PicScout and 11 Israel-related Headlines, Week of October 25, 2009
During the week of October 25, 2009, Deloitte named its Fast 50 for the Israel region, listing PicScout #4 with a growth rate the past year of 3277%. 15 UK-Israeli science projects received research grants from The British Council totaling £365,000 and cyber crimes, which have become a national priority for Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. among other, will likely target mobile devices in 2010. For these stories and more, check out this week’s technology headlines below.
Cleantech
1. 7 Solar Innovators From Israel That Could Fuel Our Planet
2. Eilat-Eilot region seeks to become center for renewable energy
3. ‘Going Green’ would boost economy – environment minister
Investments
4. International venture capital investment recovers after second quarter slump
5. 15 UK-Israeli Science Projects Get Funded by The British Council
Information Technology
6. PicScout Recognized Among Fastest Growing Companies
7. Cyber criminals to target mobile devices
8. Secure computers aren’t so secure
9. Digital World: The hackers of tomorrow – today
Miscellaneous
10. Chief Scientist: Israel leads in research investment
11. Red Bend sues Google over patent dispute
Venture Capital and 10 Israel-related Headlines, Week of October 18, 2009
Filed under: Advertising, Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, SaaS, Uncategorized, VC, Web2.0
During the week of October 18, 2009, 70 countries gathered to standardize electric car chargers. The decline in venture capital investments in Israel during the third quarter was analyzed as was the mark Israel is leaving on Information Technology software, specifically as relates to security. For these stories and more, check out the headlines from the week of October 18, 2009 below.
Cleantech
70 countries gather in TA to standardize electric car chargers
Innowattech Proves It Can Collect Energy From Highways and Byways
Investment
Can VC succeed in cleantech?
IVC Report: VC Investments in Israeli Companies Decline 50% in Q3
Information Technology
Israel carves a niche in IT security
Tools for Semantic Targeting (Peer39)
WordPress.com automates PicApp images for bloggers
Miscellaneous
Facing Tomorrow tech exhibition focuses on Israeli brain power
Israelis working to save endangered species through cloning
BrightSource breaks ground for first solar-powered oil field
According to The New York Times environment blog,
“BrightSource Energy has broken ground on a 29-megawatt solar steam plant at a Chevron oil field in Coalinga, Calif.”
The move is a great for both companies. For Chevron, which, along with competitors BP and StatoilHydro, is an investor,
“a solar power plant builder based in Oakland, Calif., and solar-powered oil extraction offers the oil giant an opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint while gaining a hedge against volatile natural gas prices.”
While, BrightSource, which has signed other significant contracts in California this year, will have the chance “to scale up its technology” and “explore new applications for its technology.”
It’s important to note that the field won’t be powered by solar steam exclusively. As it only works when the sun is out, the field will still use rely on previous sources for power at other times.
N-Trig and 10 Israel-related Headlines, Week of July 5, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Data Storage, Environment, Information Technology, Video
During the week of July 5, 2009, it was announced that NASA and Israel’s Seambiotic will be researching and developing algae for use as a possible aviation fuel. Discussion continued on N-Trig’s planned 2010 IPO and the company’s latest developments and IBM Haifa researchers revealed new data-masking technology that filters sensitive data from unauthorized viewers on the fly. For these stories and more, check below for the full 10 Israel-related headlines from this past week.
Cleantech
1. How Terra Venture Partners Accelerate Clean Technology
2. Israel’s Bright Sparks Invent ‘Electric’ Road
3. Israeli company, NASA to work together on bio-fuel project
Investment
4. Israel’s N-trig: New touch technology bolsters IPO
Information Technology
6. International TechneGroup acquires software firm
8. RADVISION Receives 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award from TMC
Miscellaneous
9. ‘Degradable’ plastic bags are no such thing, claim experts
10. The oldest hotel in Tel Aviv [video]
13 Israel-related headlines from the week of April 5, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, VC, Web2.0, cloud computing, virtualization
During the week of April 5, 2009, some of the biggest headlines were about N-Trig’s planning an IPO for late 2010 and Evergreen, a venture capital fund, raising more for its fourth round. Other news included Google’s latest release, Google Suggest, which was developed by Google Israel and Microsoft’s plans to lay off most of 3DV’s 40 workers (all in Israel) when the sale is complete. In the IT sector, Xeround’s Charlotte Yarkuni discussed cloud computing and databases and WorkLight’s recent media blitz continued. For these stories and more, see below for the full 13 Israel-related headlines from the week of April 5, 2009.
