Israel Innovation 2.0

During the week of August 2, 2009, it was announced that Shari Arison’s group Shikun u’Binui Real Estate Ltd. will install solar energy panels on the roofs of its projects under construction. VC investment is at it’s lowest in a decade and Panaya is providing software service for automating on-premise SAP upgrade. For these stories and more, check out this week’s 10 headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Israel’s Clean Tech Industry: A Broad Brush Overview

2. Arison unit to install solar panels on new projects

3. eSolar Shows Off Its Solar Thermal Tower

Investment
4. MoneyTree: VC investment lowest in decade

5. WeFi’s Directory Nearly 30 Million WiFi Hotspots Strong, Raises More Funding

Information Technology
6. Researchers hijack computer software update process

7. Panaya’s SaaS Helps On-Premise SAP

8. Waze: social navigation app for your phone

Miscellaneous
9. Employees’ Faith in a Company Can Boost Productivity

10. The ‘other Israel’

During the week of May 24, 2009, investments picked up with Tigo Solar, GreenRoad and Peer39 all receiving funding in the eight digits. Aladdin Knowledge Systems, under new ownership, received a nomination for its innovative information security technology, while 3DV – recently purchased by Microsoft – isn’t the only Israeli motion sensor company the software giant is looking to for improvements to its gaming technology. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 8 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 24, 2009, check below.  

Cleantech
1. Tigo Solar Energy Secures A $10 Million Investment

2. GreenRoad raises $15m from DAG Ventures and existing investors

Investments
3. Peer39 Raises $10.5 Million

Information Technology
4. Finalists Selected for 2009 CompTIA SoftwareCEO Software Innovation Awards (Aladdin Knowledge Systems)

5. More for less (SoftXpand)

6. New Email Technology Boosts US Businesses

Miscellaneous
7. Peeling back another layer of detail on Microsoft’s secret gesture-control system for games

8. Nostalgia Sunday – Dubon

During the week of February 15, 2009, Greylock Israel was revealed to be the most active Israeli venture capital fund in 2008. The Internet was abuzz with both Hulu’s plan to discontinue distributing its content via Boxee and Microsoft’s intention to further its Xbox technology by buying 3DV, a motion and depth sensor company that has technology that can turn a 2D gaming experience into a more interactive 3D one without having to use a controller. In the cleantech sector, news broke that Arison Holdings Ltd. subsidiary Housing and Construction Holding Co. Ltd. plans to build the largest private solar thermal power plant in the Negev. For these stories and more, check below for the 13 Israel-related headlines from the week of February 15, 2009. 

Cleantech
1. Lab-on-a-Chip the Latest Weapon Against Pollution

2. Arison plans private solar thermal power plant in Negev

Investments and M&A
3. 3DV buy could give Xbox a stronger punch

4. Greylock Israel the most active Israeli venture capital fund of 2008

Information Technology
5. LG Electronics Selects Intrinsyc to Provide Software for Navigation and Location-Based Services 

6. NSC Announces Multimedia Search Server for Enterprise Applications

7. Mellanox Builds Bridges for Data Center Connectivity

Telecom/Mobile
8. iSkoot Kalaida(TM) Platform Brings New Capability to Consumer Handsets

9. WeFi Joins Forces With free-hotspot.com To Expand Global Wi-Fi Network

Miscellaneous
10. Inshore in Nazareth 

11. Hulu Withdraws its Content from TV.com, Boxee

12. C-nario, TruMedia integrate audience measurement with digital signage software

13. Rapid Manufacturing Goes Hollywood

Two big deals were announced during the week of February 8, 2009. Solar energy company BrightSource inked the largest solar energy deal ever that will help power Southern California, while Web 2.0 news and blog recommendation engine, Outbrain raised an impressive $12 million. Google Israel announced that it will be restructuring and Dell introduced the Latitude XT2 Multitouch Tablet, its latest laptop to use N-Trig’s multitouch technology. For these stories and more, check out this week’s 16 Israel-related headlines below.

