September 18, 2014 | The visual search platform Slyce announced the acquisition of mobile commerce company BuyCode. Slyce will pay $5 million in shares, cash and earn-out incentives for the Tel Aviv-based company responsible for creating Pounce, an image recognition-based shopping application. The Pounce app is available for private use as well as a commercial solution for retailers. Slyce hopes that adding Pounce as a service to its retail customers the company will be able to fast track their B2C strategy. Pounce was founded in 2012 by CEO Avital Yachin as a mobile commerce app that allows users to hover over product images with their smartphone camera and, using image recognition software, to immediately purchase the item. The application also supports purchases from multiple online retailers as well as Bitcoin payments.
News Briefs
Slyce Acquires Mobile Commerce Company BuyCode For $5M
Avraham Pharma Raises $4.5M
September 18, 2014 | Israeli pharmaceutical company Avraham Pharma raised $4.5 million from Yissum Research Development, Pontifax, Clal Biotechnology Industries, Integra Holdings and the Technion Research and Development Foundation, among others. Following this current investment round, Yissum and Integra Holdings will hold 46 percent of the shares in Avraham Pharma. According to Avraham Pharma, the company will use the investment to advance a Phase IIb study of Ladostigil, a molecular treatment for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment and early stages of Alzheimer’s. Avraham Pharma was founded in 2010 and to date has raised $18 million for the development of its novel drug therapies for the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative disease.
Mobli Acquires Social Content Monetization Platform Pheed
September 18, 2014 | The Israeli mobile social video and photo sharing platform mobli announced that it acquired Pheed in a cash and stock deal. While the details of the transaction were not disclosed, sources close to the deal estimate that mobli will pay between $10-$20 million for Pheed. Mobli commented that it plans to invest $10 million in remaking Pheed, a mobile social network with five million users pioneering the sector of content monetization, but that it will remain a stand-alone platform. Mobli was founded in 2007 by CEO Moshe Hogeg and currently employs 70 at its headquarters in Israel.
Stratasys Acquires US-Based GrabCAD For Undisclosed Amount
September 18, 2014 | The 3D printing solutions developer Stratasys will acquire the US company GrabCAD in an all-cash transaction. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, including the acquisition amount, the transaction will most likely be completed by the end of September. As part of the transaction, GrabCAD will operate within Stratasys’s Global Products and Technology Group, with company CEO and co-founder Hardi Meybaum continuing to lead GrabCAD within the group. GrabCAD was founded in 2010 and supplies 3D CAD cloud collaboration tools to help engineers complete projects faster. The acquisition will allow Stratasys to provide its customers with collaboration tools and increased accessibility to 3D CAD content. Stratasys was founded in 1989 by S. Scott Crump, merging with Rehovot-based 3D printer producing company Objet in 2012.
NeuroDerm Files For $65M NASDAQ IPO
September 18, 2014 | The Israeli Parkinson’s drug developer NeuroDerm has filed a prospectus to raise up to $65 million in a NASDAQ IPO, at a company value of $200 million, after money. The company, which develops treatments for Parkinson’s disease currently undergoing clinical trials, filed the IPO prospectus confidentially this past April. NeuroDerm’s main shareholders are Capital Point, Chairman and Omrix Biotechnology founder Robert Taub and board members Uwe Wascher and Shmuel Cabilly. Jefferies and Cowen & Company are the joint bookrunners for the deal, with the company trading under the ticker symbol NDRM. NeuroDerm was founded in 2003 and has developed two treatments for Parkinson’s disease currently undergoing clinical trials, including a wearable ‘belt’ treatment for the continued administration of the treatment drug Levodopa.
Cyber Security Company Sentrix Raises $6M
September 18, 2014 | The web protection company Sentrix announced that it raised $6 million in funding from Magma Venture Partners, Cedar Fund, the Chief Scientist of Israel and board members. The company plans to use the funds to redefine its website security to better protect its client websites against rapidly evolving Internet threats and to open an office in Boston, Massachusetts. Sentrix provides cloud-based, content-aware security solutions to websites, protecting them against data breaches and known and unknown cyber attacks. The company’s technology is considered breakthrough in that it is able to protect against known and unknown attacks as well as reducing the complexity and the amount of time its takes to identify a threat. Sentrix was founded by cyber security experts Israel Barak and CTO Nimrod Luria.
Report: Adquant Acquired By Kenshoo For Approx. $12M
September 15, 2014 | According to an exclusive report in “Calcalist,” Israeli Facebook advertising tech company Adquant will be sold to the Israeli online advertising giant Kenshoo for about $12 million. Adquant is the largest Facebook advertising company in Israel, with profits of about $10 million a year. Founded in 2012 by Joe McCormack and Elias Sandler, Adquant is one of Israel’s most impressive social and mobile advertising companies.
