Bitesize Cyber Monday: Anobit, Oberon, Sightic-Vista, MyThings, Celeno and Startup Tools

Israeli Startups Funding Rounds

Celeno Communications, developer of Wi-Fi chips for high-definition multimedia and entertainment home networking applications, has raised $12 million in a financing round. Liberty Global, the world’s second largest cable TV operator, participated in the round. Previous Celeno investors Pitango Venture Capital, Greylock Partners, Miven Venture Partners, and Cisco Systems Inc.  also participated in the round. [official announcement]

Mobile gaming company Oberon Media raised a fifth round of $16 million – some of the funds raised are from previous investors Goldman Sachs, Infinity I-China Fund and Oak Investment Partners. Previous investors have included: former eBay chairman Jeffrey Skoll through Capricorn Management; Zohar Gilon; Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers before its collapse. [source]

Anobit, producer of flash memory technology used in data storage and smart phones, has announced raising $32 million in a round led by Intel Capital, bringing the total amount raised by the company to over $70 million. Founded in 2006, Anobit has several of Israel’s top high-tech entrepreneurs are behind it: chairman and CEO Prof. Ehud Weinstein; president Ariel Maislos; and Ofir Shalvi. In addition to Intel Capital, investors include Pitango Venture Capital, Battery Ventures, and strategic investors. [source]

myThings, an Israeli startup developing retargeting advertinsing technology, has announced a third round of funding of $6 million led by T-Venture, the venture capital company of Deutsche Telekom. Current investors Accel Partners, Carmel Ventures, Dotcorp Asset Management, and GP Bullhound also participated. The company’s proprietary optimization technology facilitates serving personally tailored ads, generated in real-time based on an understanding of what pages the user has visited before being exposed to the ad. [source: Mythings PR]

Israeli startup Acquisitions

Semiconductor giant Broadcom made its seventh acquisition in Israel a few days ago, acquiring image processing company Sightic Vista. The acquisition was reportedly for $10-20 million, less than Broadcom normally spends and below the threshold requiring notification. Broadcom confirmed the acquisition, but declined to provide additional details. Sightic declined to comment. [source]

Israeli startup events:

Bootcamp Innovation – Dec 1st
BootCamp Ventures is proud to end the year with an explosive showcase of emerging technologies who will present, engage and interact with seasoned investors – across the spectrum; from professional angels to under the radar funds, corporate venture divisions, companies seeking acquisitions and venture capital funds. Investors and Strategic Partners will be attending from Europe, Israel and the U.S.

The Changing Face of European Entrepreneurship: Perspectives from Britain and Israel – This panel will examine how this resurgence of, and change in, entrepreneurship is playing out in two of Europe’s and the world’s biggest innovation hubs, Britain and Israel.  The panellists, three each from the UK and Israeli entrepreneurship communities, will look at the similarities and differences involved in starting a business in their home markets. (When: Dec 2, 2010, Saïd Business Business School)

Going App 2010 – Learn the basics of creating and distributing mobile apps for iPhone, Android, Nokia, and other smartphones. This unique Workshop will cover all aspects of Mobile Apps: from the VC view, through designing and building apps, testing and publishing them, to tips on how to maximize the revenues from apps and how to market them efficiently. The event will include speakers from Carmel Ventures (who are hosting the event), Nokia, France Telecom, inneractive and AppsMarketing.

Startup tools

• Keep your investors abreast of milestones with status.net http://bit.ly/ep0W1k
• How to pitch your startup to the press http://bit.ly/ijrbR6
• Targetmap lets you share customized data maps http://bit.ly/emTZyx
• Kroud lets you set up interactive FAQ pages for your biz http://bit.ly/fxmURx