News Briefs

Infosys, a provider of consulting and technology services, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel, to establish and enhance cooperation in industrial research and development. The MoU creates a framework for industrial cooperation between Infosys and Israeli corporations in the emerging technology areas of cloud, information security, sensors, analytics, and sustainability. Infosys is based in Bangalore, India.

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BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, a developer of adult stem cell therapeutics targeting Central Nervous System (CNS) neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that the company received a grant of approximately $1.1 million from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist. The grant is awarded to towards the development of BrainStorm’s NurOwn therapy for the neurodegenerative disease ALS – also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease – using adult stem cells. The treatment is currently under clinical trials in Israel, with interim results expected by July 2012.

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France Telecom-owned Viaccess and Orca Interactive, which specializes in content discovery and recommendation, announced today that they will merge their management structures. The new organization, named Viaccess-Orca, will provide an extensive range of solutions, products and services to content service providers. These include TV Everywhere, HbbtV solutions, Conditional Access and DRM system, content delivery and content discovery platforms. Viaccess-Orca has local presence in Israel, USA, Brazil, Hong Kong and India, with headquarters in Paris, France.

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Elbit Systems announced that its wholly-owned Israeli subsidiary Cyclone was awarded an approximately$80 million contract for the supply of structural components to The Boeing Company. The contract will be performed over seven years. Elbit Systems is a defense electronics company, which operates in the areas of aerospace, land and naval systems, computers, intelligence surveillance, as well as developing new technologies for defense, homeland security and commercial aviation applications. The company is based in Israel.

 

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ClearCorrect, a manufacturer of clear aligners, announced collaboration with Objet, the provider of 3D printing solutions for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing. ClearCorrect will make Objet’s high resolution, 3D printing systems an integral part of its mass-scale manufacturing of custom-made orthodontic aligners. Objet was founded in 1998 in Israel and has recently merged with its American counterpart Stratasys.

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Mazor Robotics, a developer of surgical robots and complementary products, announced the successful completion of the first robot-guided brain surgical procedures using their technology. Neurosurgeons performed the first three cases at HSK Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany. According to the company, based in Caesarea, Israel, regulatory clearance for the brain application is pending in the U.S. and Europe. Upon clearance, the brain application will be available as an add-on to Mazor’s Renaissance system at a separate price point expected early 2013.

 

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Gigya, a provider of social infrastructure for businesses, announced that it has secured $15.3 million in funding from Advance Publications, Mayfield Fund, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Adobe. According to the company, the funding follows its 2011 sales that more than tripled year-over-year, in addition to reaching more than one billion unique users per month. According to the company, it plans to expand its suite of social infrastructure products to help businesses monetize social engagement, referral traffic and permission-based social data. Gigya is based in San Francisco and has offices in Tel Aviv and London.

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iMDsoft, a provider of clinical information systems, announced it has been acquired by TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity investment platform of TPG, the global private investment firm. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed but Israeli media reports that the company was sold for $80 million. iMDsoft was founded in 1996, with products that are designed to enhance quality of care for critically ill patients and improve financial performance for healthcare providers. The company holds offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, with 130 employees.

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Apax Partners and JMI Equity have today announced an agreement to acquire Paradigm, an independent software vendor focused on the growing oil and gas exploration & production space, for approximately $1 billion in an all-cash transaction. Paradigm’s software enables engineers to optimize drilling and production decisions through the analysis of vast quantities of seismic and well-log data. Paradigm was founded in 1987 in Israel, and was sold the US private equity firm Fox Paine & Company in 2002. It has offices and a development center in Herzliya Pituah, Israel.

 

 

 

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WI Harper Group, a Chinese early growth and expansion stage venture capital firm, announced a follow-on investment into the cross-platform app search engine Quixey. Quixey’s Functional Search allows users to find apps based on what they do. The Series B financing brings Quixey’s total amount of funding to $24.2 million. The investment round was led by Atlantic Bridge and included SK Planet and TransLink Capital, as well as existing investors, WI Harper, US Venture Partners, and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. The company was founded in 2009 by the Israelis Tomer Kagan and Liron Shapira.

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Storage system company Kaminario has raised $25 million in equity funding from a total of seven investors. The latest round of funding brings total investment in the company to nearly $60 million. The company provides high performance all solid-state (SSD) SAN storage solutions, Founded in 2008, Kaminario is headquartered in Massachusetts, with an Israel-based R&D division.

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GetTaxi, the Israel-based developer of a mobile app for ordering taxies, announced that it has raised $20 million in an investment round led by Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries. The company’s founders, Shahar Waiser-Smirin and Roi Mor, also participated in the financing round – bringing the total investment in GetTaxi to $30 million. The company will use the proceeds to launch its service in New York. Founded in 2010, GetTaxi currently operates in London, Moscow and Israel. It will also soon be launching in France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

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Wibbitz, the developer of a text-to-video technology, announced that it has raised $2.3 million in Round A investment  led by Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures. The company’s previous investors, Lool Ventures and Initial Capital, also participated in the round, bringing the total investment in the company to about $3 million. Wibbitz develops a technology that can automatically turn any text-based article, post or feed on the web into a video. The company, founded in 2011, is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Clarizen, a project management and social collaboration software company, announced that it has completed a $12 million Series E financing round led by Vintage Partners. Existing Clarizen shareholders – Benchmark Capital, Carmel Ventures, DAG Ventures and Opus Capital – also participated. The funding will support continued expansion, strategic partnerships, and product development designed to enhance the end user experience. Founded in 2006, Clarizen is privately held with offices in Hod Hasharon, Israel, and San Mateo, California.

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Radvision, an end-to-end solution provider for unified visual communications, announced that it has completed its previously announced sale to Avaya, for approximately $230 million. Under the agreement, Radvision has become an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Avaya. Founded in 1992, Radvision provides video conferencing and telepresence technologies over IP and wireless networks. The company teams with its channel and service provider partners to offer end-to-end visual communications that help businesses collaborate more efficiently.

 

 

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