October 16th 2018 — Israel America Tech List
It’s the Israel America Tech List for October 16th. We’re talking about weed and university research labs. The opportunity of the week is huge! Scroll down to take a look.
But first, a picture of Tova Ringer, a 93-year-old woman who was crowned this year’s Miss Holocaust Survivor at the annual beauty pageant taking place in Israel. Tova survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and is now a great-grandmother. No word on what her special talent was or her thoughts on world peace.
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Stay In the Know
Event Announcement! The 5th Annual Conference of Israel’s Technology Transfer Organizations will take place next week. And I’m really excited for it! Tech Transfer is the process of taking university research and spinning it out into valuable intellectual property and possibly startups. Israel apparently has more revenue from IP sales than any other country besides the US. See this link for details.
Speaking of Tech Transfer: Yissum, The Technology Transfer Company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, announced the launch of its new NanoTech seed fund, which will focus on promising innovations emerging from Hebrew University’s nanotech research. The fund has already secured $6 million from top international strategic and institutional investors, and will raise up to $9 million. The fund will focus on smart materials and nanotechnologies, funding deep technologies offering integrated solutions in the areas of 3D printing, quantum science, and renewable energy. Source
Speaking of University Research Labs: A $2.3 million investment has seen a cannabinoid research lab called Lumir Lab established on the campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The investment came from Asana Bio Group Ltd., an Israeli holding company specializing in medical cannabis ventures. Asana CEO and co-founder Yotam Hod will also manage the lab. Set up in 2017 but only very recently licensed by the Israeli health ministry, the lab will provide clinical validation, analyses, and solutions to companies operating in the medical cannabis industry, as well as custom product formulations, cannabinoids and terpenes profiling, and product compliance services. Source
In Other News
Speaking of Weed: The stock of Israeli medical cannabis company InterCure, has gone up 58.2% since the appointment of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to the role of chairman. Tel Aviv-traded Intercure announced the appointment on September 25, prompting the stock to go up 24.76% by that day’s end. Barak is set to lead Intercure’s global expansion strategy and will earn $10,000 for 40 hours per month, the company said. Within two weeks, Barak’s stock options, convertible into 5% of Intercure’s stock, had gone up 82% which gives Barak’s option a total value of more than $1.1 million (NIS 4 million). SourceOpportunity of the Week Investment opportunity in a well-established solar developer building utility-scale solar farms in developing countries. They are looking for $250k in bridge financing to bridge them to a likely liquidity even and then a pathway to a possible IPO. Minimum investment is $10k. Please let me know if you would like more information and an intro to the company.
Note: This is not investment solicitation. This opportunity is listed purely for informational purposes
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
Walmart has announced a strategic entertainment joint venture with Israeli interactive video technology developer Eko. No financial details about the partnership were disclosed but “Reuters” and the “New York Times” report that Walmart will invest $250 million in the joint venture. Globes
Kitov Systems, Israeli visual inspection solutions developer for industrial manufacturing, has raised $10 million led by RSBG through HAHN Group, and with the participation of Global IOT Technology Venture. Globes
Demisto, an Israeli cybersecurity company, announced the closing of a $43 million Series C funding round led by Greylock Partners with the participation of previous investors Accel Partners, and ClearSky Security. Globes
Salesforce has invested in TechSee Augmented Vision, an Israeli company with a cognitive visual engagement platform. No financial details were disclosed. The company has raised $7.5 million in a Series A financing round last year led by Planven Investments with participation from innogy, Comdata Group and existing investor OurCrowd. Globes
Wasteless, an Israeli dynamic pricing startup that cuts the price of products on the shelf when the expiry date approaches, has closed a $2 million financing round led by Dutch venture capital fund Slingshot Ventures. Globes
SolarEdge Technologies, an Israeli Nasdaq-listed smart energy company has entered into definitive agreements to acquire a major stake in Kokam, a South Korean battery company. SolarEdge will own a stake of approximately 75% in Kokam, valued at approximately $88 million. Following the announcement, SolarEdge’s stock rose by 6.37% by market close Friday, trading at 39.39$ per stock. Calcalist
Glilot Capital Partners, an Israeli venture capital firm, has closed its third fund at $110 million. Like Glilot’s two previous funds, Glilot III will focus on early stage investments in artificial intelligence, big data, and cybersecurity startups. Glilot will now manage $240 million across three funds. Calcalist
ciValue Systems, an Israeli retail analytics startup, announced it completed a $6 million Series A. The round was led by Nielsen, an early-stage tech incubator licensed by the Chief Scientist of Israel, and by Portuguese venture capital firm Sonae IM Emery Investments. Calcalist
Bristol-Myers Squibb, a NYSE-listed bio-pharm company has invested $12 million in Israel-based cancer immunotherapy company Compugen, the companies announced Thursday. Bristol-Myers Squibb will receive 2,424,243 shares of Compugen stock purchased at $4.95 per share, representing a 33% premium. The stocks of Tel Aviv-traded compugen were up 3.24% by end-of-day Thursday. Calcalist
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