July 22, 2014 | Students at Israel’s College of Management in Rishon L’Zion successfully developed an application that can detect Parkinson’s disease and help those effected get treatment. AbbVie Pharmaceutical Research & Development company, and international company, entered into cooperation with the College of Management’s school of computer sciences and the result was an application which can detect and aid Parkinson’s patients from afar. The application they developed allows Parkinson’s patients to go through a number of exercises recommended by their doctors to keep their minds sharp and in shape. In addition, the application reports patients’ process back to their doctors in order to assess what kind of treatment they should be given. Now AbbVie is considering marketing the application, according to the College of Management.
News Briefs
College Of Management Students Develop App To Detect Parkinson’s From Afar
SuperSonic Software Raises $15M To Begin Asian Expansion
July 22, 2014 | SuperSonic Software announced the close of its second round of funding at $15 million. The top investor in this round is one of China’s largest venture capital firms, SAIF Partners, as well as Greylock, bringing total investment in the company to $23.2 million since the company was founded in 2009. SuperSonic’s main product is a cloud-based software development kit enabling mobile application developers to include advanced features like streaming interactive advertisements in their applications. As SuperSonic CEO and co-founder Gil Shoham told VentureBeat, “We have identified several interesting opportunities that … will significantly improve user acquisition effectiveness and ROI.”
Urban Compass Raises $40M In Series B Funding Round
July 22, 2014 | The online real estate startup Urban Compass announced that it raised $40 million in its latest funding round. This is a Series B funding round for the company with participation from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Advanced Publications. The total amount raised by the company to date comes to $73 million. The new funds will be used by the online marketplace for renting, selling and buying apartments to expand its service beyond New York City, where the startup began in 2012, to other metropolitan US locations like Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. According to a “Bloomberg” report, the new funds place Urban Compass’s valuation at $360 million.
Delegation Of Israeli Gaming Startups Heads To US And Canada
July 21, 2014 | A delegation of Israeli gaming startups will head for the United States and Canada in cooperation with the Ministry of the Economy. The startups hope to pitch their technologies and receive investment from large companies and investors like Google, Apple, Facebook, Sony, Amazon, Ubisoft and others at the Casual Connect conference in San Francisco this week. Some of the Israeli startups that are part of the delegation include TabTable, Side-Kick, and other companies that facilitate the promotions of games and apps like TROPHiT and DAU-UP. The delegation was organized by the Ministry of the Economy’s Invest in Israel initiative and the Israeli digital game developers’ association GameIS.
Singular Mobile Marketing Platform Raises $5M In Seed Funding
July 21, 2014 | The Israeli mobile marketing platform Singular announced that it closed a $5 million seed funding round. In addition, the company announced the launching of a platform to enable mobile marketers to concentrate all of their marketing tasks into one easy-to-navigate dashboard. The funding came from General Catalyst Partners and will be used by the company to continue product development, hiring and the innovation of the mobile marketing space. Singular was founded by former Onavo executives CEO Gadi Elishavov, CTO Eran Friedman and COO Susan Kuo, a mobile application analytics company that sold to Facebook for $150 million.
Mobileye’s Revenue Triples Before Wall Street IPO
July 21, 2014 | According to a “Globes” report, Mobileye collision prevention solutions provider has updated is Wall Street IPO filing with first quarter 2014 results and a list of current shareholders. Mobileye expects the offering at a company value of $3.5-5 billion, especially since the revenue keeps rolling in for the company. “Globes” reports that Mobileye’s first quarter revenue rose by 204% from the corresponding quarter due to a spike in sales to automakers like GM, Nissan, Ford and Volvo, among others. Mobileye is an Israeli startup that has developed a system based on camera and artificial vision technology for automobiles with the purpose of preventing accidents.
The Helmsley Charitable Trust Donates $1.75M To Israeli Institutions For Disabled
July 20, 2014 | The Helmsley Charitable Trust donated $1.75 million in grants to two Israeli institutions that aid disabled children and adults as well as their families. One million dollars was granted to Shalva, an Association for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children in Israel, for the construction of a dining hall and events hall for the organization’s National Children’s Center located in Jerusalem. The rest of the funds went to Beit Halochem in Tel Aviv for the creation of a professional hydrotherapy facility and renovations to their existing facilities. The Helmsley Charitable Fund has donated grants to various causes in Israel since 2009, with over $112 million committed to a range of charitable organizations.
