Israel High Tech Scene Week In Review July 11 – 17
Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel
New Startups / VC Funding
Israeli Tech Startups Raised Record $11.9 Billion In H1 2021
In the first half of 2021, Israeli high-tech companies have raised $11.9 billion, a record amount of cash, above the $10.3 billion raised in all of 2020.
Former US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Invests Big In Cybereason $275 Million Fund Raise
Cybereason is an Israeli cybersecurity company, which provides protection against cyberattacks to both governments and businesses alike. Cybereason (Cyber + Reason) has raised $275 million in new financing led by the former US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his new fund Liberty Strategic Capital.
Israeli AI Medical Imaging Startup Aidoc Raises $66 Million
Israeli startup Aidoc, which developed artificial intelligence (AI) for medical imaging, announced today a $66 million investment, led by General Catalyst.
NoTraffic Raises $17.5 Million Led By Former Uber Exec
NoTraffic is an Israeli startup developing traffic congestion solutions. The company offers a “real-time, plug-and-play autonomous traffic management” platform that uses AI. NoTraffic states that the platform is reinventing how cities run their transport networks. The company just raised $17.5 million in a Series A round led by Nielsen Ventures, a firm founded by former Uber and Dropbox executive and ex Balderton Capital GP, Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen.
Uniper Care Secures $14.5 Million In Funding
Uniper Care, a technology-based community that enables the elderly to live a healthy and active social life, announced a $14.5 million Series A fundraising round.
Israeli Startup Shopic Offers Shopping Cart Solutions
Shopic brought in anther $10 million in new funding.
Israeli Startup Ivix Helps Fight Tax Evasion
Ivix is a new Israeli fintech startup which offers solutions for catching tax cheats. Ivix has closed a $13 million seed funding round, led by Team8 with participation from Citi Ventures, Cardumen Capital and private investors. The company is so new that its website says that they are “currently in stealth mode.”
NBC Olympics Selects Israeli Startup Innovid As Ad Management For Tokyo Games
NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected Israeli startup Innovid to supply advertising management solutions for its coverage of the XXXII Olympiad Games, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan, from July 24 to August 9. Tokyo Olimpic Photo credit Dick Thomas Johanson (Cropped) / Flicker.
IPOs and Unicorns And International Partnerships
Outbrain Expects $1.4 Billion Valuation From NASDAQ IPO
Outbrain Inc., an Israeli startup which offers content recommendation to businesses, has revealed the terms for its NASDAQ IPO. Outbrain expects to raise about $200 million, which would give the company a $1.4 billion valuation. The company plans to offer 8,000,000 shares at a price expected to be between $24-26 per share.
Nestle Partners With Israel’s Future Meat
Nestlé, the international food conglomerate, will cooperate with Israeli cultured meat startup Future Meat Technologies. Nestlé Research in Lausanne in Switzerland will work with the techies from Future Meat on the company’s cultured-meat designs that do not sacrifice on taste or texture.
TailorMed Teams With AllianceRx Walgreens Prime To Cut Med Costs
Israeli medtech startup TailorMed is a financial navigation technology fintech company that helps patients and healthcare providers remove financial barriers to care. TailorMed is now working with AllianceRx Walgreens Prime to help reduce patient out-of-pocket costs.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Melisron Buys GROO, Aerodrome Buys FlyTech
Melisron is an Israeli shopping mall proprietor. Melisron just bought e-commerce company GROO for NIS 100 million ($30.5 million), reports Globes. Aerodrome is an Israeli company which develops drone tech. They just agreed to buy fellow Israeli drone tech firm FlyTech NIS 15 million ($4.57 million), reports Calcalist.
ZoomInfo Acquires Israeli Startup Chorus.Ai For $575 Million
Founded in Israel, ZoomInfo (Nasdaq: ZI), which delivers business intelligence to B2B salespeople, said today that it is purchasing Israeli-American startup Chorus.ai for $575 million in cash.
Rapid7 Looking To Buy Israel’s IntSights For $350 Million
American cybersecurity company Rapid7 is looking to acquire Israeli cybersecurity company IntSights. Calcalist reports that the two companies are in “advanced negotiations” at the moment and that the expected sale price could be between $350 and $400 million
Other Business Stories
SpaceIL Raises $70 Million Beresheet 2 Second Moon Try
Israel’s SpaceIL is ready for its second try at reaching the moon with its Beresheet2 program. SpaceIL hopes to be successful this time, 2 years after the Beresheet1 crashed on the moon’s surface. The company has raised $70 million for Beresheet2 from wealthy benefactors like Morris Kahn, Patrick Drahi and Martin Moshal. SpaceIL says that it needs a total of $100 million to fund the project.
Coca Cola Israel Invests In Biomilk Foodtech
Biomilk is an Israeli foodtech company which produces dairy products from cultured milk. The Central Bottling Company, also known as Coca Cola Israel, is investing about $2 million in Biomilk which is publicly traded in Israel on the TASE as BMLK, which Globes reports will go to research and development to expedite the arrival on the market of products based on cultured milk.
Israel’s Candiru Accused Of Knowingly Selling Tech Used Against Human Rights
Candiru is an Israeli cybersecurity company which develops spyware. Now the company has been charged with selling its tech to those who use it against people fighting for their human rights. Candiru is accused of behaving like a mercenary.