Cleantech
1. BrightSource Inks 1.3GW SoCal Edison Deal

2. Lamar Testing Solar-Powered Digital Billboards

3. Crisis Bodes Well For Electric Cars

4. Israeli Solar Company AORA Raises $5 Million

Investments
5. Israel’s Pontis gets $19.65 mln in equity financing

6. Outbrain, the news story recommendation service, gets $12M

Information Technology
7. Dell Intros Latitude XT2 Multitouch Tablet

8. Google Israel restructures

9. Startup Neocleus building bare-metal desktop hypervisor 

10. Industry’s Only Clientless Endpoint Security Management Solution

11. Acronova’s Entry Level DVD-R Duplication System Now Shipped with TrusCont Copy Protection System

Telecom/Mobile
12. Modu unveil modular cellphone jackets, promise big MWC launch news

13. Apps the new battlefield for mobile industry (Nexperience)  

14. Having Text? Cell Phone Users Are Cheating on Their Partners

Miscellaneous
15. How Social Media War Was Waged in Gaza-Israel Conflict

16. ‘Waltz with Bashir’ named WGA’s ‘best documentary’

The week of November 30, 2008 showed that (some) companies are still being funded, information security is still important and why Israelis are good at sales. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 16 Israel-related technology headlines.

Cleantech
1. “Israel’s Cleantech Predicted to Reach Legendary Status” by Minnesota Environmental Expert

2. Oree Raises $4M for Flexible LEDs

Investments and Economy
3. San Jose chipmaker gets $52M

4. Israel’s silicon valley seeks NIS 500 million state investment

5. US and Israel cooperate on new Beersheva tech park

6. The Tumult Reaches Israel’s Markets

Information Technology
7. Trusteer offers up malware search tool

8. Spartan Stores Deploys Retalix Dock Scheduling Solution

9. Organised e-crime demands pro-active defences

10. Commtouch in Top 50 Fastest Growing EMEA Technology Companies

Mobile
11. Mobile start-ups thrive in Israel

12. Facebook Messaging on Over One Billion Devices (Emoze)

Miscellaneous
13. Shalom, Christmas Shoppers: Israelis Sell Cosmetics, Toys at the Mall

14. Indo-Israeli trade ties the real target

15. Iran executes IT expert who spied for Israel

16. Don’t Want To Use Pre-Installed Microsoft Windows? Sue Dell

During the week of October 26, 2008, news continued out of Israel of the first lay-offs resulting from the turning economy. While companies such as AmDocs and Delver announced cut people, Check Point asserted that though its customers were being affected by the economy, the information security company wasn’t at the moment impacted enough by it to need to let go of any of its employees. The threat of Israel’s universities not opening this year was solved when Olmert ordered a NIS 515 million budget hike. Of course, this wasn’t the only news coming out of Israel this past week. For the full 15 Israel-related technology headlines, check below.

Cleantech
1. LucidLogix raises $18 million for parallel graphics processing technology

2. The Inaugural Israel Cleantech Tour to Arrive in California

3. Israeli cleantech start-ups head to the US to seek investment

4. Argonaut Increases Renewable Energy Interests with SolarReserve

Investments
5. Is The VC Vault Closing for Cleantech?

6. VC Drought? 70 Million Exceptions To The Rule

7. TC50 DemoPit Company Joongel Nets Investment for Stealth Product

8. $5.5 Million BlackBerry Fund Invests In Future Mobile Harvest

Information Technology
9. Will nanotechnology take over IT security?

10. MellanoxTechnologies Ranked Number 28 in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Program for Silicon Valley Software and Information Technology Companies

11. Innovative data solution and remarkable funding rounds help secure nomination as ‘Best New Company of the Year’

12. Check Point Software CEO sees no layoffs

Miscellaneous
13. Digital billboards get a little creepier

14. Mich. may be hot spot for Israeli businesses

15. Higher education crisis ends as Olmert orders NIS 515 million budget hike

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

During the week of October 19, 2008, startups in Israel and abroad continued to be warned to cut costs and be careful. Better Place (formerly known as Project Better Place) inked a deal with Australia and Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was rumored to abandon her efforts to build a new coalition government that would lead to her become Israel’s next prime minister. For links to these stories in full and the rest of the 16 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of October 19, 2008, check below.

Cleantech
1. Better Place to charge up Australia

2. Sunday Solar to power Israeli kibbutzim

3. While we wait for plug-in hybrids, electric cars bridge the gap

4. Funding becoming harder to get for green startups

Economy
5. Harris: Start-ups adapting to lean times

6. Not a merry Christmas ahead

7. Venture Capital Financing Slows Amid Economic Downturn

Information Technology
8. Tufin Technologies Adds Support for Fortinet With Release of SecureTrack 4.4

9. Contrust cleans up the social media mess

10. XMPie Releases One-to-One Print Marketing Solution

11. GlobalLogic Enters Israeli Software Product Development Market With Acquisition of InterObject

12. Oracle’s new acquisition includes Israeli R&D center

Miscellaneous
13. Minnesota eyes Israel markets

14. Explaining Israel’s high-tech success: Another view

15. Israeli Party Leader to Move for Elections

16. “Within ten years, everything will be cellular”

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

During the week of October 5, 2008, Israel’s cleantech industry continued to make progress and headlines. The biggest cleantech story being that the Cleantech Group has partnered with the California Israel Chamber of Commerce. In telecommunications, JaJah which hasn’t made any significant headlines in the past few months, “re-emerged,” while in Trusteer made another announcement that caught attention. Of course, there was plenty of IT and financial crisis-related headlines making this week’s 14 Israel-related technology headlines as well. For the full list, scroll below.

