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iPhone and 10 Israel-related headlines from the week of June 14, 2009

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During the week of June 14, 2009, Israel was named a developed market which will be effective in 2010 and its economy was hit less hard due to the high tech industry. While the protests, demonstrations and online activity heated up in Iran, Israel’s Fring announced that its software was being used by several protesters and helping their cause. Inside Israel, the biggest news was that the iPhone from Apple will finally be coming to Israel officially. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 10 Israel-related headlines check below.

Cleantech
1. The Next Solar Frontier: Distributed Inverter Architecture

2. Fifty Best Tech Startups

Investments
3. Israeli exports hit less thanks to high tech

4. Israel Named Developed Market at MSCI, Korea Isn’t

Information Technology
5. Storage Startup Axxana Announces the Availability of the Phoenix System

6. Update on the Cloud

7. Iranian protesters using Israeli software

8. Blue Coat ProxyClient Software Gains OESISOK Certification

Miscellaneous
9. Israeli carriers line up to sell iPhone

10. Coca Cola Israel develops new flavor

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VC funding and 10 Israel-related headlines, Week of June 7, 2009

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During the week of June 7, 2009, research showed that the recession has impacted VC plans, which was long suspected and that cleantech investments faired the best of the different sectors. It was revealed that Intel’s recent acquisition of Wind River Systems includes an R&D center in Israel while the investment and Israeli startup series on Israel Innovation 2.0 continued with a closer look at Answers.com. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 10 Israel-related headlines.

Cleantech
1. Giving New Meaning to ‘Electric Avenue’

2. Flower Power: World’s First Hybrid Solar-Gas Turbine Turning on Soon

Investments
3. Deloitte survey shows recession hit on VC plans

4. All that glitters / Nothing ventured, nothing lost

5. Israeli startups during the economic crisis: Answers.com

Information Technology
6. Intel acquisition has Israel center

7. Peer39 Digs Deep With Semantics

8. The ‘Final’ Frontier of Algorithmic Trading

Miscellaneous
9. Nike to Introduce Shoe Recycling Program in Israel

10. Madonna announces second concert in Israel this summer

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Israeli startups during the economic crisis: Answers.com

In the first post of this series, I wrote about The Israel Conference which took place in LA last week and how its purpose was “to showcase Israeli excellence in technology and products and to expand business and investment opportunities between Israel and California.”

The conference had more than $20 billion in capital represented and brought together over 50 Israel-facing companies for a day full of presentations and advice from some of Israel’s most well-known investors (Jeff Pulver and Yossi Vardi) and most successful startups (i.e., Check Point, Tigo Energy, Answers.com, etc.).

rosenacom

Bob Rosenschein

Answers.com is one of the most interesting websites coming out of Israel. It was founded by current CEO, Bob Rosenchein in 1999 as GuruNet and struggled as a desktop software company before its reincarnation as the Web-based answers service, Answers.com in January 2005.

The site which used to dub itself an “encyclodictionalmanacapedia” started out licensing content from encyclopedias and dictionary companies, such as Barron’s, Miriam-Webster and Wikipedia among over 250 others. In November 2006, the company acquired the user-generated Q&A site, FAQ Farm and renamed it WikiAnswers.com.

WikiAnswers has since fueled Answers.com’s current growth, which, in a recent interview I had with Bob Rosenschein, he attributes to a successful cycle of “Traffic. Questions. Answers”- traffic leads to questions being asked which leads to questions being answered on a continuous basis.

WikiAnswers

WikiAnswers

The increased traffic has led Answers.com to become one of the top 20 fastest growing websites in 2009 and the site to become profitable.

“The biggest news of 2008 for us was that in the second half of 2008 Answers.com turned profitable,” Rosenschein explains.

Answers.com’s profitability isn’t just from an increase in traffic though. As it has shown from its GuruNet days, it isn’t afraid to make changes and tweaks to anything. To increase profitability, the company changed its revenue model in 2008 moving from direct ads to display ads and performance ads, “the performance ads being the most profitable.”

