January 28, 2015 | According to a ‘Calcalist‘ report, the cyber security firm Adallom raised $30 million, $5 million of which will go to the company’s founders Roy Reznik, Ami Luttwak and Assaf Rappaport who seek to cash out on some of their shares. EMC, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital participated in the round, as well as Zohar Zisapel. This is the company’s second round of funding secured in year, bringing the company’s total funding to $49.5 million. Founded in 2012, Adallom is a SaaS-based security firm that seeks to protect its users from threats in real time.
News Briefs
January 28, 2015
Report: Adallom Raises $30M
January 28, 2015
COLU Raises $2.5M To Expand Blockchain Tech
January 28, 2015 | The Israeli startup COLU, the provider of simple ways to use blockchain technology, announced that it raised $2.5 million in new funding. Colu allows users to use blockchain technology, intended to verify Bitcoin and other digital currency transactions, to pay for a variety of goods, including cars and concert tickets. Colu is an extension on another startup created by the founders called Colored Coins, which is an open source standard to create digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. Aleph Capital, Spark Captial, BoxGroup and Bitcoin Opportunity Fund participated in the funding round. Colu was founded by Amos Meiri, Mark Smargon and David Ring in 2012.
January 28, 2015
Kaminario Raises $15M, Reaches $143 In Total Funding
January 28, 2015 | Kaminario, one of the leading providers of All-Flash storage solutions, announced that the company completed a $15 million funding round. The announcement closely follows the December 2014 announcement that Kaminario raised $53 million, and is due to high demand by investors. The total amount raised by the company now reaches $143 million. The company, which already has an impressive number and caliber of clients, hopes to continue to grow its client based in 2015 with plans to enter five new areas in Europe. Kaminario was founded in 2008 by Ofir Dubovi, Dani Golan and Moshe Selfin.
January 28, 2015
Apply And Barcelona FC Sign Branded Keyboard Deal
January 28, 2015 | Apply Advanced Mobile Technologies announced that it has developed the official smartphone keyboard app for Barcelona FC. The company signed a 37-month agreement to launch and distribute a branded keyboard with a number of language options for the soccer club. In exchange, the two entities will reportedly share revenue generated by purchased made by users on the app, and from in-app advertisements. In addition, Barcelona will market and promote the app with advertisements on a number of social networks, as well as the club’s website. Apply, which is controlled by Noam Lanir, develops marketing and distribution channels for mobile applications and hopes that the deal with Barcelona will be able to help raise awareness and grow the number of downloads of its branded keyboards.
January 28, 2015
ClickTale Raises $35M
January 28, 2015 | The Israeli company ClickTale, a leading provider of digital customer experience solutions, announced that it raised $35 million in new funding. The investment round was led by the global investment firm KKR, together with Amadeus Capital Partners, Viola Credit and other investors. ClickTale offers a full enterprise-grade SaaS solution that allows customers to actually see how visitors are interacting with their website. Some of ClickTales clients include Fortune 1000 companies like Home Depot, Tele 2, Sears, Adobe and Walmart. ClickTale will reportedly use the new funds to expand its global footprint, including its North American presence, and to accelerate the development of its product. Deloitte recognizes ClickTale as one of the fastest growing companies in EMEA. ClickTale was founded in 2006 by Dr. Tal Schwartz and Arik Yavilevich.
January 28, 2015
Singulariteam Raises $102M For Second Fund
January 28, 2015 | The managing partner at Singulariteam, Moshe Hogeg announced that the investment group will initiate its second fund worth $102 million. The fund will focus on early-stage investments in startups in the sectors of mobile, finance, robotics, and Internet of Things, among others. The fund’s investors include Chinese-based companies Tencent Holding Group and Renren. Singulariteam was founded by Mobli and Yo founder Moshe Hogeg in 2013 with the original mission to focus on investments in new sectors such as robotics and artificial intelligence. The first Singulariteam fund raised $100 million from Kenges Rakishev.
January 28, 2015
Twenty Israeli Companies Chosen To Attend Future Sport Conference
January 28, 2015 | The former English Football Association chairman Lord Triesman and Terry Venables, the former England manager, were part of a panel that chose twenty Israeli companies specializing in sports technologies to take part in a business delegation to the United Kingdom. The twenty startups were selected out of eighty applicants to participate in the 2015 Future Sport conference to be held in March. In taking part in the conference, the sports technology companies will have the opportunity to present their ideas to top names in the sports industry and corporate groups while on a three-day trip to London and Manchester. The six person panel responsible for choosing the startups was headed by Daniel Saunders, chief of staff of the economic and trade department at the Israeli embassy in London.
