News Briefs

November 24, 2014 | The Israeli biopharmaceutical company developing a universal influenza vaccine, BiondVax, is considering a Wall Street IPO, according to a “Globes” report. The company currently has a market cap of NIS 42 million (approx. $10.8 million) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which it hopes to maintain in a potential American offering. BiondVax’s universal flu vaccine, to treat a number of prominent flu strains, has already undergone a successful Phase II clinical trial and further trials will take place in 2015. BiondVax was founded in 2003 by its CEO Ron Babecoff.

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November 24, 2014 | Israel Chemicals raised $800 million in a private offering of aggregate principle senior unsecured bonds. The offering is expected to be settled by December 2, 2014, subject to customary closing conditions. According to Israel Chemicals, the company plans to use the funds to repay outstanding short-term loans and debt, providing it with future flexibility for borrowing, acquisitions, and refinancing. Israel Chemicals was founded in 1968 and specializes in the development, manufacture and marketing of fertilizers, metals and other special-purpose chemical products.

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November 24, 2014 | The Israeli agritech company Kaiima will open a firm in the US in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Kaiima specializes in the development of a plant-breeding technology set on increasing agricultural productivity and increasing yields without using genetically modified organisms. According to the company, it will open up an office at the Cambridge Innovation Center in St. Louis, where they are set to hire a number of employees. Kaiima hopes that the move to one of America’s central farming regions, the heart of the Mid-West, will lead to further applications of the company’s technology, as well as continued development. Founded in 2007, Kaiima has already raised $100 million in venture capital.

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November 23, 2014 | The young Israeli startup Atomation announced that it raised $900,000 in a round led by the Explore incubator, Israel’s chief scientist and other private investors. The company is developing a platform to turn any top into a ‘smart’ toy that is able to connect and communicate with other toys and with a smartphone application. Atomation was founded by Guy Weizman and hopes to bring toys into the Internet of Things revolution.

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November 23, 2014 | Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest organization for applied research, will partner with Israeli industrialist Stef Wertheimer to encourage investments in the public sector. In addition, Fraunhofer and Wertheimer have signed a letter of intent to establish a joint communications platform at the Lavon industrial park, which Wertheimer owns. Fraunhofer hopes that by engaging in Israel the entities will be able to launch joint research projects, create an educational transfer and organize scientist exchanges. To date, Fraunhofter maintains 67 institutes and research units, with an annual budget of over €2 billion.

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November 23, 2014 | According to reports, the social trading network eToro is set to receive funding from Ping An, a Chinese insurance group, and Sberbank Bank from Russia. “The Wall Street Journal” reported that the firm expected to raise $15 million, following an earlier funding round from Spark Capital and BRM Capital that raised $31.5 million. Also participating in the $15 million round is SBT Venture as well as existing investors, though the amount has yet to be finalized. With the funds, eToro is expected to expand its operations into China and Russia by providing the online trading platform through Ping An and Sberbank. eToro was founded in 2007 and is headed by CEO and co-founder Yoni Assia.

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November 23, 2014 | Magic Software Enterprises, a global provider of software platforms, announced that French Independent Software Vendor Syslife chose the company to develop a tablet version of its supply chain management software, Adexio. Syslife hopes that Magic Enterprises’ Mobility Solutions can be applied in order to make an on-the-go version of its popular management software that is specifically targeted to the retail industry. The software is already used in 256 sites across France by brands like Krys, Leroy Merlin and Gamm Vert. Magic Software was founded in 1983 by David Assia and Yaki Dunietz and is headquartered in Or Yehuda, Israel.

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November 23, 2014 | As part of the CII Knowledgexpo in India, Israel sent a delegation to the Global Innovation and Technology Alliance Platform. The Israeli delegation includes 12 leading tech companies, focusing on the sectors of cleantech, ICT, biotech and medical devices. This is the second year that Israel will send a delegation, providing delegates with an opportunity to showcase their technologies and engages in B2B meetings with others companies. “The Israeli delegation represents some of the finest technology companies in their fields, with cutting-edge products and services that are a great fit to the Indian market,” said Asia Pacific Department at MATIMOP, Executive Director, Avi Luvton.

