News Briefs

December 16, 2014 | The social network Facebook chose the game “Sparta: War of Empires” by Plarium as one of the best new games in 2014. The strategic game, which was released in March 2014, has seen impressive success with 12 million registered users around the world. Facebook’s list rated games according to player ratings, levels of growth since release, the ability to attract Facebook users and the general quality of the game. Plarium, an Israeli gaming company, has over 130 million actives users per month and is headquartered in Israel, with over 700 employees in different global locations. 

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December 16, 2014 | The Israeli company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, a developer of stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, announced that it was awarded a grant of $1.1 million from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist. This is already the eighth year that the company has received a grant of support from the Office of the Chief Scientist. According to the company, the funds will be put towards the continued development of NurOwn, the company’s mesenchymal stem cell-based platform for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and the Phase II clinical program in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Office of the Chief Scientist has provided grants worth $4.1 since 2007 to BrainStorm to support the development of NurOwn. 

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December 16, 2014 | The Israeli medical cannabis company One World Cannabis (OWC) is set to be traded over the counter on Wall Street. The company, which specializes in the research and development of cannabis-based treatments for diseases and medical conditions. The announcement comes following a reverse merger with Dynamic Applications, with OWC now owning 53 percent of the merged company. OWC’s cannabis treatments are tailored to specially treat and target a variety of conditions, such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and others. The company has plans to establish a non-profit organization that would work to support patients who are interested or already use medical cannabis. OWC’s scientific team is led by Dr. Alan Shackelford, an expert in the field of medical marijuana.

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December 16, 2014 | Before pursuing its initial public offering (IPO) on Wall Street, Outbrain, the content recommendation platform, is doing some management restructuring. The company announced yesterday (Monday) the appointment of Ronen Koehler as head of staff. Koehler has served as a senior executive at the successful software company Check Point for the past 13 years. The new addition to the Outbrain team follows reports that the company plans to issue an IPO on NASDAQ at a company value of $1 billion. Outbrain was founded in 2006 by Yaron Galai and since has raised $99 million in funding.

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December 16, 2o14 | Ceragon Solutions, the wireless backhaul solutions provider headquartered in Tel Aviv, announced that it will fire 14 percent of its work force. about 155 employees worldwide and 46 in Israel. The recent round of layoffs comes just one year after the company fired 200 employees worldwide and 60 in Israel. Ceragon has repored GAAP losses of $24.5 million and non-GAAP losses of $21.5 million. Ceragon CEO Ira Palti stated: “We are determined to return Ceragon to profitability as quickly as possible and to preserve our financial flexibility.” Ceragon was founded in 1996 under the name ‘Giganet’ and listed on NASDAQ in 2010. 

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December 16, 2014 | The American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer acquired the development and commercialization rights for one of Opko‘s products from the treatment of hormone deficiency. The product was originally developed by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Prolor, which was acquired by Opko in 2013 for $560 million. Opko itself is headed by outgoing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries chairman Dr. Phillip Frost. According to the terms of the agreement Opko will receive an upfront payment of $295 million and an additional $275 million in milestone payments. In return, Pfizer will receive an exclusive license to commercialize the hormone treatment, hGH-CTP, worldwide. Opko was founded by Phillips Frost and operates in the US, Chile, Israel, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain.

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December 16, 2014 | The low-cost carrier easyJet announced that it will begin a new route between Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The new line will begin service on March 30, 2015 and tickets for one direction, taxes included, will run at €45.99 ($57.20). The flights will be operated on three days: Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. easyJet launched its Tel Aviv route in 2009, and now the low-cost air carrier plans to try and become number two in the Israeli market.

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December 16, 2014 | The US investment fund Starboard sold most of its stake in the Israeli company DSP Group, a company that develops chipsets for cordless phones. The announcement comes 18 months after Starboard ousted the chairman of DSP Group. Starboard reportedly sold its 4.8 percent stake in the company, worth $11.3 million, and will no longer be considered a party of interest. Starboard became an investor in DSP Group in 2011 when it purchased shares worth $12 million at a share price of $7.8.

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December 16, 2014 | The Israeli-Singaporean company Trax Image Recognition raised $15 million in a Series D round from previous investors and Singapore’s Broad Peak Master Fund. To date, the company has raised $37 million in funding since the company was founded in 2010. According to the company, the new funding will be used to support expansion in the US and Europe, allowing for new product offerings and partnerships in the sector of market research and consumer space. In addition, the funding will be used to help Trax secure a leading position in the crowdfunding market. In the last six months alone, the company has secured 170 new global clients, including Coca Cola, Nestle and more. Trax is headquartered in Singapore and has research and development centers in Israel, employing over 200 individuals worldwide and specializing in in-store shelf monitoring, analysis and monitoring technology powered by image recognition.

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December 16, 2014 | Alon Holdings Blue Square announced that Limor Ganot, the co-chief executive officer of the company, tendered her resignation. Alon Blue Square is Israel’s largest retail company, the owner of Dor Alon Energy, Mega Supermarkets, Real Estate as well as a number of other companies.

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December 15, 2014 | The Hebrew University, together with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Korea University signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a joint research institute on the topic of cybersecurity, energy, the environment and innovative manufacturing technologies. Hebrew University will extend its expertise in innovative manufacturing technologies and future health technologies, NTU will do so on the topics of energy and the environment and Korea in the area of cybersecurity.   

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December 15, 2014 | The State of Israel donated $10 million in funding to the United Nation’s Global Ebola Response fund. The move was decided upon by Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who stated that the move, “reflects Israel’s commitment to assist African nations dealing with the difficult epidemic.”

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December 15, 2014 | The Israeli mobile advertising network Todacell launched a self-service mobile ad platform to allow app developers and advertisers to launch a campaign in minutes. In addition to quickly launching a campaign, they can monitor them and optimize ads according to geography and audience preferences. “Todaself is the first self-service mobile ad solution to integrate advanced mobile campaign optimization technology into a self-serve solution, providing developers, advertisers and agencies control, convenience, and most important, performance,” said Amir Goldstein, CEO of Todacell, in a statement. Todacell was founded by Moshe Vaknin in 2007.

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December 15, 2014 | The communal office space WeWork is reportedly in the final stages of raising $300-400 million in new private equity funding, according to “Fortune” magazine. The New York-based company previously raised over $157 million in private funding, including a reported $150 million from JP Morgan, Harvard Corp., Benchmark and Mort Zuckerman. WeWork, founded by Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann in 2010, and since has opened shared work spaces in over 20 locations, with reported plans to expand to over 60 locations by this time next year. WeWork has two locations in Tel Aviv and will opening an additional location in Herzliya Pituach in the coming months.

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December 15, 2014 | The advanced payment technology company SafeCharge acquired the Israeli payment solutions company CreditGuard for $8 million in cash. The acquisition, which is supposed to be completed by January 2015, was completed by SafeCharge as part of the company’s mergers and acquisitions from the money raised in the company’s IPO in March on London’s AIM Stock Exchange. CreditGuard was founded in 1998 as a safe payment service provider and white label technology provider. SafeCharge was founded in 2006 by Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi and focuses on safe payment technologies for the gambling industry.

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