February 15, 2015 | The personal brand creator, Tailor Brands, announced that it raised $1.1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Disruptive. Tailor Brand’s service allows big and small businesses to create unique graphics for their brand, all while maintaining fair and reasonable prices. The company uses Machine Learning technology in order to cut down on the cost of the branding service. Tailor Brands was founded in 2014 by Yali Saar, Tom Lahat, and Nadav Shatz.
News Briefs
February 15, 2015
Tailor Brands Raises $1.1M In Seed Funding
February 15, 2015
TowerJazz And FLIR Partner On Infrared Tech
February 15, 2015 | The Israeli-founded company Tower Semiconductor will partner with FLIR, the sensor systems provider, to bring infrared technology to smartphones, security, industrial and other networks. “When we combine the micro thermal arrays with integrated FLIR wafer level optics, software and MSX technology with TowerJazz process and manufacturing capability, we are able to deliver breakthrough product performance and value,” said FLIR Systems COO Tom Surran. Tower Semiconductor was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Migdal HaEmek, Israel.
February 15, 2015
Harmon.ie To Move US Headquarters To Boston
February 15, 2015 | The Israeli software firm Harmon.ie announced that it will move its US headquarters from Silicon Valley, California to Boston, Massachusetts. The company says that it plans to have at least 15 employees at the new office by the end of the year. Harmon.ie was founded in 2008 by Yaacov Cohen and Roy Sheinfeld.
February 15, 2015
Israel-UK Launch BIRAX, A $15M Research Exchange Partnership
February 15, 2015 | The British Embassy in Israel and the British Council have announced the establishment of a new £10 million ($15 million) initiative to fund research to combat some of the world’s most serious diseases. The program, entitled BIRAX (the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership), will commit over £4 million ($6 million) to seven projects in Britain and Israel, placing funding in Oxford, Cambridge, Nottingham and Edinburgh universities. The other section of funds will go towards those supported by the British Heart Foundation, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Parkinson’s UK and JDRF, an organization that funds research aimed at a cure for Type I diabetes.
February 12, 2015
Blue Sphere Raises $27M From York Capital
February 12, 2015 | Blue Sphere, an Israeli-founded waste-to-energy company, announced that it closed a venture to construct and operate a 5.2MW biogas generation facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. The venture was made possible by the $27 million investment in the venture by York Capital Management. According to the terms of the venture, Blue Sphere will own 25 percent of the project for about $1.25 million in initial payments. Later, the company is expected to pay other installments until the project is completed and is commercially operating. Blue Sphere was founded by Shlomi Peles, and is currently pursuing biogas projects in other US states, including Rhode Island.
February 12, 2015
RedHill Raises $12.5M In ADS Offering
February 12, 2015 | The Israeli biomedical company RedHill Biopharma raised $12.5 million in its initial public offering on NASDAQ. The offering was led by Wells Fargo Securities along with Roth Capital Partners and MLV & Co. The offering price ran at $12.5 per share for each American Depository Share, which represents ten ordinary shares. RedHill specializes in the development of drug delivery methods as well as combinations of existing drug-types. The company’s most popular drug types are for the treatment of Chrohn’s disease and for the nausea associated with chemotherapy.
February 12, 2015
Perion Acquires MakeMeReach For $10-15M
February 12, 2015 | The Israeli company Perion Networks announced that it acquired French company MakeMeReach, a social media advertising developer. The companies declined to report the financial details of the deal, but, according to “Globes,” the acquisition is valued between $10-15 million. The announcement of the acquisition comes just eight months after Perion acquired Grow Mobile for $17 million. Perioin hopes that adding MakeMeReach’s services to its repertoire will help develop the company’s GrowMobile mobile marketing platform. Perion was founded in 2000 and is a publicly listed company.
February 12, 2015
Saguna Raises $5M From SBVK And Akamai Tech
February 12, 2015 | The mobile broadband solutions company Saguna Networks announced that it closed a financing round from SoftBank Ventures Korea and Akamai Technologies, along with existing investors. According to reports in TheMarker, Saguna Networks raised $5 million from the aforementioned investors, funds which it will use to expand its operations in North America, Asia and Europe, and to accelerate development. In addition, Saguna Networks was SoftBank Ventures Korea’s first investment in an Israeli company, as part of the investment, SBVK’s Venture Partner Ben Weiss will join Saguna’s board as an observer. Saguna Networks was founded in 2008 by Lior Fite and Danny Frydman.
