Aug 21st 2018 — Israel America Tech List
Tuesday Tech Update
Regards from rainy Philadelphia and apologies for the late send. It’s the Israel Tech America List with Pepsi/Sodastream deets and gut tech (not bubble related). Oh, and apparently, Israel is worth $4.3 Trillion.
But first, here’s a pic of Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors shooting an assault rifle with a special Israeli police counter-terrorism unit.
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The big news of the week is that PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP) agreed to buy SodaStream (Nasdaq: SODA), the Israeli at-home soda machine maker, for $3.2 billion, or $144 per share in cash. Dan Primack of Axios always has some great analysis so I will quote/paraphrase some of his insights here. This is big news because it plays into two ground-shaking trends within the beverage space: One toward less sugary carbonated drinks, and another away from single-use plastic bottles. The price represents nearly an 11% premium on Friday’s closing price for SodaStream shares, and a 32% premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price. “On August 1 SodaStream reported its strongest results in the company’s history… a 31% year-over-year jump in revenue to $172 million, an 89% leap in operating profit to $32 million and an 82% climb by net profit to $26 million.” — Eran Azran, Haartetz
Interesting article with some overview of the symbolism and history of Sodastream.
In Other News
The U.S. law firm Kobre & Kim has teamed up with litigation financier Bentham IMF to create a $30 million fund that will finance lawsuits by Israeli startups against big multinational corporations and provide legal representation. The aim is to enable startups that don’t have the financial or human resources to pursue cross-border lawsuits. SourceJob of the Week
This week’s position comes out of Montreal where we have a number of readers. There’s a couple of brilliant MBA/investment guys that I know who are looking for a marketing specialist. It seems like an amazing opportunity and working for these guys would be an incredible learning experience. They wrote a very detailed description on LinkedIn but basically they bought a business called Approach Tours and are looking for someone to launch literally all of their marketing efforts. Click to see the gig and please message me directly if you or someone you know is looking to apply.
If you have a job or other opportunity of some kind, let me know and I will happily include it in future emails!Tech Deals
Aeronautics, a listed Israeli maker of military drones, rejected a $117 million takeover offer from state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Axios
Bosco, an Israeli app that lets parents monitor their children’s smartphone activities and alerts parents to signs that indicate distress, including in interactions on social media, changes in daily routine, or the child’s tone during phone calls. They raised a $4 million Series A ed by London-based Arie Capital and Singapore-based FengHe Fund Management. Calcalist
Fosun, a Chinese conglomerate, has announced a $5 million strategic investment in Israeli fintech company The Floor, which is building the “Bank of the Future”. Globes
Elbit Systems (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) has invested an undisclosed amount in HTC’s Vive X accelerator. Vive X manages a $100 million investment fund for AR, VR, and AI.. Globes
Twistlock, a Portland-based cloud security company, has raised a $33 million Series C funding round led by ICONIQ Capital. Existing investors Dell EMC, YL Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures, Rally Ventures Management, and Polaris Venture, all participated. Twistlock’s R&D is based in Israel. Calcalist
DayTwo, an Israeli gut microbiome analysis startup, has signed a partnership agreement with Clalit, one of Israel’s four health maintenance organizations. As part of the deal, Clalit will offer its members DNA analysis of gut microbiome and personalized nutritional insights based on DayTwo’s technology. Calcalist
DouxMatok, an Israeli company that says it is able to reduce the quantity of sugar in foods without affecting the taste announced on Monday a partnership with German sugar company Südzucker to commercialize its product. TOI
The Israeli Securities Authority approved the sale of a majority stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to a group of foreign investor including hedge fund Manikay Partners, Sunsuper, an Australian Pension fund, Moelis Australia Asset Management, Dalton Investments, a distressed debt investment firm, and Novo Nordisk Foundation, a Danish philanthropic foundation. Haaretz
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