News Briefs

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for a new international research training group. The group, called “Human Rights Under Pressure – Ethics, Law and Politics,” will study contemporary challenges to the pursuit of human rights. The program will take the form of a joint interdisciplinary doctoral and research program carried out in cooperation between the Freie Universität Berlin and the Minerva Center for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

This is the first German-Israeli doctoral program to be funded by the DFG. Half of the €4.5 million program budget will derive from funds pledged by the Einstein Foundation Berlin.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli biomed company OrthoSpace has raised $5 million at a company value of $22 million. Calcalist reports that the investment appeared in a report handed by Xenia to the TASE. Xenia is a startup incubator that made an early-stage invested in OrthoSpace.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli-American startup ChooChee, which develops cloud-based communication systems, has been acquired by German telecommunication giant Deutsche Telekom. The deal was first reported by Israeli research company IVC, which did not disclose the sum paid. However, Calcalist reports that it is estimated at $100 million.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli streamer manufacturer Boxee has been acquired by Korean electronics giant Samsung. The latter reportedly paid less than the $30 million that has been invested in the Israeli company since it was founded.

Calcalist reports that Samsung will continue to employ all of Boxee’s 45 employees.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli biomed company V-Wave, which developed a medical instrument for treating congestive heart failure, has announced the closing of a successful financing round, raising $2 million.

The financing round comes after a reported successful animal trial of the instrument and will be used towards promoting human trials.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

MitrAssist, a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group’s Misgav Venture Accelerator, recently completed a raise of $1 million from angel investors and a multinational private strategic investor. MitrAssist has developed a minimally invasive approach to treating Mitral Regurgitation (MR), a disorder of the heart in which the mitral valve does not close properly when the heart pumps out blood.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli startup RumbleTalk, which is developing an HTML5-based embeddable chatting platform, has raised $110,000 in seed financing. RumbleTalk says that the finances were raised from Friends&Family.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli company ScoreOid, which offers a SaaS platform for game developers, has announced the closing of a seed financing rounds, raising $100,000. The investment was made by VC Innodo, which focuses on early-stage investments.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli company Nyotron, which develops anti-virus software, has raised $2 million. The company has developed software, dubbed “Paranoid,” that analyses computer processes before they occur, thus neutralizing malware before they happen.

The company has raised $3 million to date.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli company Altair Semiconductor, which develops LTE chipsets, has announced the closing of a successful financing round, raising $25 million. The funds were raised from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, BRM, Giza Venture Capital, JVP and Pacific Technology.

This brings the total amount of funds raised by the company to $100 million.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli motion sensor company Primesense, which is most notably remembered for being the core technology behind Microsoft’s Kinect is for sale. Calcalist reports that the Israeli company is in talks with potential buyers such as Sony and Apple, with a price tag of $300 million.

The price is considered relatively low, considering the fact that the company has raised $85 million to date.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli immunotherapeutic developer Nasvax has announced that it has raised $1 million. The sum was raised from Chinese firm Acebright, which develops cancer and infectious disease treatments.

Acebright’s investment will give it 10 percent ownership of the Israeli company. The Chinese company also said that it might participate in further financing rounds held by Nasvax.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli content-recommendation platform Taboola is teaming up with American web giant AOL. The American company will implement Taboola’s platform, which automatically recommends related video content to users, on its websites.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli startup My6sense has announced the closing of a successful financing round, raising $2 million. The company develops personalized content apps for various platforms and has also announced that it will now focus on personalized content for smartphones.

This recent investment brings My6sense’s total to $7.5 million raised since it opened its doors in 2007. The identity of the investor was not disclosed.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]

Israeli incubator TheTime has been named Israel’s best incubator for the third straight year. The Tel Aviv based incubator was selected by Technological Incubators Program, for its quality startups and their efforts in obtaining funding for graduates.

[sharethis-inline-buttons]