Issue
36
December 2007
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Featured Article
Upcoming CICC Events
Finance & VC News
Israel Tech Review
Silicon Valley Corner
Members
Announcements
Announcements
Israeli Related Business Events & Conferences
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 CICC Welcomes New Members |
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| CICC thanks Members for Renewing | |||||
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On
behalf of CICC, its board and members, I want to wish you a wonderful holiday
season and great New Year. Our work at CICC this year was plentiful and rewarding. Over 150 entrepreneurs and start-ups from Israel benefited from our various programs and initiatives, introductions to investors and access to our industry partners in Silicon Valley. We are grateful to all of you who are active members and supporters for the constant involvement and vision. We look |
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forward to a fruitful, prosperous and exciting year ahead with all of you.
Peace, |
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| Featured Article | ||
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Israelis’ time arrives Tech making trek from the desert to the Valley BY ADRIENNE SANDERS San Francisco Business Times About 25 Israeli tech firms, mostly Internet and mobile software startups, have moved headquarters to the Bay Area or opened offices here in the last 18 months. All seek to match Israeli-born technological prowess with Silicon Valley financial and marketing muscle, and then take on a consumer market 40 times the size of their own. More... |
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| Upcoming CICC Events & Activities | ||
| February 6th, 2008 8AM – 2:00 PM | ||
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The second annual
IsraelWebTour is coming to Silicon Valley and you can join the
activities. A public showcase will take place at the Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View. The showcase will include company presentations, industry panels, keynotes and networking lunch. For registration for IsraelWebTour Showcase contact iris at iris@ca-israelchamber.org. For more news and information check IsraelWebTour blog or join our Facebook Group |
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Join CICC’s ultimate dinner celebration and cocktails with
rich and dynamic program gathering Silicon Valley’s tech giants, leading
VCs, entrepreneurs and state officials. Sign up here for a seat, table for your firm or place an ad in the Tribute Journal. |
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| Finance & VC News* | ||
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American VC funds favor Israel, China EETimes December 10, 2007 By Amir Ben-Artzi Israel is one of the four leading destinations for American venture capital funds, alongside China, India and Canada. This is one of the findings of a new survey by Deloitte, which was recently conducted together with Israel Venture Association and its corresponding associations in the U.S. and Europe plus 16 additional venture capital associations worldwide. American venture capitalists rated Israel first in terms of quality deal flow 70 percent of them said Israel is a significant source for deal flow, while 21 percent referred to Canada, 18 percent referred to China, 17 percent to Britain and Ireland and 10 percent to India. More... |
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VC investing gets greener Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal November 29, 2007 Venture investing in clean technology set more records in the first three quarters with firms investing more than $2.6 billion in 168 deals, according to numbers released today by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Financial. Clean tech investment in the first three quarters of 2007 is more than 30 percent greater than investment in clean tech in all of 2006 -- which totaled $1.8 billion. The numbers had even the National Venture Capital Association on edge and urging caution among investors. More... |
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Kenshoo, SEM analytics company, raises round from Sequoia The Israeli company has raised several million from Sequoia . Kenshoo helps advertisers with search engine marketing campaigns more efficiently reach search users. Search engine marketing is an umbrella term for a variety of techniques designed to increase the visibility of your web site on search engine result pages. The best-known examples are Google Adwords, Microsoft Adcenter and Yahoo Panama. Kenshoo automates the traditionally manual process of building search campaigns across these services and figuring out which keywords are most effective. The Israeli company works with large advertising agencies and clients like instant message service ICQ. This is Kenshoo’s first round of venture funding. |
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| Israel Tech Review* | ||
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Rocket Software to Acquire NetManage Rocket Software and NetManage jointly announced that their respective boards of directors have approved, and both companies have signed, a definitive agreement for Rocket to acquire NetManage in a merger transaction. NetManage, headquartered in Cupertino, California, distributes software that transforms legacy applications into new Web-based business solutions, including, solutions for integrating, Web enabling and accessing enterprise information systems. NetManage allows customers to maximize investments in existing systems and leverage them with a service-oriented architecture. By extending existing data and business logic, NetManage delivers new efficiencies and higher returns for its customers. More than 10,000 customers worldwide, including the majority of the Fortune 500, have chosen NetManage for mission critical application integration. |
