News Briefs

February 19, 2014 | Israeli startup FireLayers, which develops cyber-security solutions for cloud IT, has exited stealth mode and announced the closing of a financing round, raising several million dollars (the exact amount was not disclosed). The company, founded last year, received the investment from its co-founders CEO Yair Grindlinger and president Doron Elgressy, and YL Ventures.

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February 19, 2014 | Israeli medical device company Ornim Medical, which developed CerOx, the only noninvasive cerebral oxygenation monitoring device on the market, has raised $10 million. The funds were the second half of a financing round, that were given to Ornim after it met all of the milestones set in the first half of the financing round in 2012.

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February 19, 2014 | Israeli startup BorderFree, which supplies foreign currency and translation services for US-based ecommerce websites, has filed for an IPO on Nasdaq. The company will attempt to raise $86 million at a company value of $500-600 million.

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February 18, 2014 | Hebrew University of Jerusalem doctoral student Yossi Kabessa has brought home the top prize from the Global Young Scientists Summit in Singapore. Kabessa’s winning proposal was for the use of biosensors based on genetically engineered bacteria to monitor the presence of pollutants and hazardous materials in the water supply system of large urban areas. Kabessa returned to Israel with the Singapore Challenge gold medallion and a $100,000 cash prize.

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February 18, 2014 | Israeli startup Cartcrunch, which develops apps for grocery price-comparisons between different supermarkets in the US, has raised $1.2 million in Series B financing. According to a report on “GeekTime,” Plus Ventures Lionbird and MicroAngel Fund participated in the round, alongside private investors.

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February 18, 2014 | Ben Gurion University has announced that it has received a gift of $13,106,700 from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. The gift is comprised of a capital grant of $10 million to construct a new building – the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Institute for Social Leadership and An additional $3,106,700 for the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Honors Program in Social Leadership.

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February 18, 2014 | British-Israeli startup Pacific Interactive, which developed the House of Fun Facebook slot-machine game, has been acquired by American gambling giant Caesars. While the amount changing hands was not disclosed, “Calcalist” estimates that it is between $80 million and $90 million in milestone payments.

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February 18, 2014 | Israeli startup Keepgo, which enables users to save on cellular data rates when travelling overseas, has announced the closing of a Series A financing round, raising $1.3 million. The financing round was led by IMI.vc and AltaIR. Keepgo offers a SIM card that enables users to use cellular internet while abroad, by paying a flat-rate.

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February 18, 2014 | Israeli company LabStyle Innovations, which developed Dario, a smartphone-based glucometer, has announced that it has raised $4.19 million in a private placement. After the placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses payable by the company, LabStyle expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $3.79 million.

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February 18, 2014 | In a recent report released by Twitter for Valentine’s Day, which took place last Friday, Israel was ranked number 1 in the amount of “I Love Yous” tweeted by users. 2013 saw 481 million such tweets in 116 languages. Israel is followed by Sweden, Norway and Spain.

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February 17, 2014 | Israeli startup SlickLogin, which develops security measures for logging in to accounts using additional cellphone verification, has announced that it has been acquired by internet giant Google. Although financial information has not been disclosed, “Globes” reports that the acquisition is on an “acqui-hiring” basis, in other words buying the staff and know-how with possibly an additional very small acquisition fee.

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February 17, 2014 | Israeli company PhotoMedex, which develops treatments for dermatologic conditions, has announced the acquisition of American company LCA-Vision, a laser vision treatment company. PhotoMedex paid $106.4 million for LCA-Vision.

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February 17, 2014 | Israeli company Lumenis, which develops cosmetic medical devices, will hold an offering on Nasdaq in an attempt to raise $100 million. The company develops medical lasers for use in the surgical, ophthalmology and aesthetic markets. Lumenis is a publically traded company and was listed on Nasdaq until 2005, when it was delisted.

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February 14, 2014 | International VoIP company Viber, which was founded by four Israelis, has announced that it has been acquired by Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten. After reportedly rejecting offers of up to $500M, the final price tag for Viber, which has approx. 300 million users, is $900M. Viber operates out of Cyprus, with offices in Israel.

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February 13, 2014 | Israeli startup AppsFlyer, a leading mobile app tracking and campaign measurement platform, has recieved the “thumbs-up” from Facebook. The international social network giant has recently sent out an email to its advertisers, suggesting that they use the Israeli startup’s services for mobile app ad measurement needs.

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