News Briefs

January 6, 2014 | More than a decade after it was founded, Israeli VC StageOne Ventures is raising funds for a second investment fund called “StageOne II.” According to TheMarker, from a report handed to the American SEC, StageOne has already raised $75 million towards the fund.

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January 6, 2014 | Israeli translation service One Hour Translation has received and investment of $10 million from Fortissimo Capital. The latter acquired one-third of One Hour Translation in exchange for the investment. This is the first series of financing for One Hour Translation.

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January 2, 2014 | Following Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman’s visit to Moscow, Israel and Russia have agreed to cooperate on developing nuclear imaging technology for the dental industry. The cooperation, anchored in a Memorandum of Understanding, will be carried out by The Israel Atomic Energy Commission and Rosatom Federal Agency on Atomic Energy.

Photo: Crossed Flag Pins

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December 31, 2013 | Hadasit Bio-Holdings, the commercialization branch of Hadassah Medical Center, has received NIS 25 million (approx. $7.2 million) from the Office of the Chief Scientist. The funds will be directed towards three of Hadasit’s portfolio companies: Cell Cure, KAHR Medical and Enlivex Therapeutics.

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December 30, 2013 | Israeli company Adstrix, which develops marketing platforms for small and medium businesses, has raised $550,000 in seed funding. The company says that its white label solution brings media companies an advertising solution with a winning combination of ease of use, measurable results, and loyalty tools all integrated into one holistic comprehensive SAAS platform.

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December 30, 2013 | Although 2013 proved to be a record year in exists and mergers & acquisitions, Israeli high-tech companies going public is still a lot more scarce. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, 2014 will be the year in which many Israeli companies will hold IPOs. According to the analysis on WSJ, the reason is that IPOs are more beneficial to the economy long-term.

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December 30, 2013 | The Board of Governors of the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, approved $9 million in funding for 11 new projects between Israeli and American companies. In addition to the grants from BIRD, the projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to approximately $23 million.

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December 30, 2013 | 2013 proved to be a record year in terms of startup exits and merger & acquisition deals, with a total of $6.45 billion. According to accounting firm PwC, this figure represents a 16 percent increase over 2012. Mega deals are also a prominent feature of 2013, with the three largest deals accounting for not less than $2.6 billion per deal with an average of $859 million.

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December 26, 2013 | Israeli company Ex Libris, which specializes in cloud-base automation solutions for academic libraries, has announced that BIBSYS, Norway’s national library corporation, will implement its Alma system for library management. The system will serve 100 institutions, including all of Norway’s universities, the national library and a number of research libraries. The project is estimated at $6 million.

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December 26, 2013 | Israeli biomed company Oramed Pharmaceuticals, which is developing an insulin pill to replace injection-based treatments of diabetes, has raised $13 million in a private placement on Nasdaq. “Globes” reports that the funds were raised from Special Situation Fund and Sabby Capital Healthcare.

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December 25, 2013 | Chinese and Israeli businessmen and government officials have announced the building of the China-Israel Nanxun Innovation Industrial Park. Representatives from China are currently visiting Israel, meeting with Israeli companies with the potential to take part in the park, which aims to integrate Israeli innovation with the Chinese market capacity.

Photo: Crossed Flag Pins

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December 24, 2013 | Professor Mark Silberstein, from the Technion’s Computer Science Department and Professor Daniel Deutch from Tel Aviv University, are amongst 2013’s five winners of the Yahoo ACE (Academic Career Enhancement) Award. According to Yahoo, “These are five top young professors at leading research universities around the world who are competitively selected among many promising first- and second-year faculty members at institutions conducting Yahoo-relevant academic research.”

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December 24, 2013 | Israeli VC Israel Growth Partners (IGP) is on the verge of closing a $250 million financing round for an investment fund. The fund will focus on high-tech companies in the growth phase, meaning companies that are in an advance stage, prior to going public or being acquired.

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December 24, 2013 | Israeli green biotech company BotanoCap, which develops green replacements for toxic chemicals used commercially, has received a $4.2 investment from Infinity Group. BotanoCap will use the funds for business development in China, Europe and the US.

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December 24, 2013 | The Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) has granted biomed company Cell Cure Neurosciences (a subsidiary of Bio Time) NIS 6.1 million. Cell Cure will use the funds to develop its OpRegen product, a cell-based treatment for age-related macular degeneration.

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