September 15, 2014 | At this year’s User Experience Awards (UXAwards) in San Fransisco, Israeli Tal Florentin, CEO of UX Vision, was voted the People’s Choice winner. This year, 125 projects were chosen to participate in the awards ceremony, including those from Google, eBay, Priceline and many more companies. The judges were designers and members of management at large, industry-shaping companies like Facebook, Uber and Amazon. Tal Florentin, an expert in user experience and one of the pioneers of the field in Israel, designed and programmed the site MaVeZe.co.il for which he won the People’s Choice award at the 2014 UXAwards. Florentin is the CEO of UX Vision, a company defining and designing user experiences for over 120 systems, products, applications and websites, including Microsoft and the Israeli Police.
News Briefs
Israeli Tal Florentin Wins People’s Choice At UXAwards
MakerBot Launches In Israel
September 15, 2014 | The maker of 3D printers MakerBot officially launched in Israel today (Monday), announcing that it will sell six of its products here. In a press conference, Israeli IT services company Systematics announced that MakerBot models Replicator 2, Replicator 2X, Replicator, Replicator Z18, Replicator Mini and the MakerBot Digitizer will be offered to Israeli consumers, both private and business oriented. MakerBot printers are so revolutionary within the field because of their self-assemblage (meant to be like IKEA for those with basic technical knowledge) and because they are the first desktop 3D printers that can be used in the home. MakerBot was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer and Zach “Hoeken” Smith.
China’s Shenyang Yuanda To Acquire AutoAgronom For $20M
September 15, 2014 | Israeli smart irrigation tech company AutoAgronom is set to be acquired by Chinese company Shenyang Yuanda for $20 million. The news comes after AutoAgronom, a young company with offices in Israel and the US, saw impressive results using the company’s patented technology, Root Sense, and three months after the two companies signed a joint venture agreement. Using AutoAgronoms systems, farmers were able to increase yields and resource efficiency dramatically. The acquisition is important for the Chinese market that struggles with issues of food security. To date, the company’s technology has been successful with over 70 different types of crops in 13 different countries. AutoAgronom is a MassChallenge 2014 finalist and a Clean Tech Open winner in Israel.
Top Image Systems Opens Australian Subsidiary
September 15, 2014 | The Israeli company Top Image Systems (TIS) will launch its company in Australia. TIS specializes in providing Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Business Process Management (BPM) and is a Mobile Imaging Platform provider. The company stated that the expansion is due to an increasing demand for TIS products and services in the region. TIS has partnered with a local Australian company, ASI, for over decade to provide its solutions in Australia. The new subsidiary will be opened in partnership with ASI. TIS was founded in 1991 by Itzhak Nakar and is publicly traded on NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Len Blavatnik Invests Millions In Yotpo
September 15, 2014 | The marketing platform for e-commerce sites Yotpo announced that it has raised several million dollars from US billionaire Len Blavatnik. The investment was led by ClalTech, Clal Industries high-tech investment firm, which is also a platform for Blavatnik’s Access Industries to invest in Israeli technology. Yotpo is ClalTech’s first investment in Israel since it was recently founded. Earlier in the year, Yotpo closed an $11 million funding round led by Blumberg Capital as well as other previous investors, the company raising $13 million total before the investment by Blavatnik. Yotpo was founded in 2012 by CEO Tomer Tagrin and CTO Omri Cohen. It offers a solution for publishing user reviews on retail websites to increase sales.
Israel Corp To Sell 5 Percent Of Shares In Israel Chemicals For Approx. $460M
September 15, 2014 | Israel Corporation, Israel’s largest holding company, will sell five percent of its shares in Israel Chemicals for nearly $460 million. Israel Corp. will sell 62 million Israel Chemicals shares and the underwriters of the flotation will be presented with an option to sell an additional 6.2 million shares. Israel Chemicals shares are set to begin trading this month on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ICL. Following the sale, for which Morgan Stanley and Barclays are chief underwriters, Israel Corp’s stake in Israel Chemicals will fall to 47 percent. Israel Corp. was founded in 1968 and is headed by Chairman Idan Ofer and CEO Nir Gilad.
Ministry Of Economy, Science Unveil Innovation And Entrepreneurship Reform
September 15, 2014 | The Israeli Ministries of Science and Economy unveiled a reform last week geared towards facilitating state support for entrepreneurship and innovation. The new reform will establish a national authority for technological innovation under the Office of the Chief Scientist, giving Chief Scientist Avi Hasson a wider range of tools to provide quick aid to companies and entrepreneurs. In addition, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett is promoting legislation that would let angel investors write off (for tax purposes) 100 percent of the money they put into young companies.
Report: Ericsson To Acquire Fabrix Systems For $95M
September 14, 2014 | According to a “Globes” report, the Swedish technology giant Ericsson will acquire the Israeli cloud storage company Fabrix Systems for $95 million. Ericsson stated that it will acquire the company in order to secure its position in the network delivery for video applications, media storage and TV. Ericsson has two products, Ericsson MediaFirst and Ericsson Mediaroom, that are set to benefit from the sale, allowing DVR to be moved to cloud storage and delivery of all kinds of video to the TV Anywhere devices. Fabrix was founded in 2006 by CEO Ram Ben-Yakir and Nir Drang. The company is based in Ra’anana and has 93 employees in Israel and about 10 in the US.
