Jajah and 13 Israel-related Headlines, Week of December 20, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, IT management, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized
During the week of December 20, 2009, O2 confirmed that it is buying Israel-based Internet phone company, Jajah. Facial recognition security company C-True announced that Brinks is its latest customer and oil was found in Israel. For these stories and more, check out this week’s headlines below.
Cleantech
1. Michigan Looks to Israel to Rev Up Automotive Battery Business
2. SunPower and SolarPower Ltd. Dedicate 50-Kilowatt Solar Power System for HP in Israel
Investments and Economy
3. O2: Yes, we’re acquiring Internet phone company Jajah
4. Israel May Beat Growth and Deficit Estimates, Steinitz Says
Information Technology
5. Israeli company to beta cost-reducing content delivery technology
6. C-TRUE Provide Face Recognition Security Solutions to Brinks
7. All Quiet in the Data Center
8. Israel’s fastest growing software companies of 2009
9. Web Host Datapipe Teams with Applicure for Website Security
10. 2009: Sarah Lacy and the Israeli Web Revisited
Miscellaneous
11. Tourism Ministry presents three-year plan
12. Amazon’s Kindle has copyright protection hacked
13. Oil well with potential found in Israel
2009: Sarah Lacy and the Israeli Web Revisited
Filed under: Industry pulse, Israeli Websites, Mobile Web, VC, Web2.0
Nine months ago there was talk and speculation that Israel’s Web sector was done and not likely to recover. Mainly expressed by TechCrunch editor-at-large Sarah Lacy after her visit to Israel in March, at the time she wrote about her disappointment with Israeli Web startups except for MyHeritage and a few others. Her piece caused an uproar among Israelis on Twitter and in the blogosphere, including on Israel Innovation 2.0.
At the time Lacy wasn’t completely off. It had been a while since an Israeli Web startup had a big exit or received a large investment or a lot of media attention. Combining this with the poor economy and the rise of Israel’s cleantech sector (which continues to grow), it seemed that Israeli innovation in the Web space had peaked when Shopping.com was purchased by eBay in 2005.
By September of this year though it became clear that 2009 was actually the resurrection of Israel’s Web industry and that Israeli entrepreneurs did not lose their mojo as Lacy had suggested they did. At TechCrunch50 in San Francisco Israeli startups Trollim, Red Beacon and AnyClip received the three top prizes for their promising technologies. A few weeks later in October, it was revealed that Answers.com, perhaps the most memorable Israeli site to have survived the dot.com bust and to thrive, was the 13th most visited Website in September.
In addition to these sites, the second half of 2009 saw the rise of another part of Israel’s Web industry, Facebook and mobile applications. In November the Facebook facial-recognition application Face.com went live and in December the community-generated traffic tracking mobile application Waze started to make headway in the U.S. market, among other regions.
While most of these companies still need to prove themselves (with growth, revenue and exits…) it is clear that there is a new drive among Israeli Web entrepreneurs and Israel’s Web industry is reemerging. 2010 will be an interesting year to see what happens to these startups and if the newfound mojo will reverse the investment decline of recent years in the sector.
Editor’s note: This was originally posted on TechAviv.com.
Israel’s fastest growing software companies of 2009
Filed under: Advertising, Industry pulse, Information Technology, SaaS, Software, Uncategorized, cloud computing
Last month Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar, a professional services firm under the interational Deloitte brand in Israel, released its annual list of Israel’s top 50 fastest growing technology companies for 2009 based on percentage revenue growth over a five-year period. Fifteen software companies ranging from security to finance to storage made the list. Below is the top 10 software companies on the list and a little more about them. Will you be using any of these companies’s technologies in 2010?
Red Bend software
Red Bend Software is considered to be a market leader in Mobile Software Management and Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) update solutions. Founded in 1999, Red Bend Software offers solutions that give phone users more control over what software components they want on their phones while also increasing the data service revenues of phone carriers. The main solutions include firmware updates, software component updates and data management.
