As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. See the January 2011 edition after the jump.
Bitesize Monday on VC Cafe- the headlines that make the startup nation what it is today... founding rounds raised by eToro, Covertix, Playcast Media and Omek Interactive, product launches by Tawkon, acquisition by Groupon and much more.
Last week I had the pleasure to attend the DLD 2011 (Digital Life Design) conference in Munich, which was co-hosted by Dr Yossi Vardi and Burda Media, a large German media company (for those who don't know). I've attended quite a few conferences and industry events, but DLD manage to stand out. What was so special about it?
"In the online advertising industry there is never a dull moment", told me Assaf Roth the founder of IgnitAd. Indeed, this early stage startup has a lot going on. On Wednesday this week, the company announced a its first round of funding of $2 million, led by DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures and JVP Media Labs.
The Gifts Project, a social commerce platform, has been making quite a few headlines recently. The company raised $1 million in seed from Gemini and a few days later, European VC Index Ventures was mysteriously added to its investors page. The terms of the additional funding were not disclosed. Today, the Gifts Project announced a partnership with eBay, in which the e-commerce giant will host the Gift Project's 'white label' application, which enables users to set up their own Group Gift pages on eBay
Last week I attended a Bloomberg event in London on "The Israeli Economy". The keynote was given by Zvi Eckstein, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel, on “Israel present and future”. Zvi is impressive. The mainly British audience felt like they were in a classroom at Tel Aviv University, and that the Bank of Israel was in good hands (thinking that Zvi and Stanley Fischer together formed an Israeli central banking dream team). The talk covered: (1) Israeli macro-economic indicators, (2) Monetary Policy and (3) Israeli industry.
joint report by IVC Israel and KPMG, summarizes 2010 in Israeli venture capital. Israeli high-tech capital raising in 2010 reached $1.26 billion, 13 percent above 2009 level but the Israeli VC Fund investment share continues to decline.
Israeli startups in the mobile space are once again showing impressive attendance levels, with 56 Israeli companies exhibiting in the Israeli Pavilion at the 2011 Mobile World Congress [MWC]. For the third consecutive year, VC Cafe puts the spotlight on the Israeli startups presenting at the event.
VC Cafe is looking for Israeli startups with presence in London or startups started by Israelis living in the UK. The list isn't restricted to tech/Internet startup only. If you qualify, or know startups that do, please fill in the form below.
Viola Private Equity, an Israeli PE fund with $164 million under management for technology buyouts, has announced a $7 million investment in Zend, the leading provider of open-source and commercial solutions based on PHP web applications.
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