July 1, 2014 | A study released by the Cleantech Group and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found that Israel is the best place for clean-tech entrepreneurs to invest their money. The study states that Israel has the, “culture, education and chutzpah” required for the breeding of innovation, noting the success of Emefcy wastewater solutions as well as Kaiima seed technology firm. After Israel, Finland and the US were rated after Israel for clean-tech investment. Cleantech Group helps its clients accelerate sustainable innovation. WWF is an international non-governmental organization that works on issues such as conservation, research and restoration of the environment.
News Briefs
July 01, 2014
Report: Israel Named Best Place For Clean-Tech Entrepreneurs
July 01, 2014
Gartner Acquires Q&A Platform Developer Senexx
July 1, 2014 | The US IT research and consultant company Gartner acquired the Tel Aviv-based company Senexx. The financial details of the acquisition were not released. Gartner hopes to use Senexx’s questions and answers platform that identifies and manages expertise within companies to boost its web search capabilities, content recommendation engine and social platforms. Gartner was founded in 1979 by Gideon Gartner and is based in Stamford, Connecticut. Senexx was founded in March 2011 and currently has a patent pending on its question and answer service.
July 01, 2014
Red Hill Biopharma Acquires Mesupron Pancreatic Cancer Treatment From Wilex AG
July 1, 2014 | Israeli bio-pharmaceutical company Red Hill Biopharma acquired Phase II oncology drug, Mesupron from Wilex AG. Mesupron has already completed a number of Phase I and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of non-metastatic pancreatic cancer. Red Hill has acquired the exclusive development and commercialization rights for Mesupron, except in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao, for nearly $1 million from Wilex AG. The Israeli company, founded in 2009, will be responsible for the development, regulation and commercialization of Mesupron.
July 01, 2014
Report: Developer of ReWalk, Argo To Raise Up To $50M On Nasdaq
July 1, 2014 | The developer of the ReWalk exoskeleton, Argo Medical Technologies, will attempt to raise $40-50 million on Nasdaq at a company value of $250-300 million, according to a “Globes” report. Earlier this week, the ReWalk exoskeleton, designed to help paraplegics and quadriplegics usually confined to wheelchairs walk again, was approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States for use at home and in the community. Argo Medical Technologies was founded by Dr. Amit Goffer in 2001 and quickly grew from a small startup based in Israel to an international company with offices in the US, Germany and Israel.
June 30, 2014
Perion Acquires Grow Mobile For Up To $42M
June 30, 2014 | The Israeli mobile app services company Perion announced that it acquired mobile advertising firm Grow Mobile for up to $42 million. Perion hopes that the acquisition will help the company expand its offerings for mobile application advertising. Perion announced that $17 million will be paid up-front in cash and equity, while the remaining $25 million will be paid in cash and equity over the next two years. Grow Mobile’s advertising platform allows mobile app developers to track and buy campaigns, similar to Facebook, in order to attract more users. Perion (formerly IncrediMail) was founded in 2000 by cousins Yaron and Ofer Adler and has quickly become a global software giant with offices in Tel Aviv, Seattle, and San Francisco.
June 30, 2014
Rakuten Launches $100M Global Investment Fund
June 30, 2014 | The Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten announced the launch of its new $100 million global investment fund in startups and companies in Israel, the United States and the Asia Pacific region. The new fund will be based in Singapore and will be run by Rakuten Ventures managing partner Saemin Ahn. Rakuten has its eye on startups with “strategic significance” that it may even consider acquiring. Just a few months ago, Rakuten acquired the Israeli-created messaging application Viber for $900 million as well as a number of other mobile-tech geared startups in Europe and the US.
June 30, 2014
Price Of Medigus Shares Jump Following $11M Investment
June 30, 2014 | Medigus announced the signing of a private equity placement agreement for $11.1 million, including shares and warrants. Half of the amount was raised by Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings, and the rest by US institutional investors like Sabby Management, Armistice Capital, Senvest as well as returning investor Orbimed. Following the announcement of the investment, Medigus’ shares jumped 12.5 percent, to NIS 51.40 a pop. The proceeds from the investment spike will be used as working capital and for general management. Medigus has developed minimally invasive endoscopic devices for the treatment of GERD, one of the most common chronic diseases in the western world.