Imperva
Imperva is an application data security company that was founded in 2002 by Amichai Shulman and Check Point Software co-founder Shlomo Kramer. The company was named to Red Herring’s Top 100 in 2007 (link to video) and grew by more than 80% in 2008. Its success during the recession has been attributed to its software helping customers cut costs. Imperva’s products include the SecureSphere Data Security Suite, SecureSphere Web Application Firewall and Database Activity Monitoring.
InfoGin
InfoGin was founded in 2000 by Eran Wyler after he foresaw the “need for surfing the real Internet on any mobile device.” Over the years, InfoGin has become a leader in “Web-to-mobile content adaptation, enabling mobile users to access any Web site they desire, optimized to their mobile device.” The company’s Internet Mobile Platform (IMP) technology is currently being implemented by several major companies, including Virgin Mobile (UK) and MapQuest.
Safend
Israeli data protection company, Safend offers products for data encryption and port and device control. Founded in 2003, Safend in 2009 was also named to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Mobile Data Protection. The company also rounded out its suite adding Safend Inspector and Discoverer to Safend Reporter, Safend Encryptor and Safend Protector.
PineApp
PineApp is an e-mail and content systems security provider. Founded in 2002 by Gabriel Mizrahi and headquartered in Israel, PineApp’s products enhances email security by protecting against email-based spam and virus attacks. Its products include Mail-SeCure, Surf-SeCure and Secure SoHo. Earlier this month the company introduced two new products to its line, Mail-Encryption and Archive-SeCure.
Commtouch Software
Founded in 1991, Commtouch develops software to protect e-mail by offering spam and Zero-Hour™ virus outbreak protection. Its anti-spam solutions feature its Recurrent Pattern Detection (RPD) technology and have been licensed by over 80 security and messaging vendors and providers including Aladdin, Check Point, Fujitsu and LG N-Sys.
Zend
Zend offers products and services for developing, deploying, and managing business-critical PHP applications. The company was founded by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Surask and its customers include McAfee, UPI and IBM. In September 2009, Zend along with its partners, IBM and Microsoft, announced a new initiative for PHP developers who are working on cloud-focused apps. Its products include Zend Server, Zend Platform and Zend Core.
IDIT I.D.I. Technologies
IDIT Technologies was founded in 1998 and offers SOA-based software solutions for the insurance industry. In July 2009 Forrester Research named the company among the hot insurance tech companies to watch in 2009, mainly for its multi-language and currency support innovations. The IDIT software suite addresses the specific end-to-end needs of general insurance for the insurance and financial markets including Business Intelligence, Workflow Management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). IDIT’s R&D center is headed by Lilia Waserman and its customers include Alfa Insurance and RAC Insurance.
PNMSoft
PNMSoft is a Business Process Management (BPM) and workflow software provider. Founded in 1996, PNMSoft provides customers, such as Amdocs, Microsoft and Philips, with solutions to better manage content and businesses from start to finish. PNMSoft’s poducts include SEQUENCE BPM workflow software based on Microsoft’s Windows Workflow Foundation platform. The company currently has an R&D center currently in Israel and was a Microsoft 2009 SOA and Business Process Partner of the Year Finalist.
VIZrt
VIZrt offers content production tools for the digital media industry. It was founded in 2000 and some of its clients include Fox, CBS and The Globe and Mail. Along with its products Viz Content Pilot and Viz Artist, VIZrt also offers mobile solutions. In 2008, Vizrt acquired Escenic.
Mobile Web and 9 Israel-related Headlines, Week of December 13, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Mobile Web, SaaS, VC, Web2.0
During the week of December 13, 2009, Clarizen raised $8 million while virtual head generator Gizmoz merged with Daz 3D. Cloudshare came out of stealth and Morgan Stanley came out with a report that the mobile web will overtake the desktop in five years which is promising for Israeli companies in the mobile space. Check below for these stories and the rest of this week’s 9 headlines.
