News Briefs

Israeli startup Re-Sec Technologies, which develops cyber-security software, has raised $750,000. The funds were raised from Moldowsky Group, Plus Ventures and B2Angels. Re-Sec’s product, MachineSafe is an innovative security system which is designed to deal with the latest cyber-threats. The software has already been installed at several infrastructure and financial companies.

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Israeli company Playcast, which develops cloud-based console-quality streaming games, has raised $3 million. The funds were raised as a convertible loan, of which $450,000 were loaned by Xenia Venture Capital. Playcast is one of Xenia’s portfolio companies.

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Israeli startup Riskified, which develops ecommerce platforms for high risk transactions, has announced the closing of a seed financing round, raising $1.65 million. The investments were made by Genesis Capital Partners, Formation 8, Founder Collective, Entree Capital, The Accelerator Group and T5 Capital.

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Israeli bankrupt electric car venture Better Place, which shut down late last May, is being acquired for NIS 43 million (approx. $11.8 million). An Israeli court approved the recommendation of Better Place’s liquidators, to sell the company’s physical assets for NIS 18 million and its intellectual property for an additional NIS 25 million.

The intellectual property is still subject to approval by better place’s Swiss seller. Better Place’s new owners will be Sunrise Ltd. and the Association for the Promotion of the Electric Car in Israel. The company has raised more than $850 million in its 6 years of operation and at one point was evaluated at $2.25 billion.

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GE Ventures, the investment branch of International corporation General Electric has recently invested in two Israeli startups. The first, Pentalum Technologies, develops laser-based wind measuring devices for wind farms. The second, HeadSense, is developing a non-invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitor.

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Three incubator graduates were chosen by the Israeli Chief Scientist’s Office (OCS) as the best startups of 2012. Two of the winners belong to incubators of the TrendLines Group. The OCS also named TheTime as the best incubator in Israel.

The winners are Sol-Chip, a company developing technology that enables embedding solar panels into microchips, ApiFix, which developed a minimally invasive treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and CartiHeal, which developed a technology for regenerating hyaline cartilage.

Sol-Chip is part of the Mofet Venture Incubator and ApiFix is a graduate of Misgav Venture Incubator, both part of the TrendLines Group. CartiHeal is a graduate of Elron Electronic Industries’ incubator.

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Israeli startup Hybrid Security has completed a financing round, raising $500,000. The round was led by JANVEST. Hybrid Security develops artificial-intelligence based data security solutions, which can differentiate between normal and suspicious web activity.

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Israeli big data company Varonis is planning an IPO on Wall Street with the aim of raising $150 million at a company value of $500 million. The company, founded in Israel and headquartered in New York, develops technology for securing big data.

Globes reports that the IPO may take place before the end of the year.

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Israeli biomed company Medgenics, which develops technology for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins in patients using their own tissue, has been awarded a NIS 6.7 million (approx. $1.9 million) grant. The grant was given by the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) at Israel’s Ministry of the Economy.

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Computing giant IBM has acquired Israeli server farm management company CSL (Computing Solutions Leaders). IBM has reportedly paid $20 million for the acquisition, which will all go into the pockets of CSL’s two founders, Sharon Chen and Amir Glaser, who made personal investments in the company, totaling at $1 million.

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Israeli company Seculet, which develops anti-virus and anti-Trojan technologies, has raised $10 million in a series B financing round. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, a new investor in the company.

Seculert has raised $16 million to date.

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Israeli VC Carmel Ventures has raised $200 million towards its 4th investment fund. Calcalist reports that though the firm has reached signed agreements from investors to finance the fund, it will officially announce it in the beginning of 2014.

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Israeli biomed company Insuline Medical, which develops insulin-delivery technology, has completed a successful financing round, raising NIS 8 Million (approx. $2.19 million). The company has developed technology and medical instruments that increases the effectiveness of insulin injected to people with diabetes.

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Israeli company Moblieye, which develops driver-assitance technology, has raised $400 million. The funds were raised in a financing round from five new investors: BlackRock, Fidelity Management, Wellington Management, Sailing Capital and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

The investment, the biggest in company history, was made at a company value of $1.5 billion. The estimated value gives Mobileye the prestigious title of the most valuable privately-held company in Israel.

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Israeli startup Carambola, which interactive video platforms, has announced that it has raised $1 million. The company’s technology semantically analyses video content and offers the user related content, ads and even games.

The investment was led by Singaporean firm Rutledge.

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