News Briefs

December 18, 2014 | According to reports, the international cosmetic and beauty company L’Oréal acquired Benny Landa’s company ColoRight. ColoRight is a startup that develops hair fiber optical reader technology, which L’Oréal will use for a long-term research program. “Through this acquisition, L’Oréal reinforces its historic leadership in hair research,” noted the group. Following the acquisition, ColoRight will maintain its offices in Tel Aviv and will continue to be managed CEO Sagiv Lustig, but the company will now become a part of L’Oréal’s international Research and Innovation network. ColoRight was founded in 2002 and employs 50 in Israel.

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December 18, 2014 | The American wireless provider Verizon Wireless announced the finalists for their 2014 Powerful Answers Award, an award granted to startups in four categories: education, health care, sustainability and transportation. Israeli startups were chosen as finalists in almost every category: the touch-free smartphone developers Sesame Enable in the education category, TalkItt in the healthcare category and HopOn in the transportation category. The winners of competition will be announced on January 27, 2015 at a live event in New York City. Out of the twelve finalists, winners will be chosen in each category and will receive $1 million. The remaining eight winners will receive $250,000, a total of $6 million in total funding from Verizon Wireless.

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December 18, 2014 | The mHealth Israel Conference announced the winner of its mobile health startup contest – Medivizor. The platform helps those with chronic or serious illness find reliable medical information and won an equity funding round from crowdfunded venture capital firm OurCrowd. Second place was awarded to mPharma, a startup that provides real time data on physician’s prescriptions and patient drug consumption for government and pharmaceutical companies in Africa. Other finalists included: Breezometer, TalkItt, Lifegraph, Myndlift, Sweetch, and Intendu. mHealth is a community of Israeli digital health and IT entrepreneurs.

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December 18, 2014 | OurCrowd, the crowdfunding equity platform for startups and investors, was named the top equity crowdfunding platform in KPMG‘s, “The 50 Best Fintech Innovators Report.” OurCrowd was ranked 22nd in a report that analyzed the rapidly evolving fintech (financial technology) industry worldwide. There were four other equity crowdfunding platforms listed on the list: CircleUp, AngelList, Crowdcube, and Seedrs, though OurCrowd was rated number one. Since it launched less than two years ago, OurCrowd has raised over $90 million for 55 different portfolio companies. “We are very proud of our ranking on the KPMG Best Fintech Innovators list,” said OurCrowd CEO, Jon Medved. “Our platform is indeed breaking new ground by raising significant sums of capital for leading companies and harnessing the power of the crowd to build them.”

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December 18, 2014 | The winners of the SevenVentures Pitch Day in Israel, ProSiebenSat.1‘s venture capital pitch day for startups, were announced. EatWith, the community market place offering dining experiences in homes around the world, was the first place winner was awarded €4 million ($4,931,100) in money towards advertising and promotion on ProSieben’s communication networks. The second place winner was MediSafe, a medication management solution, winning €2 million in advertisements and TinyTap, the platform that turns moments into games, took third place, winning €1 million in advertising. The winners were selected by a high-caliber jury of judges, including ProSiebenSat.1 Media COO Mr. Hari Krishnan, Micha Kaufmann, Yahal Zilka, David Chissick, Liat Aaronson, Yuval Shahar and Dr. Christian Wegner. SevenVentures is the venture capital arm of ProSiebenSat.1, Europe and Germany’s largest television network.

 

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December 17, 2014 | The German multinational software and enterprise software company SAP hosted an event for dozens of Israel startups and key individuals in Israeli innovation to launch the SAP Startup Focus Program. The event was hosted by SAP’s innovation lab in Israel, which is responsible for engaging in strategic partnerships in the fields of innovation and integrated solutions, with the purpose of exposing SAP’s global startup program to local Israeli startups. THe startups that participated in the event included: Neura, Wiseeye, MedAware, BrandShield, Evoz, Mypermissions, Knowmail, Jethrodata, Fieldbit, DNA-7 and others. SAP is headquartered in Germany, but has its R&D and innovation labs in Israel and in other locations around the globe.

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December 17, 2014 | The Israeli company ShopCloud announced the launch of a new application called SpaceTag, an app that lets users leave their own personal mark through virtual posts, saved according to location. A user’s posts are then displayed publicly over the platform where other users can view their comments and even message them to find out more about a certain location. The goal of the virtual posts is to eventually create an indoor navigation system the world over. ShopCloud itself is an Israeli company with the goal of enhancing users’ shopping experience through cutting edge technology, founded in 2012. 