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AOL buys yet another Israeli startup: Yedda Time Warner's U.S. Internet giant American Online is once again using Israeli technology to help it battle its rivals. This time AOL's answer to Google and Yahoo! is Israeli startup Yedda from Kfar Malal. Yedda's 20 employees have developed a semantic search engine that can analyse questions and requests. The site invites users users to post questions, and then asks others to answer the questions or match them to existing answers. Yedda has raised $2.5 million since its founding in 2005.Those funds came from private investors and Genesis Partners. The company will remain independent after its purchase by AOL, functioning as a subsidiary working with AOL's search division, communities and instant-messaging groups. |
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HP to buy Israeli company for $117.5 million Hewlett-Packard agreed to acquire NUR Macroprinters, a maker of industrial wide-format digital inkjet printers, for $117.5 million. Palo Alto-based HP said Lod, Israel-based NUR supplies UV-curable and solvent inkjet printers for display graphics, serving commercial printing companies, sign printers, screen printers, billboard and media companies, photo labs and digital print service providers. Upon completion of the deal, NUR will be integrated into HP's Large Format Printing Business within the company's Imaging and Printing Group. |
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Amobee Media Systems Receives Funding from Vodafone to
Grow its Mobile Advertising Business Amobee Media Systems, the world leader in mobile advertising solutions for mobile operators today announced that Vodafone has made a strategic minority investment in the company, joining Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Globespan in funding Amobee through its next stage of development. Amobee Media Systems was founded in May of 2005 in order to ad-fund the mobile industry as a whole, enabling all players in the mobile content and data value chain to generate new revenues from advertising. Its software solution supports digital ad delivery to all mobile content and communication types, including WAP and mobile web, mobile games, mobile video and mobile messaging. |
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Advasense Secures $6 Million Series B Financing Component maker Advasense Inc. has raised a new round of venture capital, collecting $6 million from a syndicate of venture investment firms. The company is developing next-generation multi-megapixel CMOS image sensors for cell phones, which they hope will enable phones to have the same image quality as stand-alone digital cameras. Investors were CIDC, Genesis Partners, VentureTech Alliance, Giza Capital and BlueRun Ventures.The company said it expects to use the funding proceeds for further product development and marketing. |
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Insulin patch co Medingo raises $27m Medical device start-up Medingo Ltd. has raised $27 million from its parent company, Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. and US venture capital fund Radius Ventures. Elron will invest between $13 million and $22 million, including $4 million of convertible loans, and Radius Ventures will invest $5 million. Elron owns Medingo through Rafael Development Corporation. Medingo is developing a miniature dispensing patch for insulin-dependent diabetic patients. The device is a convenient, easy to use, discreet, and more cost-effective than standard insulin pumps. Medingo expects to obtain US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the patch and begin in 2008. |
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MySpace to open Israel branch Parent co News Corp is "studying" the Israeli market. News Corporation plans to open an Israeli branch of MySpace, the world's leading social network site, with 115 million visitors a month, within six months. A month ago, MySpace placed an ad for a content manager for Israel operations in "Linked In". News Corp. is also planning to acquire Israeli radio stations over the coming year. The company has not yet decided on acquisition targets, and said that it was studying the Israeli market. New Corp Mobile is planning to penetrate the Israeli cellular market. The company cites the large number of cellular telephones, which makes investment in the Israeli market worthwhile. |
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On-line advertising start-up Peer39 raises $8m Peer39 is developing new online advertising technology for user generated content. The company was founded a year ago and has raised $12 million to date. Investors include Dawntreader Ventures, JP Morgan unit Highbridge Capital, and private investors. One investor is Dan Ciporin, the former CEO of Shopping.com and now a venture partner at Canaan Partners, and advisor at the joint Lightspeed Ventures-Gemini Israel Funds' incubator LGI Lab. Another investor is Jonathan Medved, the founder and former partner at Israel Seed Partners. |
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| * Compiled from IVC, Globes and San Jose Business Journal | ||
| Silicon Valley Corner | ||
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Valley leaders seek to hook engineers while they're young Recruiting workers for the semiconductor and solar industries when they're in college is just too late. That's the message from an annual industry-driven program that's reaching deep into the Silicon Valley educational system to educate high school kids about career possibilities in the semiconductor, nanotechnology and solar energy industries. More... |
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| Members Announcements | ||
| Introducing CICC New Corporate Members | ||
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In the endeavor for cost parity with the grid,
Pythagoras Solar has been
founded to fulfill the promise of static concentration photo voltaic (CPV)
technology for the residential and commercial markets. Based on innovative
optic design the company developed a patent pending 3D prism technology that
produces order of magnitude more energy from a given amount of PV silicon.