January 28, 2015
Hadera Paper Sells Stake In Holga-Kimberly For $164M
January 28, 2015 | The Israeli company Hadera Paper will sell nearly 50 percent of its stake in the Holga-Kimberly diaper company to Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark will reportedly pay $164 million (NIS 650 million), including a $10 million fee that will be paid to Hadera Paper to not compete in the diaper market for a period of at least four years. Following the closure of the deal, Holga-Kimberly will be fully owned by the American-based Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
January 28, 2015
MindCET To Hold Second Annual ‘Global EdTech Startup Awards’
January 28, 2015 | The Israel-based center of education technology innovation, MindCET announced that it will launch the 2nd annual “Global EdTech Startup Awards” competition. The competition seeks to promote the EdTech ecosystem and will name “The Most Promising EdTech Startup in 2015”. Last year’s winner was BrightBytes, a US-based company that provides analytics and assessment data tools to the education market. Startups can begin submitting applications to the competition beginning today and through April 2015, with the global finals set to take place in September 2015. Besides MindCET, the competition is supported by EdTech Incubator in London, and Inncubator, among others.
January 27, 2015
Report: Genesis Partners To Raise $125M Round
January 27, 2015 | According to a ‘Calcalist‘ report, the venture capital firm Genesis Partners is raising money for a new investment fund, its fifth, that is set to be worth $125 million. The funding round is still in its primary stages, but the first believes that it will reach its funding goal easily, in light of the success of the Israeli startup market in recent months. Genesis Partners was founded in 1996 and today manages up to $604 million through four different funds. The VC firm was founded by venture capital veterans Eyal Shalev and Dr. Eyal Kishon.
January 27, 2015
BGU Rated 24th On GreenMetric Ranking Of World Universities
January 27, 2015 | Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev advanced to 24th place on the 2014 Universitas Indonesia GreenMetric rating of world universities. The Israeli university was rated 24th out of 360 universities from 62 countries, and received the highest ranking among Israeli universities. This is the fifth year that the ranking has been conducted, comparing universities efforts in campus sustainability and environment-friendly university management.
January 27, 2015
Curiyo Raises Just Under $1M
January 27, 2015 | The content discovery platform Curiyo announced that it raised just under $1 million in new funding. The round was funded by new and existing investors, along with the crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, Morton H. Meyerson, Tom Glocer and Techra Investments. Curiyo’s platform is a tool for publishers that wants to keep readers on their site a bit longer with useful links to relevant information on people, places and more. Curiyo, which was founded in 2011 by the former CEO of Answers.com Bob Rosenschein, is still in the process of testing out its platform with publishers like ‘USA Today’ that uses the extension in its “Life” section.
January 26, 2015
BrainsGate Raises $26M
January 26, 2015 | The Israeli medical device company developing treatments for central nervous system diseases, BrainsGate, announced that it raised $26 million at a company value of $70 million, before money. According to the company, $11 million of the amount has already been invested in the company, while the remainder will be invested in the future, subject to certain conditions. One of the investors, Elron Electronic Industries, which also owns 30 percent of the company, will invest $8 million in two stages. Elron asserts that the leading investor in the round is a global health sector company, along with existing private investor Israel Makov. The company, which develops treatments for strokes using an electrical device that attempts to restore blood flow in the brain, has raised $70 million to date. BrainsGate was founded in 2000.
January 26, 2015
Report: Cellomat Raises $2.25M
January 26, 2015 | The Israeli company developing “ATMs” for smartphones, Cellomat, announced that it raised $2.25 million from Cellebrite, according to a ‘GeekTime’ report. This is Cellomat’s first big financing round, which it will use to expand its service and the company. Founded in 2011, Cellomat offers an service that will fix problems with your smartphone, providing you with a replacement phone in an instant. Instead of waiting in lines at the local branch of your cellular provider, Cellomat allows users to drop off their phone that needs fixing, telling an automated machine what’s wrong with it, and automatically assigns a replacement phone to the user. Cellomat’s goal is to have its automated cellular tellers work around the clock, helping people stay connected, even when technology challenges them.
January 25, 2015
BlueVine Raises $18.5M In Series B Funding
January 25, 2015 | The small business financing network BlueVine announced that it raised $18.5 million in Series B funding. The investment round was led by the newly branded Greylock Partners IL, now known as 83North, as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, Correlation Ventures and other private investors. The company will reportedly use the funds to expand sales and marketing activity, operations, employment opportunities, and to pursue new software integrations. BlueVine allows small business owners to open a white-label bank account and fund their invoices with the click of a button, at attractive return rates. BlueVine was founded in 2013 by Nir Klar and Eyal Lifshitz.