June 30, 2014
Ultrasound Tech Developer InSightec Raises Up To $62.5M
June 30, 2014 | The Israeli ultrasound developer InSightec Image Guided Treatment raised between $50-62.5 million from US investment fund York Capital, among others. InSightec is a subsidiary of Elbit Medical Technologies and has a company value $200 million before cash. GE Healthcare and Medtech are also considering investment in InSightec, a company that has developed ultrasound treatment for the removal of bone tumors. InSightec was established in 1999 and prides itself on treating tumors without invasive surgeries.
June 30, 2014
Ashelim Thermo-Solar Project In Negev Raises NIS 2.35B
June 30, 2014 | According to “Globes,” the Ashelim thermo-solar project in the south of Israel raised NIS 2,350,000,000. The funding round was led by Bank Hapoalim, the European Investment Bank as well as Israel Discount Bank, First International Bank of Israel, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Union Bank of Israel, Harel Insurance Investments, Menorah Mivtachim Holdings, Psagot Investments, and Phoenix Holdings. The institutions closed the funding agreement with the owners of the Israel’s first thermo-solar field, Magalim Solar Energy, BrightSource Energy, and the Noy fund.
June 29, 2014
Israeli Company GigaSpaces Announces Strategic Partnership With SanDisk
June 29, 2014 | GigaSpaces Technologies, a company providing in-memory computing and cloud orchestration technologies, will partner with SanDisk to deliver a new solution to optimize flash storage. Through the partnership, the companies will work together to deliver greater scalability and performance to real-time analytics and in-memory computing applications. GigaSpaces was founded by Israeli Nati Shalom in 2000 and has offices in the United States and Asia.
June 29, 2014
TAU Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob Elected To American Philosophical Society
June 29, 2014 | Tel Aviv University physicist Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob was elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States. Ben-Jacob is the first non-American of the 33 new members that were elected to the society. Prof. Ben-Jacob is a professor of physics and astronomy and is the Maguy-Glass Chair in Physics of Complex Systems at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler School and Physics and Astronomy. The American Philosophical Society was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and boasts such prestigious members as Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell and Albert Einstein, to name a few.
June 29, 2014
Israeli Company Financial Algorithms Receives $4B Bid For Buy Out
June 29, 2014 | According to reports by Calcalist, Israel’s Financial Algorithms (FINAL) is set to receive a $4 billion buy bid from an unidentified foreign company. Financial Algorithms was founded in 2001 with the understanding that science and technology could be used to gain a competitive edge on financial markets. Currently, the company employs about 100 workers in its Herzliya offices and reported a profit of nearly $330 million in 2013. If the reports are true, this would be one of the largest acquisition of an Israeli company to date.
June 29, 2014
Curiyo Content Discovery Platform Raises $1.9M
June 29, 2014 | Content discovery platform Curiyo announced that it raised $1.9 million in seed funding and it launched a new tool for publishers. The new tool is already in use in the Life section of USA TODAY‘s website, finding words that may be of interest to the reader and allowing them to receive more information just by dragging their mouse over the underlined word. The company raised the funds from Israel VC firm OurCrowd, Cedar Fund, and Morton Meyerson of 2M, among others. The application is based in Jerusalem and is a browser plugin that opens multiple tabs on a single topic, founded by Bob Rosenschein of Answers.com.
June 29, 2014
Yo! Holds Hackathon And ‘YoServerIsDown’ Wins
June 29, 2014 | The Israeli mobile app Yo! held a hackathon yesterday (Saturday) in San Francisco to show that the application can be used for more than just sending ‘Yo.’ The winners of the hackathon were Jarryd Lee and Hayden Lee who created an app called ‘YoServerIsDown’, which lets subscribers know when there is a problem with their server. The Yo! application was created in just 8 hours by Or Arbel, Moshe Hogeg of Mobli and Phil Hars and quickly became a sensation among smartphone users.
June 29, 2014
Deal For Leviathan Gas Field Sales With BG Group Estimated At $30B
June 29, 2014 | The Israeli partners owning the Leviathan Gas Field in Israel are in negotiations with the British company BG Group for the sale of gas in total of $30 billion. According reports, BG Group will pay the partners, which include Avner Oil and Gas, Delek Drilling and Ratio Oil Exportation, for the sale of natural gas to BG’s liquefaction plant in Idku, Egypt. The British company BG Group is considered a world leader in the production, transportation, liquefaction and sale of gas to over twenty different countries.
