February 4, 2015 | The American wireless communications provider Verizon Wireless has announced the winners of its ‘Powerful Answers Awards.’ In the education category, Israeli startup Sesame Enable was selected as the winner for developing touch-free smartphone and tablet technology for the disabled, winning an award of $1 million. Other Israeli startups in the competition included Talkitt in the healthcare category, winning a $250,000 prize, and HopOn, a public transportation app, that also won a $250,000 prize. Verizon Wireless chose the winning technologies according to their potential to “change the world.”
News Briefs
February 04, 2015
Sesame Enable Wins $1M In Verizon Wireless Competition
February 04, 2015
Report: Blumberg Raises $200M For Fourth Fund
February 4, 2015 | The venture capital firm Blumberg Capital, a firm that invests at least half of its wealth in Israel, will raise money for its forth fund totaling $200 million, according to a “Calcalist” report. “Calcalist” reports that it was able to ascertain the information from documents Blumberg Capital filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the report, David Blumberg and his firm have received guarantees of investments totaling $80-90 million from a number of investors, money that within the coming months, the firm is expected to begin investing. The new fund will be Blumberg’s largest to date, with the firm raising a $150 million fund in 2013. The early-stage venture capital investment firm was founded in 1991 and is based out of San Francisco, California.
February 04, 2015
Vexigo To Be Acquired By MTS For Up To $20M
February 4, 2015 | MTS, a global provider of telecommunications services and solutions, announced that it will acquire Israeli company Vexigo for up to $20 million. Vexigo specializes in video advertising and, as part of the deal, will become a subsidiary of MTS. The acquisition is expected to be completed by April 2015. Vexigo was founded in 2010 by CEO Koby Ram and VP of R&D Amit Reshef.
February 04, 2015
IVC: Private Equity Investment Up 10 Percent In 2014
February 4, 2015 | According to the latest IVC-GKH report, private equity performance rose 10 percent in 2014 in comparison to the previous year. The report found that 45 Israeli and foreign private equity investors were involved in 69 transactions that totaled $2.18 billion. That is almost 10 percent more than the $1.98 million invested in 71 deals in 2013, according to the firm. In addition, private equity fund involvement in Israeli technology companies widened in 2014 as investments reached $1.13 billion, compared with $596 million in 2013, a jump of nearly 90 percent. The IVC-Online Database maintains data on 33 active Israeli private equity management companies with a total of $7.23 billion under management.
February 04, 2015
Israel, Nova Scotia Establish R&D Program
February 4, 2015 | Nova Scotia, Canada and Israeli representatives have established a new program to facilitate research and development partnerships between the two entities. The programs hopes to build stronger innovation and economic ties between Israel and Nova Scotia, bringing together the Office of the Chief Scientist in the Ministry of the Economy and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The partnership was made possible by the Israeli Industry Center for R&D (MATIMOP), the Canada-Israeli Industrial Research Development Foundation (CIIRDF) and the Israeli Embassy in Canada. The program will be called the Nova Scotia-Israel Innovation Program and hopes to deliver R&D expertise and the experience and resources of both entities with the goal of widening economic cooperation.
February 03, 2015
Pley Raises $10M In Series B Funding
February 3, 2015 | The Israeli-founded company that allows you to rent and pitch new Lego design ideas Pley announced that it raised $10 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Sozo Ventures, Floodgate, Correlation Ventures, Maven Ventures and Allegro Venture Partners. According to company CEO and founder Ranan Lachman, the funds will be used to extend Pley’s operations in Europe and Asia. Pley provides a LEGO rental service, through which parents can rent special LEGO sets for their kids to play with, very much like Netflix for movies. In addition, through Pley World, users can design their own LEGO sets, including new kinds of pieces that, if they are appreciated enough by the user community, will be shipped out as a product to interested Pley users. Pley was founded in April 2013 by Lachman and Elina Furman.
February 03, 2015
Music Messenger Set To Raise $30M
February 3, 2015 | The Israeli music sharing application Music Messenger announced that it is about to complete a $30 million funding round. According to “Globes,” the investment will give the young startup Music Messenger a company value of nearly $100 million. Investors in the current round include impressive music names like Nicki Minaj, Tiesto, will.i.am, and Coldplay’s David Holmes, among others. Music Messenger allows users to share their favorite songs with their friends, which can then be remembered and ‘stored’ for future listening into the company’s platform, based on sources like YouTube, SoundCloud and others. Music Messenger was founded in 2014 by Shai Arzan, David Strauss, Oded Kobo and Uzi Refaeli.
February 03, 2015
TechFinancials To Issue IPO On London’s AIM
February 3, 2015 | The binary options trading platform TechFinancials announced that it will pursue an initial public offering (IPO) on London’s AIM Stock Exchange next week. “Forex Magnates” reports that, if it goes through, this will be the first ever offering made by a binary options trading company on the AIM. TechFinanicals did not provide details regarding the amount it seeks to raise or its company’s valuation. Registered in the Virgin Islands and licensed in Cyprus, TechFinancials employs about one hundred employees in Cyprus and Israel. The company was founded in 2008 by co-CEOs Eyal Rosenblum and Asaf Lahav.
