Israel High Tech Scene Week In Review Apr 4 – 10
Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel
New Startups / VC Funding
AmplioSpeech Offers Special Education Platform (JBN)
The company just raised $27 million. Israeli startup AmplioSpeech has developed a digital platform that connects students, educators and therapists with advanced technologies to help students with special needs. The company raised $27 million in funding led by Quad Partners, a private equity firm focused on high-quality education companies.
Prytek invests in Israeli fintech co CRiskCo (Globes)
Prytek has added credit capabilities to its onboarding platform Karbon by investing in CRiskCo, which has developed a platform that makes loan application processes digitally accessible.
Upsolver Is An Israeli Big Data Analytics Startup (JBN)
The company just raised $25 million. Israeli startup Upsolver offers a Data Lake Platform that it says empowers any developer to manage, integrate and structure streaming data for analysis at “unprecedented ease – dramatically simplifying big data projects and reducing time-to-value from months to minutes.” The company just raised $25 million in Series B financing led by Scale Venture Partners (Scale). Existing investors JVP, Vertex Ventures US, and Wing Venture Capital also participated in the round.
Israeli Startup Aporia Offers An AI Observability Platform (JBN)
The company just raised $5 million. Aporia is a new Israeli startup which offers an AI observability platform. This is a platform which oversees the information inputted to a machine for the purpose of teaching it to learn to think on its own. The company just raised $5 million in a seed round from Vertex Ventures and TLV Partners.
Israeli startup MyHomeDoc receives FDA approval for smartphone-based telemedicine (Calcalist)
The MyHomeDoc device is capable of testing the most common vital signs for primary medical care and all from a smartphone. Israeli startup MyHomeDoc has recently received FDA approval for its smartphone-based telemedicine solution, coming on the back of approvals by European and Israeli regulation authorities. The device was developed after MyHomeDoc received funding from a startup incubator led by Israeli-giant Teva Pharmaceuticals and the Philips co-investment platform, Sanara Ventures. The FDA approval will allow MyHomeDoc to expand into additional global markets.
Liquid biopsy co Nucleix raises $55million (Globes)
The company’s lead product EpiCheck is for the earlier detection of lung cancer. Liquid biopsy developer for earlier detection of cancer Nucleix has announced that it has completed an oversubscribed $55 million financing round led by RA Capital Management, with participation from new investors BlackRock, Lilly Asia Ventures, LYFE Capital and MILFAM. Existing investors participating in the round included OrbiMed, Aurum Ventures, DSC Investment, OCI Bio Investments and Zohar Zisapel.
Tax compliance co Blue dot raises $32million (Globes)
Blue dot’s technology digitizes an expensive, complex and risky process, removing the burden from finance teams.
Empathy Is A Startup Which Helps People Cope With Their Grief (JBN)
The company just brought in $13 million. Israeli startup Empathy offers a platform which helps families navigate the journey they face after losing a loved one. It has just launched its application on iOS and Android for users across the United States. Empathy raised by $13M in a seed round co-led by General Catalyst and Aleph.
Israeli Startup WhiteSource Offers Open Source Security Solutions (JBN)
The company just raised $75 million. WhiteSource is an Israeli cybersecurity startup which offers services for open source security and management, The company raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Pitango Growth, with participation by existing investors M12, Susquehanna Growth Equity, and 83North. WhiteSource’s total funding to date is now $121.2 million.
Israeli Fintech Startup TipRanks Receives $77 Million Investment To Support Retail Investor Frenzy (JBN)
TipRanks, the only company that ranks analysts, became the standard in Wall Street and is used by most banks. Israeli-based fintech company TipRanks has raised $77 million investment led by Prytek and More Investment House. Founded in 2012 by Uri Gruenbaum and Gilad Gat, TipRanks provides a stock research platform that makes alternative datasets accessible and visual for retail investors.
Israeli startups raised record $2.8b in March (Globe)
In a stunning month for startup capital raising, Israeli tech startups doubled the record set in January.
IPOs and Unicorns
Innoviz completes SPAC merger, begins Nasdaq trading (Globes)
The Israeli lidar laser sensors for cars developer starts trading at a company valuation of $1.4 billion.
Trax And Redis Labs: Two Israeli Unicorns Hit $2 Billion Valuations (JBN)
A unicorn is a startup with more than a $1 billion valuation. Israeli unicorns Trax and Redis Labs have each now reached a $2 billion valuation. Redis Labs, a database software developer, hit the mark with a $110 million Series G financing round led by new investor Tiger Global. Trax just raised $640 million in a Series E financing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Israel Leads World In Unicorns – Two More Billion Dollar Startups This Week Alone (JBN)
It has nine new ones so far this year. Israel is not known as Startup Nation for nothing. And now Startup Nation may be known as Unicorn nation. A unicorn is a startup, which is still a privately held company that has already reached a billion dollar plus valuation. Israel has had nine startups hit unicorn status so far this year, with two hitting the mark on the same day this week.
Cellebrite Digital Intelligence Firm Looking To $2.4 Billion NASDAQ IPO
It hopes to be the latest Israeli startup with a billion plus exit. Israeli startup Cellebrite, a leading digital intelligence solutions provider, will soon be listed on the NASDAQ through an SPAC merger with TWC Tech Holdings II Corp. Cellebrite anticipates a $2.4 billion valuation from its IPO and will be listed as CLBT.
Mergers and Acquisitions
DraftKings Acquires Israeli Gaming Co BlueRibbon (JBN)
Draftkings says that it will expand BlueRibbon’s TA offices. DraftKings Inc. (Nasdaq: DKNG) has acquired Blue Ribbon Software Ltd., a Tel Aviv-based leading global jackpot and gamification company (“BlueRibbon”) that provides platform-agnostic, real-time gamification tools that allow for fully customizable jackpot promotions. DraftKings says that it will now be able to enhance the customer experience by integrating BlueRibbon’s unique jackpot functionality, including personalized promotions and rewards tailored to the individual customer or jackpots that pay out across DraftKings’ various product offerings.
Israel’s Cardo Systems Bought For $150 Million By EMK Capital (JBN)
Cardo designs and markets its wireless mesh communication systems for motorcycle riders. Cardo Systems, an Israeli motorcycle Bluetooth communications headset developer, has been acquired by the European private equity fund EMK Capital. According to a report in Globes the company was sold for $150 million. EMK acquired a 65% stake in the company which was held by the Israeli private equity firm Fortissimo Capital as well a 30% stake held by Cardo’s founder Dr. Abraham Glezerman.
Cofense Acquires Israeli AI-Based Email Security Provider Cyberfish (JBN)
The purchase price was not disclosed. Cofense, a provider of phishing detection and response (PDR) solutions has acquired Cyberfish, an Israeli cybersecurity startup which provides next-generation phishing protection powered by Computer Vision and advanced Machine Learning (ML) technology. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Read more about: Cellebrite, DraftKings, Innoviz, IPO, Redis Labs, startups, Unicorn