Yo! Valued At $10M After Completeing $1.5M Seed Funding Round
July 20, 2014 | The social app Yo! raised $1.5 million in seed funding, valuing the application at $10 million. Yo! also reported the names of its investors, which they have kept undisclosed thus far, including Betaworks, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and the founders of China’s Tencent, among others. In addition, one of the founder’s of the company, Mobli CEO Moshe Hogeg also invested in the company. According to Yo! the funds will be used to expand operations in San Francisco, and to hire a team of engineers and business developers. Over 2 million people worldwide have downloaded Yo!’s application worldwide since its release last month.
Report: Mori Arkin In Talks To Buy Sol-Gel Technologies For $10M
July 20, 2014 | The businessman Mori Arkin is in talks to buy Sol-Gel Technologies, a company that developments skincare products using nanotechnology, according to a “Globes” report. If talks continue and the deal goes through Arkin will purchase Sol-Gel for an estimated total of $10 million if milestones are met. Founded in 1997, Sol-Gel is managed by Dr. Alon Seri-Levy and has invented a way to use nanotechnology in order to allow skincare products to actually penetrate the skin, with products for common conditions like rosacea and acne.
Jifiti Gifting Technology Partners With Evite
July 17, 2014 | The Israeli gifting website Jifiti announced that it will partner with electronic invitation website Evite to allow invite recipients to send gifts through the same platform. Evite is a leading digital invitation and party planning platform that has over 200 million annual electronic invite recipients in its database. Jifiti’s main technology called ‘Gift It’ allows guests to browse and select gifts from retailers like Sephora, Amazon, Nike, Banana Republic and Toys ‘R’ Us and instantly send someone a digital ‘gift card’ for in-store or online redemption. Jifiti was founded in 2012 by Yaakov Martin, Meir Dudai and Shaul Weisband and to date has raised $3.5 million in funding.
Microsoft In Talks To Buy Aorato Cyber Security Company For $200M
July 17, 2014 | According to a “Bloomberg” report, Microsoft is in talks to the Israeli cyber security company Aorato for $200 million. The talks are reportedly in an early stage as Aorato continues to negotiate sale with other companies as well. According to most sources, Aorato will be sold for approximately $200 million. Earlier this week, NoCamels reported that Aorato had identified a major security bug in Microsoft’s Active Directory, which would allow passwords and other sensitive information to be extracted and changed.
Alcobra Files For $100M NASDAQ Offering
July 17, 2014 | Alcobra Pharmaceuticals filed a prospectus for a $100 million offering on NASDAQ. The company has developed alternative drugs for the treatment of ADHD based on its research. In May 2013, Alcobra’s IPO raised $25 million at a company value of $89 million. As of today, Alcobra is worth $260 million. The filing for the offering comes as Alcobra announces patient recruitment for Phase III clinical trials for its treatment for ADHD.
Screenz Cross Media Company Raises $5M
July 17, 2014 | Israeli cross media company Screenz announced that it raised $5 million in a recent financing round. Screenz develops complementary applications for the media. The funding came from Marker LLC and will enable Screenz to expand its research and development, accelerate the growth of the company’s technological abilities and expand global activities in order to enter new markets. Screenz invented the technology that powers ABC’s “Rising Star” reality show, which has talent contestants perform and get votes in real-time from viewers all around the globe. Screenz also recently joined forces with Google to expand the reach of its real-time voting technology.
Zooz Smart Payment Tech Raises $12M
July 17, 2014 | The smart payment technology provider Zooz announced that it raised $12 million in a recent financing round that was led by Blumberg Capital, XSeed Capital, lool ventures, Rhodium, and new investors Access Industries and Camp One Ventures. Zooz hopes to use the funds to continue the development of its product, scale up operations and open new offices. Zooz’s technology provides advanced payment technology by enhancing and optimizing the existing payment infrastructure of enterprise-sized businesses, enabling them to accept flexible payments in-store and online. Founded in 2010 by Oren Levy and Ronen Morecki, Zooz’s offices are located in Herzliya Pituach.
SuperCom Files For $50M NASDAQ Offering
July 17, 2014 | The Israeli company SuperCom has filed a prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a NASDAQ offering set to raise up to $50 million. The electronic and radio-frequency identity solutions provider’s stock rose by 1,400 percent in the past 18 months, giving the company a market cap of $121 million. The terms of the offering have not yet been disclosed and could include shares, options, bonds or a combination of the three. Founded in 1988, SuperCom provides traditional and digital identity and security solutions.
