News Briefs

November 27, 2014 | The peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling used cars, Beepi, will hold an online Black Friday car sale on their site. Beginning at midnight on November 28th, Beepi will provide its customers with exclusive deals to buy and sell used cars online. The buyers of used cars will receive a $1,000 discount and an additional 10 percent off all purchases made with Bitcoin. In addition, sellers will receive a $500 bonus for selling their cars on the site over the weekend, and both buyers and sellers will receive $50 gas cards, along with other perks. Beepi was founded by CEO Ale Resnik and COO Owen Savir.

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November 27, 2014 | The British Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, visited Israel in order to enhance cooperation between Israel and UK in the sectors of digital government and cyber security. As part of his visit, Maude met with Israeli officials, including Minister of Finance Yair Lapid as well as head of the Israeli National Cyber Security Bureau, Dr. Eviatar Matania. Maude also met with Israeli startups in the cyber security sector, as well as companies pursuing digital solutions and open government platforms. Besides considering possible means of collaboration, Maude visited Israel to take stock of £1.2 million joint cyber research fund established between the two countries.

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November 26, 2014 | The platform that connects chefs with eager diners, Feastly, announced that it raised $1.25 million in seed funding from the Westly Group. Some refer to the company as an ‘Airbnb for dinner,’ because chefs offer up potential meals and cooking classes for those who enjoy the home-cooking experience. Feastly was launched last year and is already providing culinary services in cities across the US, from Washington D.C., New York to Chicago and San Francisco. The startup is also a cleantech investor in companies like Good Eggs and Revolution Foods. Feastly was founded by Tel Aviv University graduate Noah Karesh.

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November26, 2014 | The community management startup Mobilize announced that it raised $1.2 million in funding in a round led by Hillsven Capital. UpWest Labs and Eddy Shalev also participated in the round. Mobilize is a work communications tool for an external network, allowing managers to send updates, invites and other important messages to members. Currently, Uber uses the service to communicate with some of its drivers, along with the Thiel Fellowship. The program is still in a closed beta and about 50 companies are helping Mobilize test out the product before it becomes available to the public at the beginning of next year. Mobilize was founded by Sharon Savariego and Arthur Vainer and has offices in San Francisco and Tel Aviv.

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November 26, 2014 | The ridesharing application Uber, which has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, will reportedly close a funding round that will value the company between $35-40 billion. T. Rowe Price Group is in discussions to become an investor in the company and existing investor Fidelity Investments is also set to be contributing to the funding round. Reports suggest that Uber will raised up to $1 billion in the said funding round, an amount that will up the company value from its June valuation of $17 billion. Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett Camp and CEO Travis Kalanick and now has car booking services in over 220 cities worldwide.

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November 26, 2014 | The Israeli that has developed 3D holograms for medical treatment, RealView, announced that it raised $10 million. The funding round was led by the Chinese fund LongTec, along with prior investors and new private investors. In addition, LongTec founder and managing partner Peggy Wang will join the company’s board of directors. RealView’s technology allows for doctors to ‘float’ a 3D holographic image in front of their eyes, previewing the anatomy of the organ, based on information from other imaging devices. RealView was founded in 2008 by CEO Aviad Kaufman, President and VP of R&D Shaul Gelman and scientific director Dr. Carmel Rotschild.

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November 26, 2014 | The venture capital arm of Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun Pharma, the Hermed Fund, is seeking out a strategic investment partner in Israel and are considering investments in Israeli companies. The pharmaceutical daughter company of Chinese giant Fosun, worth approx. $8 billion, acquired Israeli startup Alma Lasers for $240 million and made investments in Check-Cap and Tyto Care. In addition, the Hermed Fund is considering partnering with a local fund or investment entity that will act as its representative within Israel. Fosun focuses the majority of its efforts on developing generic drugs, biosimilars, diagnosis mechanisms and health services.

