September 18th, 2018 — Israel America Tech List

The Jewish holiday season is upon us, hence last week’s hiatus. This week is Yom Kippur but the Israel America Tech List can’t fast for long. We’ve got the Superbowl of Song, Foodtech, and Mandatory Entrepreneurship.

But first, a promo video from an Israeli drone company that delivers cheeseburgers to you on the golf course. While this video is…ahem…relatively cheesy and this application is not the most noble of pursuits, the company also wants to deliver medical supplies to remote areas of Africa.

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The Superbowl of song has come to town. Israeli singer Netta won the Eurovision contest this past May with her song ‘Toy’. For our non-Israeli readers, it’s basically like American Idol for all of Europe (yes yes, I know Israel isn’t in Europe…). There is an intra-country contest, the winner of which goes on to compete in the inter-country competition. Because Israel won, they get to host next year’s Eurovision. And hotel prices are skyrocketing. From May 14–18 next year 20,000 visitors are expected to flood Tel Aviv. Hotels, apartments, and youth hostels have raised their rates, some 100%, others a whopping 1400% according to Hotels Combined, a hotel comparison site.

Israel last won in 1998 when Dana International, the first trans contestant in the contest’s history, won. The following year the event took place in Jerusalem, but Airbnb had not been invented yet along with Tel Aviv’s standing as one of the most expensive Airbnb cities in the world. Expect a mid-May departure for me and most of the other people I know who have apartments in Tel Aviv. Source

Foodtech Update Part 1: A new VC fund is being set up in Israel by a veteran venture capitalist to tap into the global growth in interest in foodtech — the art of using technology to make healthier, more streamlined and more environmentally friendly food and beverages. Ruti Alon, the CEO, has over 35 years of experience in the life sciences industry, and served as general partner and head of life sciences investments and policies at Pitango Venture Capital, Israel’s largest VC fund, from 1997 to 2016. Source

Foodtech Update Part 2: The Israel Innovation Authority is planning to set up a new food technology incubator in the north of Israel, close to the city of Safed, with an investment of over NIS 100 million ($28 million) over eight years. Source

In Other News

Mandatory Entrepreneurship: A Hebrew University administrator has proposed that all students must take entrepreneurship classes, and the university brass are listening to him. The Startup Nation never ceases to amaze. Source

The European Investment Fund (EIF) today announced a $20 million investment in Israel, the fund’s first in Israel. This investment, the European Union’s first in Israeli high tech, is part of the InnoFin program in the framework of the European Horizon 2020 R&D program. SourceJob of the Week Limebike is looking for an Israel CEO to head up its operations in the country, hire a local team, and expand. Competition is heating up between Lime and Bird and several other local players, so this is a super exciting to time to join this quickly growing company. Message me to connect with the right people!

Dario, a smart-glucose monitoring system that connects to an app for people with diabetes, has offices in Israel and New York City and is hiring for a bunch of jobs including sales and marketing in both offices. They just raised $10 Million in a private placement and they may be increasing their hiring rate as a result. See their careers page and message me for connections.

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

Alpha Tau Medical, an Israeli developer of radiation-emitting implants for treating solid tumors, raised $29 million. Shavit Capital led, and was joined by Medison Pharma, OurCrowd, Ronald Cohen and Alan Patricof. Axios

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) agreed to buy Augmenix, an Israeli developer of an injectable prostate cancer spacer, for upwards of $600 million (including $500m upfront). Augmenix had raised over $70 million in VC funding from firms like OrbiMed, Redmile Group, DCM, Emergence Capital, McKesson Ventures and Catholic Health Initiatives. Axios

Intsite, an Israeli developer of autonomous cranes, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Terra Venture Partners. via Axios

BreezoMeter, an Israeli provider of hyperlocal air quality and pollen information, raised $7.75 million in Series B funding co-led by Goldacre and Entrée Capital. via Axios

XACT Robotics, an Israeli developer of a robotic surgery navigation and steering system for needle-puncture surgeries, raised $5 million in Series C funding. Axios

Pixellot, an Israeli automated AI-based sports production technology company, has raised $30 million in financing led by Shamrock Capital. Globes

ZenCity, an Israeli company using artificial intelligence to help municipalities make better managing and budgeting decisions, has raised a $6 million financing round led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from Microsoft’s M12 fund and return backer Canaan Partners Israel. Globes

Fleetonomy, an Israeli startup developing artificial intelligence (AI)-based vehicle fleet management solutions, has raised a $3 million seed round led by Vertex Ventures, Kardan Ventures, and VectoIQ. Globes

Spacemesh, an Israeli blockchain infrastructure company, has closed a $15 million Series A financing round led by Polychain, and with the participation of MetaStable, Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital, 1kx, Arrington XRP Capital, Danhua Capital, Gumi Crypto, Electric Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Jack Herrick. Globes

Freightos, a Freight logistics company, has raised a $44.4 million dollar Series C financing round led by Singapore Exchange (SGX). The round is joined by new and existing investors including General Electric Ventures, ICV, Aleph, and others. Globes

EquityBee, an Israeli company that has developed a platform for helping startup employees get the money required to exercise stock options, has raised $1.5 million in a seed round led by WeWork founder Adam Neumann and with the participation of 10bis founder Tamir Carmel, Playbuzz CEO Shaul Olmert, Ron Gura and Oren Abekasis. Globes

Sisense, an Israeli business analytics company, has raised $80 million in a Series E financing round led by Insight Venture Partners. Globes

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