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
Company to watch in 2009: WorkLight, Inc
Filed under: Business Intelligence, Information Technology, Internet Security, Uncategorized, Web2.0
I meant to write about WorkLight last month but got caught up with things. As what happens every few weeks though, my attention has quickly been drawn back to the company again. In Jon Brodkin’s post on Network World earlier today, he listed the “Secure Web 2.0 for Business” Enterprise 2.0 company as one of 10 startups to watch in 2009. I couldn’t agree more.
WorkLight, Inc. seemed to have a stellar year in 2008, and as Web 2.0 in the enterprise continues to grow in 2009 despite the economic downturn, there’s no reason not to think that it won’t repeat it, and more. Since the company first showed up on my radar as one of two Israeli demonstrators at the 2007 DemoGermany conference in Munich, the company has raised an impressive round of funding, been chosen as one of the top 10 web startups in Israel’s version of the TechCrunch and Demo conferences and just last month, and partnered with NetVibes to develop secure widgets for the enterprise among other news about the company.
The company’s software is customized for specific industries and, as such, has helped simplify and accelerate the embracing and integration of Web 2.0 in the enterprise. On its website, the company explains itself and its offerings as follows:
“WorkLight® Inc. develops server software products that help businesses reach customers, channels, employees, and partners securely in the places they frequent online, such as iGoogle, Windows Live, desktop widgets, RSS readers, Facebook, even the Apple iPhone. Through WorkLight, people effortlessly get valuable information they desire, such as account status, product availability, or updates about their latest transactions. They can then take actions, for example order products or services, respond to promotions or offers, and consult with colleagues, without having to log into a portal or corporate web site. As such, WorkLight transforms consumer interfaces into enterprise-grade business tools that directly increase revenue.”
Here is an image from the site of how its products work.
Additionally, I’ve created a timeline of some of the WorkLight news that caught my attention in 2008
Company Facts
Founded in 2006.
Based in New York and Yakum, Israel.
Shahar Kaminitz, CEO and Co-Founder.
Doron Somer, Vice President of R&D.
Products: WorkBook, WorkLight for SAP, WorkLight for Technology Companies and WorkLight for Business Services.
Competitors include: Awareness Inc. and NewsGator Technologies Inc.
Customer industries: financial services, retail banking, manufacturing, book publishing, technology and IT services and utilities
Website: myworklight.com
13 Israel-related headlines from the week of December 14, 2008
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Partnerships, Uncategorized, Web2.0
The week of of December 14, 2008 was filled with news from the Madoff scandal, including reports that the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology lost $72 million. Israel’s clean technology continued to draw interest from different states in the United States and reports were releases that U.S. investors are still seeking to invest in Israeli companies. A partnership between IBM and Samsung led to the development of a software reuse technology and WorkLight announced that it partnered with NetVibes to develop new secure widget technologies for the enterprise. For these stories and more, check below for the 13 Israel-related headlines from the week of December 14, 2008.
Cleantech
1. State of Georgia looks to Israel for solutions to energy and water challenges
2. MRI, Israeli firm will create renewable energy technology center
Investments and Economy
3. US investors seek out Israeli high-tech opportunities
4. Peres calls for tax breaks for growth industries
5. Government Gives Boost to Hi-Tech
Information Technology
6. IBM Israel and Samsung develop software reuse technology
8. WorkLight® and Netvibes Pair Up To Develop New Secure Widget Technologies for the Enterprise
Miscellaneous
10. Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura (TV Week interview)
11. Terrorism spurs interest in Israeli tech
12. American Technion Society takes $72 million hit in Madoff scheme
13. USA Hockey to form Intelligym (Applied Cognitive Engineering Ltd.)
Bonus: Angel investor and Web 2.0 icon, Jeff Pulver hosted his famous real time social-networking breakfast twice in Israel this past week. The first one he hosted was in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, December 16th, which brought together over 400 people in Israel’s hi-tech industry. The second one was the following day, when Pulver hosted his first social networking breakfast in Jerusalem. The picture below is from the Jerusalem event. Pulver is in the center wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
16 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of November 16, 2008
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Partnerships
Featured during the week of November 16, 2008 were news of Michigan’s governor signing a water technology partnership agreement with Israel and news that Israel’s current drought is the worst its been in over 100 years. Security firm, Finjan announced that it raised $22 million and AOMi partnered with Cordys. Contradicting stories on the state of the Israel’s hi-tech sector from the Jerusalem Post and BusinessWeek also made the headlines. For these stories and more check out the headlines below.
Cleantech and Environment
1. Israel Facing Worst Water Crisis in More Than 100 Years
2. Mich. governor signs water technologies agreement
3. A Better Place In The San Francisco Bay Area
Investments and deals
4. AOMi Partners with Cordys to Enhance SaaS Business Model
5. ColdSpark Integrates Commtouch Messaging Security Suite into Mail Platform for Large Enterprises
6. Security firm Finjan raises $22 million
8. Taboola Funded for Video Recommendation Engine
Information Technology
9. Voltaire Powers World’s Largest Windows Supercomputer
10. HP and N-trig Deliver Innovative Hands-On Computing
11. WorkLight Helps Retail Banks Gain Edge by Embracing Secure Web 2.0
Miscellaneous
12. MSN Israel reborn
13. Infima Tech Introduces JPACK Compression Solution
14. Hard Times Hit Israel’s Tech Sector
15. US to lower Israeli airport’s safety ranking
16. Despite the tough times, Israel’s high-tech sector thrives
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.