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November 23, 2014 | The technological transfer company of Tel Aviv University, Ramot, closed a $23.5 million funding round for a fund called the Momentum Fund. In addition, Ramot signed a strategic agreement with Temasek, a Singaporean investment company, which will be the second named investor after India’s Tata, with both funds committing at least $5 million. Temasek is one of the world’s largest investment companies that manages a portfolio worth $177 billion. The Momentum Fund has also raised funds from SanDisk, as well as private investors in South Africa, the US, Europe and India, to invest in technologies developed at Tel Aviv University, with an emphasis on engineering, the exact sciences, environment, clean tech, pharmaceuticals and more.

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November 23, 2014 | The Israeli crop protection company Adama will reportedly cancel its offering on Wall Street due to low demand from US investors at the offering price of $16-18 per share. Despite meetings with US financial institutions with the goal of successfully floating the company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the company was forced to cancel its offering, in the meantime. The company planned to issue 23.5 million shares at $16-18 per share, hoping to raise $376-423 million, at a valuation of $2.6-2.9 billion, after money. Adama was founded in 1945 and is headed by CEO Chen Lichtenstein.

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November 23, 2014 | The Perrigo Company, which produces over-the-counter generic drugs, filed a prospectus to raise $900 million in a secondary offering on Wall Street. According to the company, the funds will be used to help acquire the Belgian over-the-counter drug firm Omega Pharma for $4.5 billion. Some estimates suggest that Perrigo could raise up to $1 billion on the NYSE if book-running managers J.P. Morgan, Barclays and Bank of America and Merrill Lynch agree to buy options. The company, which is headquartered in Ireland and headed by CEO and President Joseph Papa, has a medical development branch in Israel and is the only non-Israeli company listed on the TA-25.

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November 23, 2014 | The collision-avoidance technology developer Mobileye saw its revenue increase 70 percent, to $34.7 million, in the third financial quarter of 2014. The company’s share price also jumped 5 percent in pre-market trading on Wall Street, giving Mobileye a market cap of over $10 billion. The company also announced a $13.1 million GAAP-based net loss, at $0.09 per share, in the same quarter, compared with $5.5 million in net profits in the corresponding quarter of last year. Mobileye was founded in 1999 by Ziv Aviram and Prof. Amnon Shashua.

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November 20, 2014 | The Israeli crop protection technology provider, Adama is nearing the closure of its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange this week. The company has spent the past week meeting with institutional investors in the United States to close to share price and listing details for the offering. Adama plans to issue 23.5 million shares valued between $16-18 per share, and therefore is set to raise between $376-423 million, at a market cap of $2.6-$2.9 billion, after money. The share price for the Adama offering is low, despite the fact that only six companies control the crop protection market, worth $59 billion. Adama was founded in 1945 and is run by CEO Erez Vigodman.

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November 20, 2014 | The Spanish investment bank Andbank will acquire a controlling interest in Sigma Investment Bank, according to a “Globes” report. Andbank will acquire 60 percent of Sigma’s shares, paying between NIS 25-30 million ($6.4- 7.7 million) for the shares. The remaining 40 percent of the shares, worth approx. NIS 3.5 million ($909,859), will remain under the control of the bank’s founder Prof. Dan Galai and his partners Ezra Attar and Abraham Gilat. Andbank manages over €20 billion (approx. $25 billion) in assets, and has been looking for a breakthrough into the Israeli market for some time.

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November 19, 2014 | SAP Labs Israel, a research & development center for the international software solutions provider, invites startups to take place in the third annual SAP Startup Forum. The SAP Startup Forum is an international program held in Israel and other countries with the goal of strengthening the relationship between SAP and startup companies, which can make use of SAP’s technologies, most notably the cloud analytical platform SAP HANA Cloud. Approximately ten of the most promising startups will be awarded $65,000 in funds and a support package from SAP. SAP is a German mutlinational software company founded in 1972 that has R&D labs in Israel and a variety of other locations.

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