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November 26, 2014 | The Israeli digital insight and website traffic analysis company SimilarWeb announced that they raised $15 million in Series D funding. The report comes just nine months after the growing company, with 95 employees, raised $18 million in their Series C round. The latest funding round was led by Naspers and Lord David Alliance, bringing SimilarWeb’s total financing to $40 million since its founding 2009 by CEO Or Offer and Nir Cohen. The company hopes to use the funds to increase the pace of its global expansion, which includes growing their mobile capabilities and acquiring more mobile-geared companies.

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November 26, 2014 | The Israeli knee and back pain therapy company, AposTherapy, announced that it raised $15 million in a recent funding round, at a $100 million company valuation, after money. Existing investors Pitango Venture Capital, Aviv Venture Capital and Invus participated in the funding round, along with private US investors, including David Levy from PricewaterhouseCoopers, among others. To date, AposTherapy has raised $30 million, with the company marketing its shoe knee and back pain therapies in Israel, the UK, US, Singapore and other countries. AposTherapy was founded in 2004 by Dr. Amit Mor and Dr. Avi Elbaz and currently treats 50,000 patients worldwide.

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November 25, 2014 | The Airbnb of hotel rooms, Roomer, announced that it raised $5 million in a Series A financing round led by Disruptive. Roomer’s platform hopes to maximize on the over 81 million hotel room cancellations in the US alone by letting users sell their unwanted hotel room at a discounted price, saving them hefty cancellation fees. Fifteen percent of each hotel room re-sale goes to Roomer and the company claims that the average discount on a room near 37 percent for its users. The company, founded by Gon Ben-David and Ben Froumine, hopes to use the funds will help it build up supply and demand for its service and expand marketing.

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November 25, 2014 | The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that beginning on January 1, 2015, all research that receives funding from the organization will be required to submit to open access journals. Over a period of two years, some aspects of this new requirement can be waived, however by 2017, all research must be made open from the start of funding. In addition, all published articles by Gates Foundation-supported researchers must have a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, which allows all content to be reproduced, even commercially. A number of Israeli researchers and startups have received support from the Gates Foundation, such as the Paulee CleanTec and Hervana, and the latest decision may impact their partnership.

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November 25, 2014 | According to a report by “Calcalist,” the founder of the popular Chinese search engine Baidu, Robin Li, will arrive in Israel after being invited by Minister of the Economy, Naftali Bennett. Bennett met with Li during his visit in China and invited him to visit Israel to discuss cooperation with local Israeli companies.

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November 25, 2014 | According to a “Globes” report, one of China’s largest social investment funds Tsing Capital will make at least one investment in an Israeli cleantech company by the end of the year. “Globes” reports that the investment is set to amount to millions of dollars in an Israeli startup, according to statements made by the founding managing partner of Tsing Capital, Don Ye, at a conference in Haifa. Ye also reported that by next year, for the first time in history, China’s total investment in other countries would exceed the amount invested in China by other countries. Ye believed that cleantech is an up-and-coming sector for Chinese investment in Israel.

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November 25, 2014 | The Israeli company Cimatron reports that it was acquired by the global integrated solutions 3D printing company 3D Systems for $97 million. The American company, based in South Carolina, acquired Cimatron for $8.97 a share, a price lower than the peak share prices Cimatron saw earlier in the year. 3D Systems is traded at a $3.9 billion market cap on the New York Stock Exchange, and according to the company’s announcement, the acquisition “will bolster the latter’s [3d System’s] standing in the rapidly growing design segment.” Cimatron is a product design software developer headed by CEO and President Danny Haran. 3D Systems is managed by former Israeli, CEO and President Avi Reichental.

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November 25, 2014 | The Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative will hold its 6th International Green Energy Conference on December 7-9 in Eilat, Israel. In addition to a number of panels on green energy topics, the conference will inaugurate the EE Off Grid Hub, a new technology hub that focuses on the development of products and technologies to provide energy, water and agriculture needs for populations in developing countries. The Timna Solar Park in Southern Israel will also be discussed, which is expected to produce up to 60 megawatts of solar power, based on PV tracking systems. The Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative was established with a mission to develop sustainable energy in Israel.

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