14 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of August 24, 2008
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Information Technology, Web2.0
Cleantech news from Israel is heating up as Israel’s first solar farm became functional and an Israel Corp investment of $10 million into solar power company HelioFocus was announced during the week of August 24, 2008. Software optimizer, Replay Solutions received an $11 million investment and Aternity Inc announced its strategic partnership with Ness Technologies. The clothing design process is about to get revolutionized with Optitex software that “replicates fabrics so realistically that clothing designers can see what fashions will look and act like on people before garments are made.” For these full stories and more, check below for the 14 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of August 24, 2008
Cleantech
Israel says hi to hybrids
Israel’s first solar power station up and running in Negev
Israel ‘on verge of becoming world leader in cleantech’
M&A and Investments
Israel Corp unit invests $10m in solar power co HelioFocus
Aladdin to Vector: Access Denied for $13 a Share
Information Technology
Japan’s Fuji Television Network Selects Imperva for Database Monitoring and J-SOX Compliance
WorkLight: Bringing Enterprise 2.0 to a Widget Near You
Breaking News: Aternity and Ness Technologies Form Strategic Partnership
adCore™ Announces Full Yahoo! Search API Implementation
Miscellaneous
Robo-skeleton lets paralysed walk
A Boom in Israel’s Exports to India
Eyes turn to dawn of ‘visual computing’
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.
12 Israel-related headlines from the week of June 29, 2008 (Bonus edition)
Filed under: Business Intelligence, CRM, Company Briefs, Israeli Websites, VC, Web2.0
Israel’s hi-tech scene was in a bit of a lull during the week of June 29, 2008, perhaps because of July 4th in the United States. The biggest news was about Google AdWords killer, Peer39, which has a semantic search engine that brings back more accurate results and can thus display better ads. It also has the ability to differentiate between positive and negative contexts of words. After Peer39, Microsoft made headlines with two announcements. The first announcement was that it has partnered with Ben-Gurion University and the second was that MSN Israel will now be controlled fully by Microsoft and no longer jointly with Internet Gold. There was also a lot of technology investment-related news that took place. For these and the rest of the 12 technology-related headlines from the week of June 29, 2008, as well as a special bonus check below.
Technology
Microsoft and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announce agreement
A First Look Inside Peer39 & Its Semantic Advertising Technology
Microsoft to take full charge of MSN Israel
Alvarion® Sets Off First Mobile WiMAX™ Internet Service in the U.S.
Business
Cleantech Index (CTIUS) Expands Globally, Adds 33 New Companies
Israel’s high-tech culture must rejigger, VC says
Options trade points to stronger shekel
VMware Completes Acquisition of B-hive Networks
IncrediMail and Google Sign AdSense Direct Agreement
Miscellaneous
What Determines the Price of Oil?
Destination: San Francisco. And Still NoGoBoingo
Bonus
This past Tuesday, popular Israel Web 2.0 blog, the.co.ils hosted its annual web startup competition, TWS2008. Ten Israeli Web 2.0 companies were selected by an impressive list of judges and gave brief presentations about what they do. Some of the winners included, Nuconomy, Dapper, HiveSight and WorkLight. WorkLight securely brings personalized Web 2.0 into the enterprise. Here are two video clips of part of WorkLight’s presentation:
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.
17 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of April 27, 2008
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, VC
This past week, wind turbine start-up, TechnoSpin announced that it raised $8 million. Leviathan Energy signed a letter of intent to provide energy for India worth $50 million and WorkLight, an Enterprise 2.0 company, announced that it raised $12 million. Not surprisingly, the Jerusalem Post website, reported that Israeli start-ups have raised the most capital in 7 years. Also, making the news was that Best Buy will be partnering with community-based, product help site, FixYa, and that Mashable.com, a blog that covers social networks, will be hosting MashBash for 800 people in Tel Aviv next month. Expected attendees will be from some of the hottest Israeli start-ups today and biggest international companies with offices in Israel. I plan on going, and so should you. For more details on this and the rest of this week’s 17 Israel-related technology headlines, check out the list
below.
Cleantech
Wind turbine start-up TechnoSpin raises $8m
Solel Solar on the Hunt for Newport Beach HQ Space
Leviathan Energy to provide clean electricity for India
M&A and Investments
Start-ups raise most capital in 7 years
BluePhoenix shares jump after 1Q results meet Street views
Information Technology
Application security co Applicure gets Trafalgar investment
RoofArena Launches Beta Site; Interview with Shay Sharon
Best Buy buys into tech support 2.0
IBM setting up Israeli Lab for XIV
Miscellaneous
Jeff Pulver resigns as Pulvermedia chairman
Izzy Borovich sees Israel becoming “vacation state”
MashBash Tel Aviv and Israel Media Tour
Electric Nissans Planned in U.S. by 2010
“BusinessWeek” names Israel among innovation hotspots
Social networking meets search: Sightix
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.
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