Among the constant tweaks the company is making, we can expect to see in the next year “improvements in search, more functionality and internationalism.” The site will be made available in the languages of non-English countries that currently provide significant traffic to the site.

Rosenschein’s advice to startups is, “Be flexible. Roll with the punches, hold onto cash and be able to adapt. The most important thing is perseverance- don’t give up too quickly.”

Update June 15, 2009 Globes reported today that Answers.com has raised an additional $7 million from Redpoint Ventures.

(Disclaimer: As part of a work experience program in the summer of 2006,  I interned at Answers.com in Jerusalem for six weeks.)

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Confidela and 15 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 31, 2009

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During the week of May 31, 2009, Sunday Energy, SolarEdge and Ormat all had major announcements related to providing alternative energy in Israel, while GameGround and The Box successfully raised funds. In IT, Discretix explained the threat of bank accounts being hacked on mobile phones and Trusteer signed a contract with PSECU in England. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 15 Israel-related headlines, check below.

Cleantech
1. Sunday Energy forges new ground in Israel with Ormat

2. Israeli firm boosts performance of photovoltaic solar array

3. Exploiting Limited Resources

Investments
4. GameGround snags $4.1 million from Sequoia for gamer services

5. Investment in Green Energy Quadruples in 4 Years

6. Israel’s The Box Secures Funding from Greylock Partners to Target US and Other International Markets

Information Technology
7. PC Touch-Screen Technology Moving Beyond Curiosity

8. How much serious is the threat of hacking bank accounts via mobile phones? (Discretix)

9. PSECU Secures Web Channel with Trusteer

10. Virtualize Your Internet Connection with BufferZone

11. WatchDox Makes Document Security Simple

Miscellaneous
12. Central Park’s Tel Aviv ‘beach party’

13. Video: Microsoft’s Project Natal in action

14. Nestle producing new breakfast cereal in Sderot

15. Brain research center to be built at Hebrew University

Cleantech, Company Briefs, Information Technology, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

Funding Israeli startups during the economic crisis: The Israel Conference

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.

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Peer39 and 8 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 24, 2009

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During the week of May 24, 2009, investments picked up with Tigo Solar, GreenRoad and Peer39 all receiving funding in the eight digits. Aladdin Knowledge Systems, under new ownership, received a nomination for its innovative information security technology, while 3DV – recently purchased by Microsoft – isn’t the only Israeli motion sensor company the software giant is looking to for improvements to its gaming technology. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 8 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 24, 2009, check below.  

Cleantech
1. Tigo Solar Energy Secures A $10 Million Investment

2. GreenRoad raises $15m from DAG Ventures and existing investors

Investments
3. Peer39 Raises $10.5 Million

Information Technology
4. Finalists Selected for 2009 CompTIA SoftwareCEO Software Innovation Awards (Aladdin Knowledge Systems)

5. More for less (SoftXpand)

6. New Email Technology Boosts US Businesses

Miscellaneous
7. Peeling back another layer of detail on Microsoft’s secret gesture-control system for games

8. Nostalgia Sunday – Dubon

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12 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 17, 2009

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During the week of May 17, 2009, news focused on a California cleantech investors mission to Israel that was deemed successful and Israeli companies trying to build a global profile for themselves. In mobile and video technology, Waze announced its technology, which offers real-time traffic reports based on user input, and Yaniv Axen of SundaySky was interviewed. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 12 headlines, check below. 

Cleantech

1. UN Climate Talks: Cleantech IP Battle of the Year?

2. Will the Electric Car Make the World a Better Place?

Investment

3. Israeli Companies Seek Global Profile

4. China’s 4 trillion Yuan stimulus package: Israeli opportunities

5. IVA 2009 – Business as Usual?

Information Technology and Web 2.0

6. Waze: The traffic of the crowds

 7. B.O.S. to provide large-scale wastemanagement solution

8. Yaniv Axen, Co-Founder of SundaySky

9. AcCells Named a Mobile Innovation Grand Prix Nominee

10. Innovating Video Conferencing In Israel

Miscellaneous

11. Photo: Sandstorm Strikes Israel

12. Viva Tel Aviv!

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14 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 10, 2009

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During the week of May 10, 2009, solar power received significant attention between Aora’s solar panel technology and BrightSource striking the largest ever solar power deal in the United States. Better Place demonstrated its battery swap technology and Hacktics, an applications security company, raised 2.2 million Euro. OpTier, Correlix, and Promisec, along with 13 other Israeli companies were listed on Red Herring’s 100 and the social streaming video provider, Boxee’s plans to make its software available to the Windows market was discussed. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 14 Israel-related headlines, check below.

