Last Month, Red Herring and the Israel Venture Association co-sponsored a competition in Israel, limited to early stage companies with revenues of up to $10 million in 2006 supported by venture funds associated with the IVA.
Three Israeli startups received first prizes as the best young companies in their respective sectors.
And the winners are:
Software Category: Safend Inc.
Main Idea: Safend develops software to prevent data leaks in the organization, especially from authorized users.
- Founded: 2003
- CEO: Gil Sever
- Employees: 50
- Capital Raised: Safend has raised $9.65 Million in 2 rounds.
- Key Investors: Intel Capital, Walden Israel and Elron Electronics.
Communications Category: Unipier
Main Idea: A merger between Cash-U and Niragongo created Unipier, the developer of IPM – Intelligent Policy Management software that enables wireless providers to create, integrate and manage services fast.
- Founded: 2000
- CEO: Gabby Levy
- Employees: 60
- Capital Raised: Unipier has raised $43 Million in 4 rounds
- Key Investors: Greylock Partners, Intel Capital, Carmel Ventures, Fidelity Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital
Life Sciences Category: G.I. View
Main Idea: G.I. View has developed Aer-O-Scope, a new colonoscopy device that consists of a disposable camera embedded in a balloon that propels itself through the colon, providing a 360 degree view.
- Founded: 2003
- CEO: Dr. Benad Goldwasser
- Capital Raised: $29 Million in 4 rounds
- Key Investors: Israel Healthcare Ventures, Delta Ventures, Zielgler Meditech Medical Partners
See the rest of the finalists here.
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.
- Weekly Firgun Newsletter – February 27, 2026 - February 27, 2026
- The Rise of the Personal AI Agent - February 26, 2026
- Pre-Seed Is Stronger than ever, but less startups are getting funded - February 25, 2026
