January 2019 saw a lot of investment activity involving Israeli companies, although no triple-digit investments were posted.

The biggest round for the month was $55 million raised by cybersecurity company Cato Networks from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Aspect Ventures, Greylock Partners, Singtel Innov8 Ventures and USVP Management Company LLC. Tel Aviv-based Cato was founded in 2015 and reports a customer base of over 300 enterprises.

Tel Aviv-based cannabis inhaler developer Syqe Medical raised $50 million from Shavit Capital, PRM Holdings, Martin Bauer Group and another unnamed investor.

EarlySense of Ramat Gan completed a $39 million financing round, with the majority of the funding coming from Hill-Rom, the world’s leading hospital bed manufacturer, and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. Additional funding came from BlueRed Capital, Israel Innovation Fund, Argos Capital, Hotung Capital, Pitango Venture Capital and JK&B Venture Capital.

EarlySense, which makes a continuous sensing and predictive analytics product for hospital beds, marked 10,000 installed systems and more than one million patients monitored.

TytoCare,  a telehealth company in Netanya whose proprietary devices enable remote physical examinations, extended its oversubscribed 2018 Series C funding round to add key strategic investors, bringing the total funds raised to $33.5 million. With investors including Ping An Global Voyager Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group of China, Japan’s Itochu, and Sanford Health of the US, Tyto is looking toward expanding its reach in both the United States and Asia.

Tel Aviv-based Innovid  got a $30 million investment from Goldman Sachs. The video advertising startup also has offices in India, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, London and Sydney.

Wiliot of Caesarea, which recently unveiled its battery-free Bluetooth tags, raised $30 million in a Series B round from Amazon Web Services Investment Arm, Samsung Venture Investment Corp., Avery Dennison, Norwest Venture Partners, 83North, Grove Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and M Ventures. Wiliot has its business development headquarters in San Diego.

Cloud storage startup Pliops of Ramat Gan raised $30 million in a Series B round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia, with participation of Intel Capital, State of Mind Ventures and Viola Venture.

Tel Aviv-based on-demand delivery startup Bringg Delivery Technologies raised $25 million from Next47 (the global venture arm of Siemens), Aleph Venture Capital, O.G. Tech Ventures, Coca-Cola and Cambridge Capital.

Augury, an AI-based machine health solution provider, closed a Series C funding round of $25 million led by Insight Venture Partners, with support from existing investors Eclipse Ventures, Munich Re/HSB Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Lerer Hippeau. The company is based in Haifa and New York City.

Verbit Software of Tel Aviv raised $23 million in a Series A round led by Viola Ventures. Founded in 2016, Verbit invented an automated transcription system for recorded speech, using artificial intelligence.

Hailo expanded its Series A funding round to $21 million. China’s Glory Ventures led the investment-round expansion. Hailo, of Tel Aviv, is developing a breakthrough specialized deep-learning processor to powers intelligent devices.

US pharma company Celgene participated in a $17 million Series B financing round for immunotherapy company Biond Biologics of Misgav.

The round was led by Israel Biotech Fund and Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services.

Tel Aviv-based computer vision startup AnyVision Interactive Technologiesof Holon, with offices also in New York and Belfast, received a $15 million investment from Qualcomm Ventures and Lightspeed.

Medical-device cybersecurity provider Medigate Tech of Tel Aviv raised $15 million in Series A funding from U.S. Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors YL Ventures and Blumberg Capital.

Foretellix of Tel Aviv closed a $14 million Series A funding round led by 83North, Jump Capital and Nextgear Ventures. Foretellix is automating the verification and measurable safety of autonomous vehicles.

Laminate Medical Technologies, developer of an implantable vascular support device for patients requiring dialysis, raised $12 million from Asahi Kasei Medical, Tal Capital, and private investors such as Mickey Boodaei, Shai Agassi, Yuval Tal and Meir Barel. They join the company’s existing investors: Haisco, Nava and Yehuda Zissapel, Zohar Gillon, Eri Steimatzky, Henit Vitos, and Ari Raved. Laminate has an R&D center in Tel Aviv and branches in the US and Germany; it has begun clinical trials in the US.

