“If at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it” – Albert Einstein
In the center of our attention this week stood the US elections, leaving little space for Israeli startup headlines. Here’s a roundup of this week’s winners and losers. more layoffs:
Going up:
1) iSkoot raises a whooping $19 million C round
The round was lead by Master Fund and current investors Charles River Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Jesselson Capital Corporation and ZG Ventures. To date, the company has raised $32 million, to develop software that enables using Skype from regular mobile phones. According to TechCrunch, iSkoot has recently gotten headlines for bringing Skype to G1, Google’s first Android phone.
Through a partnership with mobile carrier Hutch, carrier-friendly iSkoot is now being distributed through the “3” mobile network in eight countries, with total sales of 300,000 iSkoot-enabled phones in Europe and Asia. iSkoot is planning to use this round’s proceeds to develop a mobile platform for AT&T, according to Venture Beat. Last August, iSkoot made a first move into the social mobile space by acquiring social.im, who developed technology to send instant messages over the phone, based on a user’s social graph on Facebook.
Watch iSkoot on the Android:
The San Francisco/Israel based company is led by CEO Mark Jacobstein, formerly the EVP of Loopt Inc.
2) Say hello to the JewBerry!
Check out the NY Post Demo:
3) N-trig’s multi-touch screen technology will be incorporated in Windows 7.
Israel-based NTrig has created the DuoSense technology that combines both stylus and capacitive touch in a single device. One of the first features of the upcoming operating system released by Microsoft is a multi touch interface that enables a Hands-on computing (HOC) experience. Behind this announcement is Kfar Saba-based Ntrig who offers both the software and hardware solution, the touch screen itself. According to Israeli news site Calcalist, Ntrig has reported revenues of $40 million in 2008 and the company expects to double that amount in 2009 due to Intel’s decision to incorporate Ntrig’s technology in its new line of hand held devices.
Going Down:
Layoffs continue to hit Israeli companies. You know that the shit has hit the fan when you’re friends start sending you resumes.
2) Lumenis will lay off a total of 100 employees, 40 in Israel and the rest in the US. The company manufactures medical devices for the aesthetics industry.
Read-Worthy:
- Mytopia shifting focus from games to platform (Pocket Gamer)
- What does Harvard have to say about Israeli VC? (Globes)
- The “Promising” Land (CNBC)
- Ruth Keder, the Israeli designer that made the Google Logo (Captain Internet, Hebrew)
- Eric Shmidt on the Future of Business (McKinsey Quarterly)
- Delver partners with Yahoo Search (PR Newswire)
- Israeli Tech Scene Shows Glimmers of Recovery in Q1 2024 - April 30, 2024
- Gaming Investments Level Up: Early Signs of a Resurgence - April 24, 2024
- What could go wrong with Vinod Khosla’s techno-optimistic vision of the future - April 22, 2024