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December 17, 2014 | The web and mobile application for communication with therapists, Talkspace, announced that it raised $1 million from Metamorphic Ventures. The funding will close out the company’s seed round and bring their total funding amount to $3.5 million. Along with announcing the financing round, Talkspace released an Android version of their therapy application, which is now available for download on Google Play. Talkspace provides access to therapy from the licensed therapist via an application, text message and video chat. Currently, Talkspace has about 200 therapists working for the platform and about 70,000 users since its launch. According to the company, the new finances will go towards building partnerships within the enterprise space, offering CFOs the chance to set their employees up with therapy services on an account-wide basis. Talkspace was founded by Israelis Roni and Oren Frank and is based in the United States.

 

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December 17, 2014 | The TerraLab incubator hosted a delegation of 20 economic attaches from 12 European Union countries to present the startups affiliated with the incubator and venture capital firm. The goal of the visit to create partnerships with EU countries and companies and native Israeli startups, in order to up their global impact. The event was led by Terra Venture Capital managing partner Dr. Astorre Modena, while the European delegation was led by the head of the European Commission Israeli trade delegation Luigi Pratolongo. As part of the event, the delegation was introduced to four of TerraLab’s startups including: sPARK, Phoebus Energy, SmarTap and Fieldin. TerraLab Ventures is venture capital firm based in Israel.

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December 17, 2014 | The multinational software and services company Amdocs will launch an electronic wallet to allow for payment by cellphone. After the company’s recent acquisition of the Singaporean company Utiba, it will release its new service, selecting the Bank of India and communications provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, providing them with electronic payment services over the phone. Though the value of the contact was not disclosed, Amdocs is hoping to add more customers to its electronic payment arsenal. Amdocs is not the first to pursue development in this growing sector, with Apple recently releasing its Apple Pay services and other major technological companies are set to follow. Amdocs was founded by Boaz Dotan in 1982 and since has grown into a multi-national company.

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December 17, 2015 | Israel Chemicals is set to invest $452 million for 50 percent ownership in a joint venture that will operate a phosphate business in China. In addition, Israel Chemicals will assume a 15 percent strategic Yunnan Yuntianhua, one of the leading producers of phosphate rock in Asia, traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange at a market cap of $1.8 billion. As part of the joint venture, a mine will be constructed that produces 2.5 million tons of phosphate rock annually for the next 30 years in order to primarily serve Chinese and Asian markets. The strategic alliance with Yunnan Yuntianhua will also include a joint research and development platform in the Yunnan province to develop new products and process improvement. Israel Chemicals is headquartered in Tel Aviv Israel and is a multinational manufacturer of fertilizers, metals and other special chemical products.

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December 17, 2014 | The Israeli cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are the first cities outside of the United States to be awarded with grants from Bloomberg Philanthropy, Michael Bloomberg’s charitable giving fund. They will receive grants as part of the Expanded Innovation Teams Program, a program that funds municipalities to improve residents’ access to data and open innovation to solve urban problems. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, will be awarded with a $850,000 grant while Tel Aviv will be awarded with a $650,000 grant. Jerusalem is set to focus its grant money on minimizing poverty in the city as well as economic development, while Tel Aviv’s grant will focus on illegal immigration and the cost of living. The cities will be asked to hire innovation teams that will help address these challenges over a three-year period. The two Israeli cities join 12 other US counterparts in the program, set to launch in Spring 2015. 

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December 17, 2014 | The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG purchased a 12.8 percent stake in the Israeli biopharmaceutical company BioLineRX as part of a multi-year collaboration deal. According to the agreement, Novartis will evaluate new projects presented for development and future licensing, as well as invest $10 million in BioLineRX. Novartis acquired an additional million American depository shares of BioLineRX, a company that will provide the Swiss biopharma company with access to Israeli research institutions, hospitals and biotech startup companies as part of the agreement. Novartis will have an exclusive right of first negotiation to license from BioLineRx each project.BioLineRX was founded in 2003 in Jerusalem and is publicly traded on the TASE and NASDAQ.

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December 16, 2014 | Now its official: WeWork, the popular communal work space for startups, raised $335 million in its latest funding round, at a company valuation of nearly $5 billion. This is the company’s second funding round following an angel round in January 2012 in which it raised $6.85 million. In addition, according to reports in the “Wall Street Journal,” the company plans a public offering within the next two to three years. With locations all over the world, and in Israel in Tel Aviv and soon to be in Herzliya Pituach, WeWork is a shared work space that rents out offices and desks to entrepreneurs and startups looking for valuable work space in some of the world’s largest metropolises. The company was founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey.

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December 16, 2014 | The US affiliate of the Israeli solar energy company Energiya announced that it won a $30 million contract to construct a solar field in southeast Georgia. This will be the first utility-level solar field in the US state, extending 79 acres in Glynn County. A power purchase agreement has been signed with Georgia Power, which has promised 20 years of power when the solar field is completed by the end of 2015. According to reports by Energiya’s US CEO David M. Herskovits, the project is only one of a number of solar energy projects set to launch in the southeastern US. Energiya was founded in 2006 by Israeli-American and company CEO Yosef Abramowitz.

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