NNG To Acquire American Company nfusion For Approx. $10M
September 15, 2014 | iGO navigation technology, owned by automotive technology firm NNG, will acquire the American company nfusion for approximately $10 million. NNG, owned by Israelis David Wiernik and Kobi Halpern, is acquiring nfusion due to its specialization in developing prototypes for interfacing people and machines. While the value of the acquisition was not published, most estimates are that the company will be acquired for about $10 million, according to “Calcalist.” NNG is a company that works out of Budapest, Hungary, employing approximately 700 workers as well as service and sales centers in the United States and Japan. NNG launched its first international product in 2006.
Israeli Startup Fitterli The Winner Of Intel Business Challenge Europe 2014
September 15, 2014 | The young Israeli startup Fitterli, a service that provides an online virtual changing room for shoppers, is the winner of the Intel Business Challenge Europe 2014. The Israeli team beat teams from 12 European countries. The winning teams of the various Intel Business Challenges will be presented with the opportunity to attend the final Intel Global Challenge 2014 at the University of California later in the year. Three Israeli startups made it to the final phase, Augmedics and Pzartech, but Fitterli’s unique method of online clothes shopping won over the judges. Fitterli is run by the four man team that includes CEO Daniel Mankowitz, CTO Aaron Wetzler, CSO Matan Sela and COO Sebastian Derhy.
AlgaTechnologies To Invest $16M In Production Of Natural Astaxanthin
September 15, 2014 | AlgaTechnologies, an Israeli company engineering special species of micro-algae at Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava, announced that it will invest NIS 60 million ($16 million) in order to double the production of natural astaxanthin. The company’s products are used by the cosmetics industry as biological ingredients in a number of beauty products, as well as in supplemental vitamins. AlgaeTechnologies is controlled by Grovepoint, based in Britain, that bought that company in February 2013. According to the company, the investment will take place over three stages throughout 2014-2015. The natural astaxanthin that AlgaTechnologies produces is one of the world’s strongest antioxidants available, with the company exporting the material to more than 30 countries. AlgaTechnologies was founded in 1998 and its product is called AstaPure.
Indiegogo Will Open Office In Israel To Manage Local Projects
September 15, 2014 | The international crowdfunding website Indiegogo has announced that it will open an office in Israel to promote the Israeli projects on its website. Last year when Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin visited the DLD Tel Aviv conference, rumors began to circuit that the crowdfunding giant was planning on opening an office in Israel, and this year VP of international marketing for the company, Liz Wald, will be attending the conference. Indiegogo Israel will be headed by the company’s Israeli representative Oren Simanian. Crowdfunding is the act of donating money to a cause, project or company in order to fulfill one of their goals, with the donors receiving the finish product in return. Indiegogo is just one of many crowdfunding sites out there, and it happens to be one of the most popular.
Cordinus Vascular Robotics To Raise $26.6M
September 15, 2014 | Cordinus Vascular Robotics, a remote heart surgery company, has agreed to sell 10,666,570 in a private placement on Wall Street’s OTC (over-the-counter). The purchase price for each share will be $2.50, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of $26.6 million. Cowen and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company are the placement agents for the transaction. Cordinus Vascular Robotics was founded in 2000 as Navicath by Prof. Rafael Beyar, the general director of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The company mainly operates out of the United States in Massachusetts, but does retain some of its operations in Israel.
InSightec Receives $12.5M From Chinese Investors
September 15, 2014 | Elbit Imaging announced that it received a $12.5 million investment from a Chinese investment group. According to the company, the money is to be directed at Elbit Imaging’s company InSightec, a company treating cancer and other diseases using focused ultrasound therapy to destroy issue in a non-invasive procedure. The Chinese investment group includes Shanghai GEOC, Hengtong Investment Limited Partnership, and Fortune China. Elbit Imaging owns 37.6 percent of InSightec and recently the latter company received a $37.5 million investment from the York Fund, the largest shareholder in Elbit Imaging. Elbit Imaging founded Elbit Medical to allow its medical companies to be combined into a single company, InSightec and Gamida Cell.
Delek Group Sells Shares In Roadchef For £153M
September 15, 2014 | Delek Group, controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, announced that it will sell its entire stake in British company Roadchef, which runs 28 service areas on UK roadways. Delek Group’s stake in Roadchef will be sold to Antin Infrastructure Partners, a European infrastructures fund for 153 million pounds, cash ($248 million), in a deal that is set to close by the end of the month. Delek Group bought 75 percent of Roadchef four years ago from Delek Real Estate at a price of 115 million pounds. According to Delek Group CEO Asaf Bartfield, “The sale of Roadchef continues Delek Group’s strategy of focusing on its energy business.” Delek Group is one of Israel’s largest companies in the energy and infrastructure sectors.
SpaceIL and Space Micro Partner Up For Ship’s Coms Systems
September 15, 2014 | SpaceIL, Israel’s Google Lunar X-Prize team aiming to send a small spaceship to the Moon, announced that the communications system is now under way, due to a new partnership. SpaceIL and Space Micro, a space microelectronics, communications and computing company, announced that they will be joining forces to produce a space-grade S-Band Transponder. The mission transponder will be a tailor-made, mission critical communications device that will enable SpaceIL to communicate with its spacecraft while on its way to the Moon and once it touches down on the lunar surface.