Tel Aviv-based ag-tech startup SeeTree Systems completed an $11.5 million Series A round led by Hanaco Ventures and revealed that it previously received $3.2 in seed funding from Canaan Partners Israel, iAngels Crowd, San Mindset Ventures and Waze cofounder Uri Levine. The company, which just came out of stealth, employs 40 people in Tel Aviv, California and Brazil.

Gaming startup StreamElements of Tel Aviv raised $11.3 million in a round was led by Pitango Venture Capital.

Salt Security of Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv raised $10 million in a round led by S Capital with the participation of Check Point cofounder Marius Nacht, Kevin Mahaffey of Lookout and seed accelerator Y Combinator, where Salt Security was incubated.

Wi-Fi chipmaker Celeno Communications of Ra’anana raised $10 million in a round led by Iris Capital, with participation of Cisco and Liberty Global. Celeno also has a presence in Europe and Asia.

Splitit  raised 12 million Australian dollars (USD $8.6 million) in an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange. Headquartered in New York, Splitit has an R&D center in Israel and offices in London, with plans to establish itself in Australia for its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. The company offers interest-free installment payment solutions.

Lumigo of Tel Aviv exited stealth mode in January with the announcement of $8 million seed funding for its serverless intelligence platform for developers. Pitango Venture Capital, Grove Ventures and Meron Capital invested in the round. Lumigo was founded last March by two former Check Point executives.

Drone technology pioneer Flytrex of Tel Aviv raised $7.5 million in Series B funding from Benhamou Global Ventures and Btov Partners. Flytrex provides drone delivery services in Iceland and North Dakota, and will be part of the US Federal Aviation Authority’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program in North Carolina.

Tel Aviv-based Varada, a startup in the field of big data inline indexing, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation by StageOne Ventures and F2 Capital.

Connected healthcare cybersecurity company Cynerio of Ramat Gan raised $7 million in seed money from Rafael Development Corporation, Accelmed and Swiss-based capital fund MTIP.

Colu Technologies of Tel Aviv and London raised approximately $7 million from US ecommerce entrepreneur Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com, according to a report by Calcalist. Founded in 2014, Colu uses blockchain technology to create localized digital currencies to encourage local spending.

CrediFi raised $6 million from Liberty Technology Venture Capital II, Japanese real-estate investor Mitsui Fudosan and Maverick Ventures. CrediFi, headquartered in New York and Tel Aviv, provides commercial real-estate solutions for lenders, fund managers, brokers and owners.

A new startup, Orca AI, launched with the announcement of a $2.6 million seed round led by MizMaa Ventures and including funding from Ray Carriers and theDock maritime innovation hub. The startup is piloting its collision-avoidance solution on ships, using artificial intelligence and imaging technology.

Jerusalem-based InZiv completed a $2.5 million Series A round led by Maverick Ventures Israel. This new startup makes inspection equipment for next-gen flat-panel displays.

Cybersecurity startup Re-Sec Technologies of Caesarea raised $2 million in a round led by PICO Venture Partners and Founders Group with participation from Plug and Play Ventures.

Los Angeles- and Tel Aviv-based Linear B raised $1.6 million in a seed round led by Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Maislos. Linear B is developing software development productivity analytics.

Tel Aviv-based LitiGate raised $1.5 million from The Time, Rhodium and Shibolet & Co. The company’s artificial intelligence product helps lawyers analyze legal documents and records.

Cannibble FoodTech of Kfar Saba raised $655,000 from 750 backers in a crowdfunding campaign on the Pipelbiz platform. Cannibble is planning to roll out a line of CBD- and THC-infused nutritional supplements and mixes (baking mixes, iced coffee mix, spice blends and toppings for pizza and popcorn) for the recreational market and intends to establish a US manufacturing facility in the US.

Berlin-based Zeitgold, which has an R&D center in Tel Aviv, raised $11.5 million (€10 million) from Deutsche Bank, AXA, Battery Ventures, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Saban Ventures and Btov Partners. The company’s mobile app enables small businesses to perform financial tasks such as booking and accounting.

Cockpit Innovation, the tech venture fund of Israel’s national carrier EL AL Israel Airlines, announced an investment from Swiss airline catering and retail company Gategroup Holding, but did not disclose the amount.

(via Israel21c)

[Photo: Israel21c ]