Cleantech
1. Israel plunges into water technology
2. Israeli Renewable Energy – Why Israel, Why Now?
Investment and M&A
3. My Virtual Head Would Look Great On Your Virtual Body! Gizmoz Merges With Daz 3D
4. Clarizen raises $8M in 3rd round
Information Technology
5. CloudShare Comes Out of Stealth Mode: A Talk with Kevin Epstein
6. Kenshoo Branches Out with New Local Search Management Platform
Miscellaneous
7. Vringo Ringtones Startup From Israel Vies With News Corp. Unit
8. Spymaster sees Israel as world cyberwar leader
9. Morgan Stanley: Mobile web to overtake desktop in five years
Peres and 11 Israel-related Headlines, Week of December 6, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Internet Security, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, Video
During the week of December 6, 2009, Israeli President Shimon Peres launched his own YouTube channel to encourage peaceful dialogue and announced that he will be going to the Copenhagen climate conference representing Israel. Information security company, Promisec thrived during the recession and Israel as a startup nation was looked at in a different light. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 11 headlines.
Cleantech
1. Israeli Cleantech Heats Up
2. Peres to represent Israel at Copenhagen climate negotiations
Investments
3. BIRD to invest $4.2m. in six new projects
Information Technology
5. Harris: Pageonce shows you don’t need to be big to be global
7. How to sift through Twitter’s noise? MyTweetSense, FriendBinder give it a go
8. Cyber hacking could be a thing of the past
Miscellaneous
9. Peres gets viral, dives into social media with presidential YouTube channel
10. Home cooking
11. Fail Factors – Why Startups Die: The Israeli Illusion
World Economic Forum Names Amobee and Innovid Technology Pioneers 2010
Amobee Media Systems and Innovid have been named Technology Pioneers 2010 by the World Economic Forum. The two startups along with 24 others, including Twitter and Amiando, were identified for developing new technology that can “change and improve the way business and society operate.”
Here’s a little more about the startups:
Led by CEO Zohar Levkovitz and Gary Schofield, Amobee has developed advertising server technology for mobile operators that dynamically “inserts relevant ads into different mobile entertainment and communication channels” that users can interact with.
Founded in 2006 by Tal Chalozin and CEO Zvika Netter, Innovid provides publishers and advertisers with the ability to monetize online video by integrating brand advertising into relevant video content. Innovids technology enables advertisers “to insert 3D objects into videos post-production” that blend into the rest of the video but still attracts the user to click and interact with it.
As Technology Pioneers, Amobee and Innovid will have access to the World Economic Forum’s elite network of members and can attend the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, among other events.
Editor’s note: This was originally posted on TechAviv.com.
Guardium and 9 Israel-related Headlines, Week of November 29, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Data Storage, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, cloud computing, data security
During the week of November 29, 2009 the biggest headline was IBM’s acquisition of database security and compliance company, Guardium. Dune was purchased by Broadcom and VMware is planning to double its workforce in Israel. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 9 Israel-related headlines.
Cleantech
1. Capstone and Israel’s HelioFocus Get Grants To Fire Up Solar Powered Micro-Turbines
Investment
2. Broadcom To Acquire Dune For $178 Million
3. IBM buys database security firm Guardium
Information Technology
4. Thanks to Israel, ‘the Cloud’ will be safer
5. VMware doubles Israeli R&D workforce
5. Red Bend Software Named One of the Most Important Companies in M2M for 2010
Miscellaneous
7. Israeli firm Emblaze sues Apple claiming iPhone streaming ‘patent infringement’
8. Israeli tech firms are coming back home
Else and 9 Israel-related technology headlines, Week of November 22, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, cloud computing, data security
During the week of November 22, 2009, Else, formerly Emblaze Mobile, revealed the first Linux-based smartphone. A possible iPhone killer, the device focuses on the user-experience first. SupportSpace announced it raised $10 million in funding and IBM acquired database security start-up, Guardium.For these stories and more, check below.
Cleantech
1. Preparing for Copenhagen: What can Israel expect?
2. US-Israel $3.3 m. energy cooperation
Investments and M&A
3. IBM to buy start-up Guardium for $225 million: report
4. SupportSpace Raises $10 Million Series B
Information Technology
5. Emblaze Mobile launch First Else Linux-based phone
6. Check Point Software focuses on virtualization and data centres
Miscellaneous
7. Six cities that beat the Big Apple?
8. Tonight in Tel Aviv: Twitter’s Biz Stone talks about the triumph of humanity
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