The company’s R&D is in Tel Aviv, Israel and its U.S. HQ in San Mateo, California. |
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| Announcements | ||
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Special Discount Offered to CICC Members
New Israeli Winery Introduces Kosher Pomegranate Wine to US |
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 Rimon Winery, a new Israeli winery, recently introduced
its unique pure pomegranate wines to the US. Located in the heart of the
Galilee Mountains, the state-of-the art winery is owned and operated by the Nachmias family, a third generation farming family who were inspired by a
love of their land and fine wine to create a unique style of wine—made from
special pomegranates developed in their own orchards. A short clip about
this unique winery is available
here.Though Rimon’s distinctive new wines (which include a dessert, dry, and port style wine) have only been available in the US for a few short months, they have already gained widespread critical acclaim. Most recently, the Rimon Winery 2005 Dessert Wine won the top award in the Best New Beer, Wine, or Spirit category at KosherFest 2007. The new exotic wines have also been awarded gold medals at wine competitions around the globe and have received accolades from variety of renowned wine and lifestyle publications. Tara Q. Thomas of the Denver Post and Wine & Spirits calls the dessert wine “gorgeously crimson in color…sweet and velvety.” In celebration of its success, Rimon Winery is offering members of the California Israeli Chamber of Commerce Free Ground Shipping with an order of 6 or more bottles of Rimon dessert wine or with the purchase of 6 or more Rimon’s luxurious gift boxes. To receive their limited time discount, CICC members can simply enter the promotional code "CICC" when prompted during their purchase at www.rimonwines.com. For more information or to contact a Rimon Winery representative, please visit the Rimon Winery website: www.rimonwines.com. |
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 eCamp Israel- International Technology
Summer CampWe welcome kids& Teenagers from all over the world to join Israel's success story: eCamp Israel is an International Technology Summer Camp, opening the gates to the #1 success story of Israel – Technology Innovation. eCamp Israel introduces the campers to an enriching experience that touches their deepest emotions and spur creative energies in their minds. We provide an original, creative and fascinating program, matching worldwide youth with Israeli peers in a unique way using universal language – Technology. eCamp Israel is an overnight summer camp where worldwide youth who love technology get together for an unforgettable experience. eCamp Israel is officially supported by the President of Israel, Israel Ministry of Tourism and Minister Advisor for Diaspora. please visit: www.ecampisrael.com |
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Mission and Vision
Working towards establishing a Strong Technical & Space Leadership in Israel The Ilan Ramon Scholarship & Endowment has been established to honor the memory of the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died while courageously exploring the final frontier of space. The Scholarship & Endowment is used to provide scholarship funding for Israeli citizens to attend either the Summer Space Studies Program or the Masters in Space Studies Program at the International Space University. The purpose is to attract talented young Israeli students with backgrounds in technology, science, medicine and other space activities to allow them to continue their pursue of knowledge on the international stage with academic and scientific colleagues from many different countries. This scholarship is a commitment to creating the building blocks that are necessary for Israel to establish a leadership position in the global space community and marketplace. Recognizing Ilan Ramon's commitment to space and to international cooperation among the nations of the Earth, the Scholarship is used to allow Israeli students to attend the International Space University. ISU, located in Strasbourg, France, provides graduate-level interdisciplinary training to the future leaders of the world's space efforts. The purpose of the Ilan Ramon Scholarship & Endowment is to secure additional future funding from other passionate donors, making it possible for Israeli students to be supported on an annual basis in the years to come. For more information please contact Michael Potter at (310) 990-8803. |
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| Israeli Related Business Events & Conferences | ||
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May 19-20, 2008 Tel Aviv, Israel IVA Conference 2008 Participants will include guest venture capitalists and delegations from overseas. This two day Conference and Networking platform for LPs, GPs and Enterpreneurs will be followed by a one day tour d'horizon of the Israeli top innovative companies. A very attractive package deal is being prepared for those planning to attend. Further details will be posted on the IVA's website in the coming weeks. |
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Get your message in front of the people with influence! |
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| Become a sponsor/corporate member of CICC | ||
| CICC gives you and your company an unparalleled opportunity to engage the mindshare of the most significant executives in the industry both in Israel and California. Recognized as a leading business network, we have developed various levels of sponsorship that allow you and your company to reach your market. You'll find a unique environment in which you can share your vision, products, and services with the entrepreneurs and investors in our circle and those innovators who debate the ideas and opportunities that will drive this industry forward. Our members profile is the envy of the industry, drawing as it does, the senior executive management of the leading public and private industry firms, as well as the senior management of leading institutional investment organizations. To find out how your company/firm can become a part of this extremely valuable information source for the key industry players, please call: 408-343-0917 or e-mail Shuly Galili at: shuly@ca-israelchamber.org | ||
| Join the supporters of CICC: | ||
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| SAP, Gemini Israel Fund, Oracle, USVP, Zoran, Ernst & Young, Marvell, EMC, KLA Tencor, El Al, Norwest Venture Partners, IVC, Bank Leumi USA, Storm Ventures, Jefferies Broadview, Opus Capital, Pillsbury Winthrop, TriNet, Morrison & Foerster, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. | ||
| CICC is a non-profit, non-governmental, membership-supported organization dedicated to strengthening business and trade relations between California and Israel. | ||
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Copyright © 2007 CICC |
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| Business News was sent to: {{Contact:26}} at {{E-mail Address:200}} | ||
