News Briefs

September 8, 2014 | According to a survey conducted for “Globes” by public transportation navigation application Moovit, Tel Aviv is in the top third in efficiency in a survey conducted in major metropolises. The results of the survey were based on data collected by the application in the first week of August in major cities in the US, Latin America, Europe and Israel. Out of the 12,000 application users surveyed, Tel Aviv shared fourth place with New York, with just over a quarter of travel time wasted waiting for transport. Moovit entered the market in 2012 and now has over 9 million users in 40 countries and 400 cities.

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September 8, 2014 | Israeli company Protalix Biotherapeutics experienced a spike in its share price on the TASE after reports that it can synthesize a vaccine to treat Ebola. With the recent outbreak of the deadly virus in Western Africa, and the cure of at least one US aid worker who contracted the virus using a depleting Canadian vaccine, Protalix is hopeful that they will be able to produce a similar drug swiftly and efficiently. However, according to Protalix CEO Dr. David Aviezer, the Protalix drug has no connection to the Canadian vaccine that was used to cure the aid worker, and the latter vaccine is patent protected by the World Health Organization.

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September 8, 2014 | According to a report by “Bloomberg,” SolarEdge Technologies is planning to raise more than $100 million in a Wall Street IPO 2015. SolarEdge, based in Hod HaSharon, Israel and founded in 2006, specializes in the development of solar power optimizing systems, shipping over 2 million power optimizers to more than 45 countries. The “Bloomberg” report also stated that the company is currently in talks with financial institutions to begin moving forward to an IPO. As SolarEdge CFO Ronen Faier told “Bloomberg,” “We have all intentions to become one of the largest players in the market and doing that in this market requires a lot of money.”

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September 7, 2014 | The Israeli Internet company ironSource announced that it acquired Israeli gaming company Upopa for an undisclosed amount. The deal comes nearly a month after ironSource raised $85 million at a company valuation of $800 million, and it is suspected that the company paid million of dollars for Upopa. Upopa, founded by three Bezalel Academy of the Arts graduates Niv Touboul, Or Avrahamy and Gideon Rimmer, has put out three mobile games onto the market, producing nearly 1.35 million downloads. As part of the acquisition, Upopa will join ironSource as part of ironLabs, ironSource’s internal innovation lab. ironSource is a privately held company, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Tel Aviv.

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September 7, 2014 | Foam-based drugs developer Foamix announced that it expects to raise $71 million in its upcoming NASDAQ IPO, according to the company prospectus. Additionally, the company noted that it could raise up to $81 million if the underwriters exercise of their options, at a company value of $239 million, after money. The company plans to offer up 6 million shares at a price of between $10-$12 a piece. The underwriters for the offering, scheduled to take place on September 18, are Barclays Investment Bank, Cowen, Oppenheimer, and Maxim group.

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September 7, 2014 | The global network of exchanges and clearing houses Intercontinental Exchange will acquire SuperDerivatives for $350 million in cash. SuperDerivatives specializes in providing risk management analytics, financial market data as well as valuation services. The deal is set to be completed by the end of the fourth quarter 2014. SuperDerivatives is based in Tel Aviv and employs approximately 300 people, founded by Dr. David Gershon in 2000.

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September 7, 2014 | The mobile parking application Pango raised $6.5 million in venture capital funding. While there are a number of mobile parking apps, Pango received its patent in 1997 and now hopes to expand to locations outside of Israel. The latest funding round was led by D.H. Rondor International. Pango was founded by Israeli Zion Harel and as mobile parking has become the norm, the company has made a point of differentiating itself from the competition by informing users when their parking session is about to expire. According to Pango President Neil Edwards, the money will be used to expand into other markets.

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September 4, 2014 | Israeli game maker Side-Kick Games was one of 20 companies chosen by Samsung for its new virtual reality headset. The VR headset was released by technology giant Samsung at the world’s biggest consumer electronics show yesterday (Wednesday). Side-Kick’s “Romans from Mars” game, which was renamed “Romans 360”, was debuted as one of the first apps that will be able available to the VR headset users. Side-Kick was founded by Guy Bendov, Tal Raviv and Asaf Sela.

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September 4, 2014 | According to an exclusive “Calcalist” report, former Intel VP Dadi Perlmutter will found his own investment firm that will focus on mature Israeli high tech companies. The firm, which has yet to be officially named, has already received between $200 million-$300 million in investments from the United States and East Asia according to the report. The firm will focus on mature Israeli startups that require larger funds in order to continue to the next stage of becoming medium to large-sized companies.

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September 4, 2014 | NeuroDerm, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, announced the success of a Phase IIa clinical trial of their drug for Parkinson’s disease. Patients with serious to severe Parkinson’s disease were given the company’s ND0612H drug formulation that is continuously delivered through a belt pump. This solution suits severe cases of Parkinson’s disease that would normally require surgical procedures, instead administering drugs through a belt. The study was supported by a grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, with the final results of the trial expected in the fourth quarter of 2014.

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September 4, 2014 | The English High Court ruled in support of Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in their case against Astra-Zeneca, a multi-national pharmaceutical and biologics company. According to the court, Astra-Zeneca will not be allowed to change their patent for the smart indication of Symbicort in order to facilitate Teva’s upcoming European launch of is asthma treatment DuoResp Spiromax, using Teva’s Spiromax technology.

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September 4, 2014 | The Office of the Chief Scientist in the Israeli Ministry of the Economy announced a series of benefits for startups and high-tech companies that take part in the office’s services. Some of the benefits include an increased salary cap for R&D workers, advances of 35 percent (instead of 25 percent) on grants upfront, and an extension on timelines to submit requests, just to name a few. The move comes as the Office of the Chief Scientist is set to become privatized and on the backdrop of budget cuts totally tens of million of shekels. The current Chief Scientist is Mr. Avi Hasson.

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September 4, 2014 | The Jordan Electric Power Company will purchase up to 45 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas over a period of five years from Israel’s Leviathan gas field. The country is set to pay up to $15 billion for the gas and will receive 3 BCM each year for five years. According to estimates, Jordan consumes 4.5 BCM of gas annually, currently using diesel fuel and fuel oil as substitutes for natural gas. Jordan seems to have turned to Israel for gas following shortages in Egypt and problems with the Arab Gas Pipeline in Sinai.

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September 4, 2014 | Arik Tal, VP Partner Sales at Ericsson Israel, was appointed to the position of CEO at Alcatel-Lucent Israel. He will replace Haim Teichholtz, who is leaving to become an engineering director at Elbit Systems. Alcatel-Lucent is a global French telecommunications equipment company, with hopes to become a second supplier to one of the Israeli mobile operators.

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September 3, 2014 | The digital performance marketing services provider XLMedia acquired ExciteAd Digital Marketing for up to $19 million. According to reports, XLMedia will pay $12 million in cash immediately and will pay an additional $7 million based on ExciteAd’s performance. This numbers Israeli company XLMedia’s fifth and largest acquisition, with previous acquisitions totaling $9.4 million combined. ExciteAd, also known as DAU-UP, was founded in 2011 by 33-year-old CEO Idan Nizri and specializes in targeted social and mobile advertising.

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