Israel Innovation 2.0

The investment gap in Israel that has been left open by VCs in recent years is about to be partially filled with the recent launch of JANVEST.

JANVEST is an investment fund that pools together the money of angel investors in the United States and invests in Israeli startups with it. Founded by Danny Yatom, former Director of the Mossad, the fund seeks to fill the investment gap left by VC funds who have for the most part turned away from seed and early stage startups.

Unlike other companies currently investing in Israeli startups, JANVEST’s business model will enable a broader range of US investors to participate and help build deeper and stronger ties between US investors and the Israeli economy.

Starting out with a fund of $5 million, JANVEST plans to invest in 10 companies in six sectors: Information Technology, Alternative Energy, Software, Security, Internet and Telecommunications.

In an interview with Managing Partner Brian Rosenzweig, Rosenzweig explained that the first three things the company will look at in startups seeking funding are: the founders, the quality of the technology and market trends.

“We first invest in people. We look at the management team, the integrity of the founders, their track record, along with their vision and enthusiasm,” Rosenzweig said.

The company is currently raising its first round and will start investing in Israeli companies in the next few months. Along with Rosenzweig, JANVEST is lead by Managing Partner and CEO Felix Zilberstein and Managing Partner Gerry Sapir.

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Emefcy technology uses bacteria that can produce electricity from wastewater, such as this lagoon. Photo courtesy of Emefcy

Globes is reporting that Israeli sewage technology company Emefcy has raised $5 million for a commercial pilot. Founded in 2007 Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, Emefcy‘s main product, the MEGAWATTER system aids the management of wastewater by reducing energy consumption by applying microbial fuel cells. The cells feed on the wastewater and can produce electricity or hydrogen. continue reading…

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

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.

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.

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

Global Agenda: It’s back

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

Meeting of the minds

Israeli women: Harassment vs. high-tech

The 1st Human Operating System