The month of June 2017 was hotter than usual in Israel, not only in terms of temperature but also in terms of investment. Here’s a roundup of activity over the past month.
Houzz, an online platform for home remodeling and design services, finalized a new funding round of $400 million led by Iconiq Capital. The company was founded by an Israeli couple in Palo Alto, California, and maintains an R&D center in Tel Aviv. Houzz has branches in London, Berlin, Moscow, Japan and Australia.
Cybereason closed $100 million in Series C funding led by new investor SoftBank of Tokyo, which will be the leading distributor of its cybersecurity platform in the Japanese market. Based in Tel Aviv with offices in London and Boston, Cybereason will work with Softbank to build a joint offering enabling Japanese organizations to defend themselves against advanced persistent threats.
Retail intelligence company Trax closed a $64 million financing round led by an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, to enhance its services to core markets in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Founded in 2010, Trax is headquartered in Singapore with a Tel Aviv development center.
LogicBio Therapeutics completed a $50 million financing round led by Arix Biosciences and with the participation of Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Pontifax and SBI Japan-Israel Innovation Fund. The company has R&D in Ness Ziona and corporate headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The funds will enable the startup to further develop its GeneRide proprietary genome-editing platform and to accelerate its lead programs to the clinic.
V2X (vehicle to everything) communication chipset maker Autotalks of Kfar Netter completed its Series D round with about $40 million in investments, an oversubscription of $10 million. New investors include Mirai Creation Investment Fund, of which the principal investors are Toyota Motor Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
Gamida Cell of Jerusalem received $40 million in financing to support the ongoing Phase 3 trial of its FDA breakthrough designated clinical-stage product, NiCord, to facilitate bone marrow transplantation. The financing was led by Shavit Capital with participation of VMS Investment Group, Israel Biotech Fund, Clal Biotechnology Industries, Israel HealthCare Ventures and major shareholder Novartis.
Riskified announced an additional $33 million raise led by Israeli-based Pitango Growth. Riskified, an end-to-end e-commerce fraud-prevention solution for online merchants, is based in Tel Aviv and New York.
Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of compounds for the treatment of genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and cystinosis, received $24 million from the Israeli-Chinese Catalyst CEL Fund, Pontifax and other industry players. In May, Eloxx entered into a merger agreement with Sevion Therapeutics.
FutuRx portfolio company Mitoconix Bio of Ness Ziona secured $20 million in Series A funding led by Remiges Ventures with participation from OrbiMed, Dementia Discovery Fund, Arix Bioscience, RMGP Bio-Pharma investment Fund and others. Mitoconix is developing a treatment for Huntington’s disease and also expand its pipeline to treat additional neurodegenerative disorders.
Highcon of Yavne announced a new $20 million round of funding led by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), joined by existing investors: Landa Ventures, LR Group, OurCrowd, and Go Capital toward furthering the global reach and product development of Highcon’s digital finishing solutions for packages, greeting cards, folders and large format display items.
Personalized nutrition pioneer DayTwo completed a $12 million Series A round led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation with Seventure Partners’ Health for Life capital fund, Mayo Clinic, cofounder Marius Nacht and other private investors. Based in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, DayTwo plans to deepen its clinical research with the Mayo Clinic and other gut-microbiome clinical research partners.
PlaySight sports technology company announced an $11 million strategic investment from Verizon Ventures and golfer Greg Norman to assist in its global SmartCourt expansion. The company has offices in Kfar Saba and in New Jersey.
Workey is opening an office in New York following a fundraising round of $8 million led by Jerusalem’s PICO Partners and Magma VC. Workey uses artificial intelligence to compares job-seekers’ skills and employment history with “millions of career paths” on the web, including friends on social media.
Smart-home artificial intelligence developer TechSeecompleted a $7.5 million Series A financing round led by Planven Investments with participation of OurCrowd, Comdata Group and others. Founded in 2015, TechSee is headquartered in Tel Aviv.
Scopio Labs, developer of an advanced digital microscope and diagnostics platform, raised $7 million from OurCrowd and other investors to expand its team in Tel Aviv with computer-vision experts, physicists and software developers.
Security technology developer Octopus closed a $5.25 million financing round led by Canadian venture capital fund AWZ Homeland Security. Founded in 2013, Octopus won a Frost & Sullivan innovation award in 2016. The company is headquartered in Bnai Brak with an office in Toronto.
Rehovot-based Cognata received $5 million in funding from Emerge, Maniv Mobility, and Airbus Ventures to accelerate development and commercialization of its autonomous vehicle solution that combines artificial intelligence, deep learning and computer vision in a simulation platform aimed at shortening the road-testing process.
Cyber Observer of Caesarea completed a $3 million funding round led by UK-based Talis Capital with participation from existing investors Swarth Group.
Kadimastem of Ness Ziona signed investment agreements with two of its stakeholders, totaling ₪2.1 million (about $600,000) toward the further development of human stem cell-based medical solutions to treat diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and multiple sclerosis.
St. Louis-based sports business accelerator Stadia Ventures and Capital Innovators invested $100,000 in sports-tech startup Pico.Buzz of Haifa. Pico is the only Israeli company chosen for Stadia’s spring 2017 cohort of five startups. It analyzes fan data to provide new revenue channels for sports teams, music artists, venues and more. This is Stadia’s first investment in an Israeli company.
(via Israel21c)
[Photo: Nati Shochet / Flash90 ]