Cleantech
1. Revolutionary Energy Source Harnessed: Ordinary Walking and Driving Pressures
2. New water splitting technology created
Investments, M&A and Economy
3. ClickSoftware to Acquire Assets of Manchitra Services
4. Israel’s N-trig eyes Nasdaq IPO in late 2010
5. Evergreen raises more for fourth fund
6. Microsoft’s 3DV acquisition a go
Information Technology
7. Xeround’s Yarkoni talks about the cloud, databases and more
8. uTest Defines the Future of Quality Assurance:CEO Interview
9. WorkLight Brings Social Security to the Enterprise
Miscellaneous
10. Google service developed in Israel launched
11. Topify – An Essential Twitter Timesaver
12. Dark Days in Israel’s Tech Sector Drive Rising Executive to the Exit
13. Lightning Warns of Hurricanes’ Most Intense Moments?
15 Israel-related headlines from the week March 22, 2009 (Sarah Lacy TechCrunch Edition)
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, IT management, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, VC, Web2.0, virtualization
During the week of March 22, 2009, it was announced that Israel will share its farming technology with Kenya and more details of the government’s water technology initiative, NEWTech were given. The sale of Aladdin Knowledge to Vector Capital was completed with the news that Aladdin and SafeNet were under common management and information security company, Tufin, added new features to its firewall management platform. Facebook became even more stalkerish with a new photo facial recoginition and tagging application by Israel-based Face.com and SEO guru, Barry Schwartz shared what he found Israeli SEMs are looking for. These stories are only some of the main ones that made it into the media last week. For links to these and the rest of the stories from the week of March 22, 2009, check below.
Cleantech and Environment
1. Israel NEWTech, A Government Initiative To Promote And Grow Israeli Water Technology And Innovation
2. Israel to share farming technology with Kenya
Investment and M&A
3. Value of Israeli high-tech M&A fell 19 percent in 2008
4. Funded: GoViral, BriefCam, Extreme Reach (BriefCam)
5. SafeNet, Aladdin Knowledge Under Common Mgmt
Information Technology
6. HP to Provide Compaq My Bhasha with its Desktops
7. New Cyber-Ark controller clocks all super-user activity
8. SkillIQ is set to Revolutionize the Human Resources World
9. Dell Certifies Aternity as ISV Partner
10. Tufin adds white lists to firewall management platform
Miscellaneous
11. Israel’s Explay helps you see the big picture
12. First Look: Photo Finder facial recognition app for Facebook
14. Partnerships between Florida, Israel are key
Bonus: TechCrunch’s Sarah Lacy in Israel and reactions.
Sarah Lacy, August 2008
Last week Twitter and the Web erupted when the newest member of the TechCrunch team, Sarah Lacy, posted that Israeli entrepreneurs lost their mojo and that investing in Israel was overhyped. Here are are just some of the responses to Lacy’s post as well as her post and its follow up.
Now that China Is the New Israel…What’s Israel? (TC)
What’s behind Sarah Lacy trash talking the Israeli VC scene
Israel is the new Israel (Israel Innovation 2.0 response)
Sarah Lacy, David Li and the Wrong Side of Historical Performance
Risk Aversion And The Perils Of Selling Too Early (Israeli Startups, Part II) (TC)
Twitter responds
Israel is the new Israel (Alternatively, if TechCrunch is the go-to online tech publication, will TreeHugger be the new TechCrunch?)
Filed under: Cleantech, Industry pulse, Information Technology, VC
Sarah Lacy over at TechCrunch posted today that Israeli entrepreneurs post-bubble have lost their mojo and VC funding has reflected that. There has been a lot of reaction to her post in the comments section and off the site, but it is really much more complex and wide-ranging than a post on TechCrunch or even here on Israel Innovation 2.0 can handle. I think that Sarah is both right and, of course, wrong.
She is right that the crop of Israeli IT and Web startups are disappointing when compared to Check Point and ICQ from the 1990s. There have been many theories, denials and other responses of the lack of companies of this caliber in the past few years and I have to say, when researching these different companies, there definitely is a difference.
The theories for this that I believe and have often mentioned (sorry to anyone familiar with those posts) are the ones Daniel Cohen of Gemini Israel Funds wrote about in an article on Venture Beat back in the fall of 2007: “Entrepreneurs want to retire with $3-$4M, Impatience of investors, ‘Think small’ mentality and The lack of $1bn experience.” Add to these reasons the brain drain of top engineers and entrepreneurs and relocating the company outside of Israel and Lacy has a very good point.
Fortunately though, Lacy’s post on TechCrunch was only fulfilling a certain agenda and only relevant for the IT and Web 2.0 sectors which TechCrunch covers. No matter what happens with Israeli IT companies in the future (and I believe Israeli SaaS and security companies, such as Clarizen, Imperva and Trusteer all have a lot of potential), Israel is almost guaranteed to be the main player beyond this in the next tech revolution, clean technology.
A lot of VC funding has gone into cleantech companies in wastewater management, solar energy and wind energy that won’t mature and really show its worth for another few years. In addition, there is a noticeable trend over the past year of people from Israel’s IT sector considering and heading into cleantech.