Cleantech

1. Aora Makes The Desert Bloom With Sunshine Flower Power

2. PG&E expands solar power plans

3. Better Place demonstrates battery swap technology in Japan

Investments

4. Mo’Minis Finds Mo Money For Mo Games

5. Applications security co Hacktics raises €2.2m

Information Technology

6. Intel Israel: Don’t just think fast, think ahead

7. Start-up Testuff Selected as One of the Best and Most Promising Start-ups by IGT

8. OpTier, Correlix, PromiSec Red Herring 100 finalists

9. ClickSoftware releases the integration between ClickSchedule 7.1 and mySAP CRM 3.1

10. WeFi Launches on Android, Enabling Automatic Connection To Best Available Wi-Fi Hotspot

Miscellaneous

11. Microsoft’s gesture-based game control to debut in 2010

12. Boxee Battles Big Media

13. Decline in demand for hi-tech jobs slows in April

14. Taylor Swift’s Music Is Safe To Drive To

Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

13 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 3, 2009

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During the week of May 3, 2009, BusinessWeek highlighted Israel’s cleantech sector and investors while Globes published an article that venture funds are looking for computing companies to invest in in Israel. Despite these promising stories, the worldwide venture industry continued to be hit by the slowdown in the first quarter. Not all of the Israel-related tech headlines were related to investments though, for these stories and others on Cyber-Ark, Tufin Technology, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and more, check below. 

Cleantech

1. Israel’s Clean Technology Pioneers

2. B-Solar, solar cell start-up, raises $3m from Genesis Partners

Investments

3. Slowdown Hit Venture Industry Worldwide In First Quarter

4. NVP, Greylock seek cloud computing cos in Israel

Information Technology

5. Tufin welcomes David Blunkett’s opinions on cybercrime awareness at Infosec

6. Sequoia-Backed Kenshoo Moves to San Francisco

7. Is Cisco abandoning Israel?

8. Cyber-Ark’s security helps keep Swine Flu under control

Miscellaneous

9. Barkat presents first master plan for Jerusalem in 50 years

10. The Digital Eve Israel 2009 Visual Blogroll

11. It pays to study computer science in Herzliya

12. Xbox 360 motion-sensor reveal rumored for E3

13. Israeli co says holds keys to stop flu’s spread

Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Uncategorized , , , , , ,

Tufin on the rise

Tufin Technologies, which provides Security Lifecycle Management solutions, has really picked up steam since the beginning of the year. The company, which is five years old, has won three awards in recent weeks and recently attended the RSA conference (the largest infosec conference of its kind) in San Francisco, where the above video was recorded.

Last week it announced that its flagship product, SecureTrack, was named Best Enterprise Security Solution by SC Magazine UK, and received an honorable mention as the Best Security Management Solution.

According to Tufin’s Website, 

“Tufin’s Security Lifecycle Management solutions automate policy management for leading firewall and networking vendors including Check Point Software, Juniper, Cisco, Fortinet, F5 and BlueCoat, resulting in more manageable, efficient and cost effective security operations. Its flagship product SecureTrack, helps security operations teams to control and manage policy changes, analyze risks, and ensure business continuity. With SecureTrack, managers easily understand the big picture and align operations with corporate and Government security standards.”

 Tufin also made InformationWeek’s Startup 50 list of young companies recognized for delivering innovative, high value, enterprise ready solutions and was named best Security Lifecycle Management Solution by InfoSecurity Products Guide.

In addition to SecureTrack, the company offers SecureChange Workflow and the newly-released (at the RSA conference), Tufin Open Platform (TOP).

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