As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. For the Invest in Israel archive, click here. This edition celebrates some big exits – Intucell, a young Israeli startup sold to Cisco for $475 million, and overall Israeli exits in 2012 amounted to a whooping $5.5 Billion! Not bad.
CISCO BUYS INTUCELL FOR $475 MILLION
Cisco Systems has agreed to buy Israel’s Intucell for $475 million. Intucell develops technology for mobile communications companies to help them operate their networks more efficiently and cope with the world’s surging demand for data. Their technology tunes a cellular operator’s network to actual conditions as they develop and change, performing thousands of micro adjustments to improve the quality of video streaming and downloads.
SPECTRANETICS BUYS UPSTREAM PERIPHERAL FOR $5.5 MILLION
Colorado Springs, US-based medical laser manufacturer Spectranetics Corp. recently purchased Israel’s Upstream Peripheral Technologies Ltd. for $5.5 million plus additional payments that depend on revenue, technology transfer and other milestones. Upstream, based in Caesarea, has products that reduce the exposure to radiation in both doctors and patients when lasers are used to clear blockages in leg arteries. The products have been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration and are expected to be launched in the US and Europe in early 2013.
ISRAELI APPS RATED BEST OF 2012
Two Israeli applications made the Apple App Store’s “Best of 2012 list”, published at the end of December. Apple chose Any.Do, an Israeli task-management application, in the Intuitive Touch category. The application, which shares the name of the company that created it, allows users to manage a task list using voice commands or touchscreen technology. GroupShot, a photo-editor created by the Israeli company Macadamia, was also chosen in the Photo & Video Magic category. It allows group photos to be edited so that everyone looks their best.
ISRAELI 2012 TECH EXITS TOP $5.5 BILLION
Israeli tech startups were bought out for a record total of $5.5 billion in 2012 according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. A report also showed that in 2012 Israel had 50 deals with an average deal size of $111 million, compared with 63 deals with an average size of $81 million in 2011. According to Rubi Suliman, who leads PwC’s high-tech practice, the figures reflect a shifting position in Israel. Historically, Israel has been good at building companies and selling them rather than building large multinational enterprises. Mr. Suliman said the growth in deal size showed the increasing maturity of the market. (addition from VC Cafe – Link to the PWC 2012 Israeli exits pdf report)
ISRAEL RISES TO 7TH IN GE INNOVATION BAROMETER
Israel is in seventh place of 25 countries in the GE Innovation Barometer 2013. This year’s survey included more than 3,000 executives. GE publishes its annual barometer ahead of the World Economic Conference in Davos. Israel ranked 10th in the 2012 GE Innovation Barometer. The US tops the 2013 GE Innovation Barometer, with 35% of respondents saying that it is the most innovative country. Germany is in second place, cited by 15% of respondents. (addition from VC Cafe – GE Innovation Barometer 2013 pdf report)
ISRAELI MOBILE INNOVATORS TO MEET INVESTORS AT MWC BARCELONA
Mobile World Congress Barcelona is coming up on February 25-28. Each year, MWC features the cutting-edge in smart mobile solutions around the world including representation from hundreds of Israeli companies. Invest in Israel together with the Export Institute and the Foreign Trade Administration will be on site helping to match investors with the right project. To learn more about setting up a meeting with an Israeli company, visit the site. The Israel Pavillion has been the biggest national pavilion at MWC for several years running.
BIRAX GRANTS NIS 25M FOR ISRAEL-UK STEM CELL PROJECTS
The British Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (Birax) will grant NIS 25 million (~ US$7 million) over five years for seven joint Israel-UK stem cell research programs. Under Birax, joint projects have already been established by Cambridge University, Oxford University, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Nottingham in the UK along with Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The projects deal with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and type 1 diabetes, as well as basic research on ways to prevent the immune system from attacking stem cells.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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