Catch Media and 10 Israel-related Headlines, Week of February 14, 2010
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mobile Web, VC, Web2.0, cloud computing
(Catch Media interview from 2007)
During the week of February 14, 2010, the Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference took place and included the announcement of potential plans for joint solar energy projects between Israel, Egypt and Jordan. News broke that Google is in early talks to acquire Israel’s Catch Media to better compete with iTunes and Tawkon announced its solution for avoiding radiation from mobile phones. For these stories and more, check out this week’s Israel-related technology headlines below.
Cleantech
1. Israel’s Solar Industry Aims to Regain its Edge
2. Israel, Egypt Considering Joint Solar Energy Project in Sinai
Investment and M&A
3. Google Wants To Buy Catch Media To Make Android Better
4. JVP’s Erel Margalit Tells Startups: “We Do Early Stage Now!”
Information Technology
5. Augmented Reality Gets a Major Face.com Lift
6. Tawkon enables mobile users to avoid mobile phone radiation without affecting phone usage
7. Comverse enables visual voicemail services on Sony Ericsson handsets for Norway’s NetCom
Miscellaneous
8. Unleavened Media: 10 Israeli mobile companies to watch in 2010
9. IPad Launch Has Halo Effect On Apple Products, Laptops
10. Aniboom and Sesame Street Partner on Animation Contest
Covergin and 11 Israel-related Headlines, Week of February 7, 2010
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Data Storage, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, Web2.0, cloud computing
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
Mobixell and 10 Israel-related headlines, Week of January 17, 2010
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Information Technology, Internet Security, Mergers and Acquisitions, Mobile Web, Web2.0
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
GSM encryption and 11 Israel-related Headlines, Week of January 10, 2010
Filed under: Advertising, Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Mobile Web, Web2.0
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)
5 min and 8 Israel-related Headlines, Week of December 27, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Industry pulse, Uncategorized, VC, Web2.0
During the week of December 27, 2009, Israel’s airport security method was looked upon as a better solution to the current system used at airports in the States. Viewfinity announced that it had raised $8.6 million in funding and 5min was selected Best Startup at the TechAviv Peer Awards. For these stories and more, see this week’s 8 headlines below.
Cleantech
1. Shimon Tal: Facts and Personal Opinions on Water from Israel’s Former Water Commissioner
2. Sunshine year for cleantech
Investment
3. Viewfinity raises $8.6 million in Series B round of funding
4. Can Public-Funded Entrepreneurship Work? A Q&A With the Author of Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Information Technology
5. 5min Wins Top Spot in TechAviv’s Peer Awards
6. Web content under the microscope
Miscellaneous
7. What Israel can teach us about security
8. Israel set to become major golf destination
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.
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
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.
What is keeping women out of technology in Israel?
Filed under: Industry pulse, New Ideas, Science, Uncategorized, Web2.0, technology
Earlier this year I posted an entry about the lack of women in technology that included some of the famous women who contributed to technology and some of the causes that prevent women from studying fields related to technology or having a career in technology and connected all this to Israel.
I’ve been waiting for a good time to post the follow up, and was going to post it back in June after Roi Carthy of TechCrunch mentioned, but didn’t cover, the question in his post about three of Israel’s most-promising female entrepreneurs and then again last month after Ada Yonath won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, thus becoming the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first woman since 1964 to win one in chemistry, but wasn’t able to either of those times.
Fortunately, Boris’s post “What is keeping women out of technology?“ on The Next Web today has given me another opportunity to post this. He suggests that considering the 50/50 male/female attendance he recently saw at a networking event and the 44% women who read The Next Web but how few of them comment, fewer women are in tech compared to men because women miss important phone calls and never bring their business cards with them.
These are interesting points that can perhaps take women out of technology but they are not the main factors. How many of the women at the networking event or who read The Next Web are actually on the tech side of technology and not just the marketing or journalism side? How many of them have backgrounds in science, math, computers or engineering?
The problem is that women first need to be interested in technology and pursue that path. Even if they are interested in math, science, technology when they are younger, women face a lot of social pressures as they grow older that challenge their pursuit and ultimately result in many abandoning these areas.
In her dissertation “Women in the Land of Milk, Honey and Hi-Technology: The Israeli Case,” Ronit Kark takes an in-depth look at Israeli society and the underlying dynamics that are preventing more women from going into technology, engineering and science in Israel.
The reasons that Kark gives for why women are being kept out of technology in Israel include: the high school education and military service of women, familialism and motherhood in Israel and the role of the Hebrew language.
Taking this further, based on my first post and Boris’s, while Boris is planning to teach his two daughters PHP when they are old enough, he should also make sure that they gain the self-confidence to go along with those skills. Real encouragement is also one of the things we can all do to get more women in technology.
Note: Major thanks to Guy Tessler of the American Israel Chamber of Commerce in the Southeast Region who pointed out Kark’s study to me.
Start-up Nation and 10 Israel-related Headlines, Week of November 1, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, SaaS, VC, Video, Web2.0, cloud computing
During the week of November 1, 2009, financial software company, Finjan was acquired by M86. The Cleantech Group ranked Israel number 5 in its list of top10 cleantech countries of 2009 and Start-up Nation, Saul Singer and Dan Senor’s analysis of Israel’s economic success, was released (headlines below video).
Cleantech
1. The top 10 cleantech countries of 2009
2. The 2010 Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Conference Looks To Carbon-Free Energy
3. Israeli firms aim to plug world’s water leaks
Investment
4. M86 Security Buys Finjan
6. Local VCs cut investment in start-ups
Information Technology
7. How Cloud Computing Has Transformed Small Business Software (SAManage)
8. Global from Day One: MoodBase knows what the web is feeling
Miscellaneous
9. Israeli film ‘Ajami’ wins at Montpellier festival
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