accelerator program founded in 2010 in Copenhagen.

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April 12, 2015 | Private equity funds in Israel are competing to acquire the industrial filter maker A.L. Filter, according to a “Globes” report. A.L. Filter is an Ashdod-based company that markets air, fuel and oil filters for the automobile industry. Major equity funds like FIMI Opportunity Funds, Tene Investment Funds and Fortissimo Capital have expressed interest in acquiring the company. A.L. Filter is a 50-year-old company founded by brothers Gideon and Ehud Aloni.

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April 12, 2015 | The B2B sales and marketing engagement platform developer Folloze announced that it closed a $3.3 million seed funding round to expand its marketing reach. The seed round was led by NEA, Cervin Ventures and TriplePoint Ventures, with participation from angel investors. Folloze was founded in 2013 by CEO Etai Beck, CPO David Brutman and CTO Zvika Menachemi. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with development offices in Israel.

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April 12, 2015 | Mylan N.V. has made a $29 billion offer to acquire Irish pharmaceutical company Perrigo at $205 per share. Perrigo, which has two offices in Israel, will delist from the TASE and other stock markets if the deal goes through, with Perrigo being one of the more heavily-traded stocks on the TASE. Perrigo has been operating in Israel and on the TASE since it acquired Agis Pharmaceuticals in March 2005.

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April 8, 2015 | Infinity Augmented Reality, an Israeli company developing a software-based AR engine, has announced that it has signed an agreement for a Series B financing round, raising $5 million. The funds will be invested by SUN Corporation, among others. Based in Tel Aviv, InfinityAR is headed by CEO Motti Kushnir.

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April 7, 2015 | The next-generation personal cloud company TriPlay announced that it raised $11 million in new funds. The new funding round was raised by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, a global investment firm with approximately $67 billion in assets, and from existing investors Kenges Rakishev and Tamir Koch, TriPlay founder and CEO. TriPlay is headquartered in New York, with offices in Israel.

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April 7, 2015 | Israeli startup Zebra Medical has raised $8 million in a financing round led by Khosla Ventures. Zebra, which was founded in 2014 by Eyal Toledano, Eyal Gura and Elad Benjamin, is building a database of medical images to help doctors better diagnose diseases.

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April 7, 2015 | Medical equipment giant Medtronic has invested $2 million in DreaMed Diabetes, an Israeli startup company that develops a new delivery system of insulin. DreaMed has signed an exclusive development and license agreement with Medtronic for the development and marketing of products incorporating DreaMed’s technology in Medtronic’s insulin pumps. DreaMed was founded in 2014 by Eran Atlas and Shahar Miller.

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