I’m back in San Francisco after a successful trip to Seattle. While I process my notes from the Red Herring Global conference, I wanted to share some of this week’s headlines in the Israeli tech and venture capital industries.
Funding Will Not Necessarily Get You There – Flexlight Networks Closes Shop – Despite $30M in funding, Flexlight Networks has closed its gates and fired its 25 employees. Flexlight Networks was regarded as one of Israel’s high tech big promises. The company was founded in 2000 and managed to survive the big bubble burst developing a suite of optical access products. PE Hub reports about Edgeio and NanoCoolers, who shared the same fate. Deep pockets , but no delivery. Michael Arrington, one of Edgeio’s main investors, wrote about it on TechCrunch.
Israeli SFK sets plans to invest in India: The Israel based investment firm SFK Asia Pacific, is launching a $300 million India fund to invest mainly in technology, water management and infrastructure sectors, according to Mr Yariv Fisherman, Vice President at SFK. [via]
M&A in the Israeli Biotech sector continues to be hot: The Riverside Company has acquired Novamed Ltd., an Israeli microbiology and infectious disease testing company founded in 1995. It will be added onto existing portfolio company Diatron, a Hungarian manufacturer of hematology analyzers and reagents. No financial terms were disclosed. [official press release]
Credit Suisse announced the official opening of its office in Tel Aviv. Credit Suisse is one of the first banks to provide comprehensive financial services to its clients in Israel, based on the combined resources of the integrated bank. Credit Suisse sees Israel as an integral part of its global growth. The Israeli branch will be under Muli Ravina, Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse in Israel. [official press release]
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a Canadian Cleantech Foundation with over $1 Billion under management is visiting Israel to evaluate potential investments. The non-profit organization supports companies and funds that develop technological solutions for problems related to climate change and air, ground and water quality. SDTC has two funds: the $550 million SD Tech Fund and the $500 million NextGen Biofuels Fund. [via]
Israel has been ranked among the four most preferred global target markets for US venture capital funds along with China, India and Canada. Israel earmarked for high-quality deal flow, according to a global survey by accounting and consultancy firm Deloitte Brightman Almagor and the Israel Venture Association. [via]
For those who are celebrating – a very happy Hanukkah to you all!
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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