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
Funding Israeli startups during the economic crisis: The Israel Conference
Filed under: Cleantech, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Partnerships, Uncategorized, VC, cloud computing
Despite the economic downturn, Israel’s startup scene is as strong and vibrant as ever. Just as the innovation hasn’t stopped, neither has the need for outside funding to develop these exciting technologies. Several conferences and forums have been organized in the past few weeks to maximize the access of Israeli startups to the funding they need. One that hasn’t happened yet, but will on June 4th in LA, is the The Israel Conference.
Considered the first of its kind, The Israel Conference will have more than $20 billion in capital represented when it brings together over 50 Israel-facing companies to showcase Israeli excellence in technology and products and to expand business and investment opportunities between Israel and California.
Presenters and panelists include Yossi Vardi (”the Father of Israeli Hi-Tech”), Erel Margalit (founder of Jerusalem Venture Partners, a venture capital fund) and Jeff Pulver (social media guru and VoIP pioneer) . The presentations will cover a wide range of topics from a look at VCs and the CEOs they back (why they were funded and the results today) to green tehcnology (how innovation in that field is helping the earth and changing our lives) and sales opportunities in a slow economy (where the money is, what the current market is like and how Israeli companies are maintaining a competitive edge).
Some of Israel’s overall edge and Caifrornia’s role in it can be attributed to the following:
- Israel has over 8,000 patents from a population of just 7 million.
- Within the past 15 years, major companies have risen that were developed in Israel and have their corporate office in California with job creation in the hundreds of thousands, world-wide. A number of these are Fortune 500 today with corporate offices in California such as Check Point, Zoran, and Amdocs.
- Israel has the largest number of scientists in the world per capita at 145/10,000 compared to the US with 85/10,000.
- In 2008, over $2B in capital was invested over 480 Israeli high-tech companies, an increase of 18% over prior year with 50% coming from funds outside of Israel, mostly from the US.
- Over the past 3 years, Israeli firms raised $2.3Billion in IPOs on exchanges around the world while over $18B was spent on acquisitions of Israeli High Tech companies.
The conference will also feature a presentation by Bob Rosenschein, the CEO and Founder of Answers.com, one of the Top 20 fastest growing Websites. I recently had the chance to interview Rosenschein and will post about that next in this series.
Globes announces 2008 “Start-up of the Year”
Filed under: Industry pulse, Information Technology, Mobile Web, Telecomunications, VC
The 12th annual Israel Journey took place earlier today in Tel Aviv. During the conference, which is organized by Ernst & Young Israel and Israeli business newspaper, Globes, Globes announced its top 10 Israeli companies for 2008-2009 as follows:
YCD Multimedia Ltd.
Tulip Medical Ltd.
Dune Networks, Ltd.
Aternity Inc.
Payoneer, Inc.
N-Trig, Ltd.
Altair Semiconductor Ltd.
Vascular Biogenics (3rd Place)
InfoGin, Ltd. (2nd Place, picture on right is of CEO and Founder, Eran Wyler)
Amobee, Ltd. (”Start-up of the Year”)
Congratulations to the top 10 start-ups!
More on the conference to come tomorrow.
About the author: Lisa Damast currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog can be directed to her via email at lisa (at) israelinnovation20 (dot) com. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and headlines among other topics.
Companies in brief: 29 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of December 16, 2007
The week of December 16, 2007, was filled with new headlines related to the future of nanotechnology in Israel and abroad. Cleantech received its usual attention about investments, plans and government initiatives, and internationally, speculation of a recession in the U.S. and inflation continued. Check out these headlines and the rest of this week’s 29 Israel-related technology headlines below.
Cleantech:
Israel And The US Partner For Clean Energy
World Bank mulls financing Negev solar project
Evogene and Ormat subsidiary receive biodiesel grant
Ben-Eliezer offers plan to promote renewable energy
Israel Cleantech Ventures invests in Citrine Renewable Energy
Solar Market to reach $40 Billion in 5 Years
Investments and M&A:
Value of Israeli VC exits rises 30% in 2007
Don’t believe them: Brokers will tell you TASE stocks are a bargain. Here’s why they aren’t.
Noise control co Silentium raises $1.8m
Plenus invests $2.5m in Logia Content Development
Radcom raises $2.5m in PIPE offering
American VC funds favor Israel, China
CopperGate to be the 1st Israeli start-up to list on NASDAQ in 2008
Nanotechnology:
Israeli Nanotechnology companies have doubled since 2005
Yissum gives birth to biotechnology start up Nanolymf
Nanotechnology Companies Planning to Sell Shares
International:
South American trade block signs trade pact with Israel
Jim Rogers: US is in recession, the administration is lying
Your Taxes: Korea welcomes Israelis
China Less Willing to Be America’s Piggy Bank
Telecommunications:
Ericsson to equip Partner Communications with advanced 3G equipment
Breakthrough deal for Alvarion
Why The Internet Needs to Become a National Priority for Israel
Miscellaneous:
IBM Unveils Semantic Search For Corporate E-mail
Plexiglas-like DVD to hold 1TB of data
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