Israel Innovation 2.0

During the week of April 25, 2010, Google acquired its first Israeli company, LabPixies, a widget publisher. Better Place started to make inroads in China and Al Gore-backed GreenRoad continued to receive attention abroad. For these stories and more, see this week’s 10 Israel-related headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Better Place makes inroads in China

2. Israel to share agricultural know-how with struggling African farmers

3. Israel’s Al Gore-Funded GreenRoad Seeks to Cut Emissions, Bills

Investment
4. Google acquires Widgets powerhouse Labpixies

5. Sapiens Acquires Harcase, a P&C Insurance Software Provider

Information Technology
6. MiniFrame Introduces New SoftXpand Product Suite to Address Multiple Vertical Markets

7. Clouds helping start-ups grow, but lack enterprise capability, investors say

8. Magic Software Looks to the Clouds

Miscellaneous
9. Israel, U.S. ink open skies pact

10. Israel Blesses iPad Saying, “Let The Tablets Go!”

Israeli business newspaper, Globes has reported that Google acquired Israeli app publisher LabPixies. The purchase, which is estimated to be at $25 million, is Google’s first in Israel. LabPixies will be integrated into Google’s R&D office in Tel Aviv which focuses on web and mobile development, such as YouTube Annotations and Google Trends, and will focus on iGoogle efforts in the Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The acquisition is expected to also help Android app efforts.

Below is a timeline with some of the major events showing Google’s road to Israel and its acquiring LabPixies.

During the week of February 21, 2010, news broke that Al Gore’s investment firm invested in Israeli road-safety tech company, GreenRoad. Currensee raised $8 million and innovate!2010 in Tel Aviv was announced. For these stories and the rest of this week’s headlines, see below.

Cleantech
1. GreenRoad raises $10M from Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management

2. Terra Venture Partners Billed Israel’s Most Active Venture Capital Investor in 2009

Investments and M&A
3. $8 Million Series B For FOREX Social Network Currensee

4. Critical mass at core of Israel’s tech prowess

Information Technology
5. Moving HQ overseas: Rony Ross, Panorama Software (Interview)

6. Actimize, a NICE Company, Positioned in Leaders Quadrant of Magic Quadrant for Web Fraud Detection

Miscellaneous
7. startup contest innovate!2010 coming back to tel aviv

8. Why aren’t there more women in startups? Some new data.

The week of February 7, 2010, was big for investments and M&A. Social music player TuneWiki raised $7 million and among Israeli companies to be acquired were Convergin, which was picked up by Oracle, and Exanet, bought by Dell. IBM continues to grow its XIV channel and 3DV and PrimeSense continue to be big players in providing sensor technologies for consumer electronics. See below for these stories and more from the week of February 7, 2010.

Cleantech
1. Better Place Sees Electric Cars on Israeli Roads by End of 2011

2. Arava Power: Agreements for 15 Initial Solar Fields

Investments and M&A
3. Oracle Acquires Israeli Startup Convergin

4. Dell Acquires Storage Vendor Exanet

5. Social Music Player TuneWiki Raises $7M From Motorola Ventures, Others

Information Technology
6. Interview with Frederic Aknin, Sparkeo: Innovators in E-Learning Series

7. Point, click: a review of gesture control technologies

8. IBM Expands Channel Program Around XIV Storage Line

9. Opera and Perfecto Mobile Partner To Offer Remote Testing on Real Mobile Devices

Miscellaneous
10. Case Study: Students teach the CEOs

11. Emblaze Brings Patent Infringement Suit against Microsoft, Apple

During the week of January 24, 2010, electric car venture Better Place raised $350 million. Vringo, a video ringtone company, filed for an IPO and data storage company Continuity Software announced that it added service management software to its offerings. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 8 headlines, see below.

Cleantech
1. Israeli wastewater firms to benefit from new regulations

2. Better Place wins $350 m. investment

Investments
3. Analyst: Israel to benefit from new MSCI standing

4. Video Ringtone Company Vringo Files For $13.8 Million IPO

Information Technology
5. San Mateo’s Clarizen manages growth against major software competition

6. Continuity Software adds SLA management to DR software

Miscellaneous
7. Secrets of the box-office smash

8. Design Museum by Ron Arad Opening in Israel

During the week of January 17, 2010, Israeli mobile ad tech company Mobixell announced that it bought Internet firm 724 Solutions. A new report indicated that most Israeli hi-tech companies are planning to hire this year and the Google breach from mainland China was further analyzed. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 10 headlines, see below.

Cleantech
1. Sunday Solar to Build Large Solar Array on “Damaged” Negev Land

Investment and Economy
2. Mobixell buys Web firm 724 Solutions

3. Israel’s PowerSines seeks IPO abroad in H1

4. Most high-tech companies plan to hire people this year

Information Technology
5. Google vs. China: The Tip of the Cyberwar

6. Never Mind the Valley: Here’s Israel

7. Women in Technology: Rony Ross, Panorama Software (Interview)

Miscellaneous
8. Want an MBA from an entrepreneurial hot spot? Look to Israel.

9. ‘Ajami’ on short list for Oscar nomination

10. Tuition-Free University Gains a Following

During the week of January 10, 2010, CA acquired Israel-based Service Level Management (SLM) software company Oblicore and mobile TV chip maker Siano announced that it raised $24M. Israeli researchers announced that they cracked the encryption of 3G GSM networks. Find out more about these headlines and the rest of this week’s 11 headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Arad Technologies wins lucrative water metering deal in India

2. Climate Change and Clean Tech in Israel

3. Israeli businesses seek Texas partners in green technology

Investments
4. CA Confirms Oblicore Acquisition

5. Mobile TV chip maker Siano raises $24M

6. Amobee to buy UK’s RingRing Media

Information Technology
7. Will cable and satellite TV soon be outdated?

8. Researchers use PC to crack encryption for next-gen GSM networks

Miscellaneous
9. Israel rushes to Haiti’s aid

10. The First ELSE: A Mobile Phone from The Future (Videos)

11. The Tel Aviv Cluster

During the week of January 3, 2010, Dot Hill bought storage company Cloverleaf for $12.5 million. China’s Sanhua invested in Israeli solar firm, HelioFocus and new vulnerabilities were discovered in Twitter and Google Calendar. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 9 Israel-related headlines.

Cleantech
1. Are Energy Advances in Israel in Parallel With Those Abroad?

2. China’s Sanhua invests in Israeli solar firm

Investments
3. Dot Hill confirms storage virtualization acquisition

4. Clean tech gets big piece of venture-capital funding

Information Technology
5. 3D sensor co PrimeSense attracts Vegas attention

6. Vulnerabilities Discovered In Twitter, Google Calendar

Miscellaneous
7. Researcher: Computers in schools do not improve students’ results

8. One third of high-tech incubator companies succeeded

9. Animating the Na’vi with an Israeli swagger

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

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