Teva Finds Double Doses Of Copaxone Minimizes Side Effects For MS Patients
September 14, 2014 | Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries published the results of a study that showed that its multiple sclerosis treatment Copaxone has less side effects with 40mg doses three days a week than 20mg doses once a day. According to Teva’s President of Global R&D and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Michael Hayden, “We’re pleased these results provide supportive data that fewer injections with three-times-a-week Copaxone 40 mg resulted in half as many reported IRAEs (injection-related adverse side effects) compared to the number of IRAEs with the Copaxone 20 mg once-daily dosing regimen.” Teva was founded in 1901 by Eli Hurvitz and is based in Petah Tikvah, Israel.
CyberArk To File For NASDAQ IPO, Hopes To Raise Up To $80.4M
September 14, 2014 | The Israeli information security company CyberArk is able to file for a NASDAQ IPO. According to its refined prospectus, CyberArk plans to issue 5.36 million shares at $13-15 a share, hoping to raise $69.7-80.4 million at a company value of $384-444 million after money. The IPO is currently expected during the week of September 22, and the company will not include an offer of sale. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Barclay’s Capital are the chief underwriters of the IPO, together with William Blair and Nomura and Oppenheimer. CyberArk specializes in monitoring and countering the threat of privileged accounts in organizational systems, accounts which enable users to secure sensitive information. CyberArk was founded in 1999 by CEO Udi Mokady and Alon C. Cohen.
Israel Chemicals Looks To Expand Into Emerging Markets
September 14, 2014 | Israel Chemicals is in the process of negotiating a joint venture according to which the company would extract and sell phosphates in emerging markets. According to the company, the potential deal is worth hundreds of million of dollars as negotiations continue over partnership in a mine, and for food and fertilizer factories that will use the phosphate products. Israel Chemicals continues to look for ways to expand its presence in the phosphate market by looking for opportunities overseas. Israel Chemicals was founded in 1968 and is a multinational manufacturing company that develops, produces and markets fertilizers, metals and other special purpose chemical products.
ReWalk Raises $36M In NASDAQ IPO
September 14, 2014 | The Israeli company ReWalk Robotics had its IPO on Friday, raising a total of $36 million on NASDAQ. The company developed exoskeletons that enable paraplegics to walk, a tool recently approved by the Food & Drug Administration in the US. The company sold 3 million shares at $12 each with a company value of $136 million. The money raised came as a disappointment because the company expected to raise $58 million at a company value of $250-300 million, after money. However, against the company’s expectations, the IPO share price doubled, rising 113 percent to $25.60 on the first day of trading, reaching $26.90 in after market trading. ReWalk was founded in 2001 by Dr. Amit Goffer, the previous founder of Odin, which sold to Medtronic for $9 million.
EMC, JVP and BGN Annouce CyberSpark Industry Initiative
September 14, 2014 | EMC, Jerusalem Venture Partners and BGN Technologies announced the creation of the CyberSpark Industry Initiative, a non-profit organization that will engage in the international promotion of the cyber center based in Beer Sheva. The CyberSpark Industry Initiative will serve as a coordinating body for the joint cyber industry activities with government agencies, the Israeli Defense Forces, the public and academia. It hopes to promote a multi-year business plan to leverage the significant potential in the field of cyber technology in the area. Roni Zehavi, a high-tech entrepreneur and former Israeli Air Force pilot, was appointed Managing Director of CyberSpark. EMC is a global leader in provision of IT services, Jerusalem Venture Partners a leading venture capital firm in Israel and BGN Technologies the technology transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Viber Releases New Version – Viber 5.0 – For Mobile And Desktop
September 11, 2014 | The Israeli-created mobile communications platform Viber announced the release of a new version of the platform, Viber 5.0 for Android and iOS. The new version will also include updates for Viber’s desktop applications for Windows, Windows 8, and OS X. Viber 5.0 will allow users to make video calls from their phones, easier contact management with QR codes and a number of specific OS enhancements. “Now that you can make video calls from your phone as well as on your PC and Mac, you can always talk in the way that’s most convenient for you, wherever you happen to be,” said Viber CEO Talmon Marco of the new feature. In addition, Viber will introduce a new design that it claims will make using the application easier and more fun. Viber is a privately held company that was founded in 2010 by Talmon Marco and Igor Megzinik, friends from the Israeli Defense Forces.
Vidmind Partners With Hisense On V2 Hybrid Set Top Box
September 10, 2014 | Vidmind, the provider of over the top (OTT) Pay-TV services, announced the release of Vidmind V2, a new version of its Hybrid Android STB for virtual operators. The new technology will be unveiled at the IBM conference in September. The STB was designed by Vidmind and manufactured by Hisense, a leading TV and STB brand in China. The new product will be used by TVzor in Russia beginning in October 2014. In addition, the new Hybrid STB and its remote control won the Red Dot and Good Design awards and it is Hollywood certified. Vidmind was founded by Danny Peled, Dror Kraus, Ofer Herman and Dov Brand.