February 03, 2015
PhotoMedex Sells LCA-Vision For $40M
February 3, 2015 | The global skin health company PhotoMedex announced that it will sell the LCA-Vision subsidiary to Vision Acquisition for $40 million in cash. Just a year ago, PhotoMedex acquired LCA-Vision for about $106 million, which will give the company net proceeds of $35.3 million. PhotoMedex reportedly plans to use the funds to pay off some of its credit and loans. LCA-Vision itself operates 59 LasikPlus vision centers in the United States. PhotoMedex is headed by CEO Dolev Rafaeli.
February 03, 2015
Intel Acquires Lantiq For Undisclosed Amount
February 3, 2015 | Intel announced that it will acquire German company Lantiq, which, like Intel, has a research and development center in Israel and operates in the Internet of Things sector. Though the financial details of the acquisition haven’t been released, it is believed that Lantiq was acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars. The one hundred or so Lantiq employees in Israel will reportedly join Intel’s Israeli R&D center once the deal is completed. Lantiq is involved in wireless communications solutions and established its presence in Israel after acquiring Israeli company Metalink in 2010. In Israel alone, Intel employs nearly 10,000, making it one of the largest multinational R&D centers in the country.
February 03, 2015
Tracx Raises $18M In Series C Funding
February 3, 2015 | The unified social enterprise platform provider Tracx announced that it raised $18 million in Series C funding. The round was lead by Edison Partners, which invested $10 million of the total sum, together with existing investors Flybridge Capital, Mousse Partners, Klingenstein, and Fields & Co. Tracx seeks to aid businesses by integrating all of their social media platforms and statistics into one, user-friendly platform. Over 400 well-known brands in the consumer goods, retail, automotive, financial services, healthcare and consumer electronics sector utilize Tracx to provide insight into social media platforms, analytics, engagement and monetization policies. Tracx was founded in 2008 by Yaniv Ben-Arie, Noam Singer, Ofer Fort, Niv Singer and Asaf Shtekler.
February 03, 2015
Technion And Microsoft Launch IoT Lab
February 3, 2015 | The Technion Israel Institute of Technology and Microsoft’s Israel R&D center will partner up to provide computer science students with the tools they need to develop Internet of Things technologies. As increasing aspects of our lives are connected to the Internet, the Technion and Microsoft want to encourage students to create, giving them the opportunity to do so in a lab that is designed like a startup’s office. Together with Technion professors, Microsoft executives will provide mentoring advice to students interested in innovating Internet of Things technologies. This is just one of the forms of collaboration between Microsoft and one of Israel’s leading scientific institutions, the Technion.
February 03, 2015
Frutarom Acquires Two Companies For Over $10M
February 3, 2015 | The Israeli company specializing in flavors and special ingredients, Frutarom, announced that it acquired two companies for over $10 million. Frutarom acquired the Spanish company Ingrenat (Ingredientes Naturales Seleccionados) for apporoximately $8 million, plus up to $1.1 million according to Frutarom’s Ingrenat’s performance. Ingrenat specializes in the research and development, production, and sales and marketing of natural extracts from plants which include, among others, paprika rosemary, bixin, alfalfa and more which deliver taste, color, and antioxidant activity solutions for the food industry. Frutarom also acquired FoodBlenders for approximately $2.4 million, plus an additional $600,000 depending on the company’s performance. Frutarom was founded in 1933 by Yehuda Araten and Maurice Gerzon and today is headed by CEO and President Ori Yehudai.
February 02, 2015
Israel Rated Fifth Most Innovative On Bloomberg Global Index
February 2, 2015 | According to the 2015 Bloomberg Global Innovation Index, Israel is the world’s fifth most innovative country. South Korea was rated first on the list, followed by Japan, Germany and Finland. Israel was followed by none other than the United States, which was rated number six on the list. The index is comprised of sub-rankings including research and development, in which Israel ranked second, manufacturing, high tech companies, post-secondary education, research personnel and patents. The only country better than Israel in R&D was Korea, rated according to percentage of the country’s GDP.
February 02, 2015
Meta Raises $23M
February 2, 2015 | Meta, the creators of augmented reality goggles, announced that it raised $23 million in new funding. Investors include Li Ka Shing’s Horizon Ventures, Tim Draper, BOE Optoelectronics, Garry Tan and Alexis Ohanian of Y-Combinator. Danhua Capital, Commodore Partners and Vegas Tech Fund also participated in the round. In 2013, Meta raised nearly $200,000 on a crowdfunded Kickstarter campaign, but since the company has grown impressively, working with companies like Salesforce and SimX, according to the company. Meta was founded in 2012 by Raymond Lo, Ben Sand and Meron Gribetz and is based out of California.