February 12, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook To Visit Israel
February 12, 2015 | The CEO of Apple Tim Cook is set to visit Israel next week for the inauguration of the company’s research and development center in Herzliya Pituach. The head of the nearly trillion dollar company, according to recent reports, will meet with former President Shimon Peres and senior figures in Israel’s high-tech industry. Apple’s R&D center in Herzliya will be its first outside of the United States and will house 800 Apple Israel employees, as well as members of the company’s development center, marketing and sales representatives. Apple’s decision to open a R&D center in Israel was based on the acquisitions of Israeli companies like Anobit and PrimeSense.
February 12, 2015
GetTaxi To Launch In Six More British Cities
February 12, 2015 | The Israeli taxi hailing application GetTaxi announced that it will expand its service in six more British cities. Alongside London, in which GetTaxi has been active for three years, the application will now be available in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow within the coming months. In addition, GetTaxi announced that it will release an application for the Android smartwatch, which will make it possible for customers to order taxis using only voice commands. GetTaxi was founded in 2009 by Shahar Waiser and Roi More.
February 12, 2015
Israel Corp. Breaks Off Ties With Qoros
February 12, 2015 | Israel Corporation has announced that it will officially cut ties with the Chinese car manufacturer Qoros and their joint venture Chery Automobile. Israel Corp. invested $650 million over the past seven years to develop sedan cars for sale in China and Europe. Idan Ofer, the controlling shareholder of Israel Corp., will continue investing privately in Qoros. In the first quarter of 2014, Israel Corp. invested $137 million in Qoros. Israel Corp. was founded in 1968 and is currently headed by CEO Nir Gilad.
February 12, 2015
N-trig To Be Acquired By Microsoft For $200M
February 12, 2015 | The Israeli digital pen creation company N-trig was acquired by Microsoft for a reported $200 million. The company develops “styluses” or pens that interact with computer screens and is based out of the Israeli city of Kfar Saba. Though neither company has reported on the real value of the acquisition, Microsoft already owns a stake in N-trig and is responsible for 79 percent of the company’s revenue. N-trig was founded in 1999, but changed its business model in 2011 to focus on digital pens. The company is currently headed by CEO Dan Inbar.
February 12, 2015
Charles Bronfman To Invest In Israeli High-Tech
February 12, 2015 | The Canadian-American Jewish billionaire Charles Bronfman has plans to invest in Israeli high-tech companies. According to reports, the investments will be carried out by Claridge CDPQ Israel, a new investment firm in Tel Aviv that is a partnership between Claridge, the Canadian investment firm founded by Bronfman, and la Caisse. The operations in Israel will be headed by Oded Tall, formerly the Chief Information Officer at Claridge. Though the amount to be invested wasn’t disclosed, it is expected that Bronfman will make a number of investments valued in the tens of million of dollars. In the past Claridge, which is headquartered in Montreal, has invested in Israeli companies like Shai Aggasi’s Better Place and the venture capital firm Viola Group.
February 12, 2015
Evogene To Open R&D Center In St. Louis
February 12, 2015 | Evogene, the Israeli crop engineering company, announced that it will open a research and development center in St. Louis, Missouri. The R&D center will go up in the city’s Bio-Research & Development Growth Park, costing the company an estimated $10 million. Evogene hopes that the move and the new facilities will advance the company’s predictive discovery and validation capabilities, as they pertain the company’s insect control technologies. The project is set to be complete by the end of 2015. Evogene was founded in 2002 by Dr. Hagai Karchi and Dr. Rafi Meissner, and went public on NASDAQ in 2013, raises $74 million through its public offering.
February 11, 2015
Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Awarded 2015 Dan David Prize
February 11, 2015 | The founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales is one of the winners of this year’s Dan David Prize for scientific, cultural and technological accomplishments. Israel’s Dan David Foundation, headquartered at Tel Aviv University, awards six $1 million prizes each year in three categories: past, present and future. Jimmy Wales will be honored for launching the world’s largest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. The awards will be presented in a ceremony in May. The Dan David prize is named after the late philanthropist Dan David.