Cleantech
1. Cleantech Group Partners With California Israel Chamber of Commerce

2. An electrifying solution for wastewater treatment

Information Technology
3. Zoran’s IPS(TM) Interpreter for XPS Earns Logo Certifications From Microsoft

4. JAJAH Gives Voice to Global Innovators

5. CopperGate Communications Named Most Promising Start-up in Israel

6. Beijing Website Aims at High Performance w/ Crescendo

Information Security
7. IBI: SAP profit warning danger to Israeli firms

8. PineApp Ltd. Positioned in Niche Player Quadrant for E-Mail Security Boundaries Magic Quadrant

9. Trusteer Receives “Best of the Web” Award from Online Banking Report

Miscellaneous
10. Israel’s booming hi-tech industry

11. Mobileye Answers Call for U.S. Driver Safety Solutions

12. ‘Universities can’t open academic year’

13. How many Israelis will lose their jobs due to financial crisis?

14. The Five Plagues of Israel: 5 reasons for the exceptionally low Q2 results

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel.  Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

Though there wasn’t a lot of technology news coming from Israel during the week of September 28, 2008, the cleantech industry received a significant amount of the coverage that it did receive. The big news in the industry was that the future of cleantech is still promising and that the climate does impact cleantech investment. Widget company, Gigya raised funds and much of SanDisk’s value has to do with MSystems, Ltd. For the full stories on these and more, check below for this week’s 10 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of September 28, 2008.

Cleantech
1. Clean technologies to create business opportunities, say panelists

2. Accelerated business response to climate change drives cleantech investment

3. Cleantech investment breaks all-time record

Investments
4. JVP Media V holds $100m first closing

5. Gigya Raises $11 Million Series C Round

Information Technology
6. Sandbox security versus the evil Web (Trusteer and Check Point)

7. New Chip Technology Is Crucial to SanDisk’s Value (MSystems, Ltd)

Miscellaneous
8. PicScout Continues to Guard Visual Content Copyright

9. Stellar Startups: The spirit of a startup

10. Israel’s population in New Year: 7.3 million, 76% Jewish

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

There may be trouble lurking around the corner for Israel’s economy given the current instability of the global economy, but it hasn’t entirely stopped investments being made in Israeli companies and probably won’t. During the week of September 21, 2008, there were announcements of funds being raised in several sectors of Israel’s hit-tech industry, with the most impressive one by far being the $63M in fourth round funding that business transaction software provider, OpTier raised. (Of course, as a fourth round, that indicates the company is fairly established so presumably much less a gamble than any seed and early stage startups.) Some other headlines from Israel include Kfar Saba became the first city in Israel to go green, Commtouch received an award for its messaging security technology and HP has chosen the Technion as a research partner. For more on these and the rest of the 16 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of September 21, 2008, check the list below.

Cleantech
1. Kfar Saba becomes first city to go green

2. 21Ventures and Quercus Trust award grant to support solar research at Weizmann Institute

Investments and M&A
3. InstallFree Secures $8.5 Million in VC Funding

4. Adap.tv Lands $13M in Venture Funding

5. Norwest Venture Partners sets it sights on Israel with new appointment

6. OpTier raises $63 million in funding

Information Technology
7. SiSense Launches Pricing and General Availability of Its Prism Business Intelligence Software

8. Jacada Announces General Availability of Jacada® WorkSpace 5.0

9. Frost & Sullivan Honors Commtouch with European Messaging Security Technology Innovation of the Year Award

10. Point-of-Sale Advertising Goes High Tech

Miscellaneous
11. Local economy set to grow 4.5%

12. Israeli Internet Companies Seek Partners in Atlanta

13. How to Expand into the U.S. Market

14. Hi-tech salaries drop as inflation heats up

15. New Worlds: Technion chosen as HP research partner

16. Startup Helps Find What You Weren’t Looking for (SemantiNet)

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.