So, where does China fit into cleantech? I haven’t researched it to say, but on the Israel end I know that China, along with several other Asian countries, countries in Africa and Australia have all expressed interest in Israel’s innovations especially to deal with water conservation management and solar energy. If in relation to Lacy’s article, China is getting more investments in IT (the greatest tech sector in the past) in comparison to Israel but not in relation to cleantech (the likely greatest tech sector in the future), the answer to Lacy’s question about “If China is the new Israel..” would really be that Israel is the new Israel.
14 Israel-related headlines from the week of March 15, 2009
Filed under: Advertising, Cleantech, Uncategorized, VC, data security
During the week of March 15, 2009, Google fully integrated adCore into Froogle offering a more complete SEO and shopper technology package. Information security companies, Imperva and Trusteer were busy rolling out new features and collaborating on a new anti-malware tool, respectively. Meanwhile, David Pogue of the New York Times wrote about Shai Agassi’s electric car vision and scientists announced the creation of a new device that enables plants to send text alerts to the mobile deviice of farmers notifying them when they need water and thus preventing excess watering. For these stories and much more, check out this week’s 14 Israel-related headlines below.
Cleantech
1. The Orange Tree is Texting — Again
2. Electric Cars for All! (No, Really This Time)
Investments and Economy
3. Russians in Israel to talk nanotech
4. Commex Tech Raises $3.5 Million
5. Israeli business delegation visits Vietnam
6. Israel’s technology entrepreneurs switch from growth to survival
Information Technology
8. Froogle Submission Is Now Available Within adCore
9. Apache Corporation Selects Aternity for End User Experience Management
10. Imperva upgrades database activity analysis too
11. DNSstuff Partners With Trusteer On Malware-Prevention Tool
Miscellaneous
13. Japanese Sea Coral Can Change Sex In Order to Survive Global Warming
14. Omek Interactive to launch 3-D camera for gesture-controlled games
14 Israel-related headlines from the week of March 1, 2009
Filed under: Advertising, Cleantech, Company Briefs, Information Technology, Internet Security, Uncategorized, VC, cloud computing
News from Israel’s cleantech industry during the week of March 1, 2009 showed that it will continue to grow throughout the recession and that substantial progress is starting to be made, such as with Aora receiving a license for its solar thermal plant on Kibbutz Samar. In contrast, IT companies Comverse and SAP Israel announced layoffs this past week, however, several companies, including ComAbility and Kenshoo, raised funds and new partnerships were announced. For more details on these and the rest of the 14 Israel-related headlines from the week of March 1, 2009, check below.
Cleantech
1. Cleantech faces wave of growth, not layoffs
2. IQwind a Red Herring Top 100 Global Company
3. Aora Gets License for Solar Thermal Plant
Investments and Economy
4. Comverse to fire hundreds – many in Israel
5. Sequoia Capital leads Second round of financing for AICC Member Kenshoo Ltd.
6. Israeli technology company ComAbility secures a further $4m in venture funding
7. Onset Technology lands $3M venture round
Information Technology
8. SAP, IBM to Showcase Tech for Cloud Mobility
9. Ness Technologies Uses WorkLight to Secure Social Media
10. A New Advertising Tool That’s Truly Cool
11. Triond: A Writing Opportunity Worth Investigating
12. Actimize, a NICE Company, Positioned in Leaders Quadrant of Magic Quadrant for Web Fraud Detection
Miscellaneous
13. A tourism crisis hits the Middle East
14. Keeping your mind sharp with Israel’s CogniFit
Renewable Energy Conference shows depth of US-Israel collaboration
Filed under: Cleantech, Environment, Industry pulse, Uncategorized
When the second annual Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference took place recently with over 700 attendees, it was known and expected that some representatives from both the Israeli and US governments would be there to talk about new projects between the two governments and that there would be other officials from state governments and municipalities there to learn more about cleantech and the solutions for municipalities offered by the vendors in the exhibition. What was less expected was to learn about the collaboration efforts to go green being undertaken on the U.S. state and municipality level with Israel’s southern region.
During the conference I had the opportunity to meet John A. Berenyi, an alternative energy advisor who has been a key figure in initiating these joint projects. In July 2008, through his efforts, South Carolina became the first state to sign a collaboration agreement with the Eilat region. Under the agreement, the two will conduct research together on alternative and renewable energy opportunities and “promote a more sustainable environment and enhance the quality of life for the citizens of both regions.”
On a more local level, Mt. Vernon, NY is interested in becoming the first green municipality in the United States and is willing to be the first lab for using different Israeli technologies, and has become a sister city of Eilat’s to do so.
Berenyi’s plan is to expand collaboration efforts between state and municipalities and the Eilat region. Tapping state research programs and state VC funds will help make more joint efforts possible as will President Obama’s stimulus plan, which, hidden in little bits, has over $40 billion for alternative energy and sustainable projects that can be good for mature Israeli companies.
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