Category gizmoz

Avatar Creator Gizmoz Merges with Daz 3D

News just broke that veteran Israeli start up Gizmoz, creator of 3D head avatars has merged with Utah-based Daz 3D, an avatar creation service offering virtual 3D bodies. Existing investors Benchmark Capital, Highway 12 Ventures, and Columbia Capital, put in an additional $5.3 million into the new merged company.

Bitesize Monday: Israeli startups, market condition

Markets plummeted this week, evaporating millions of dollars in value for well established public companies. But what does it mean for startups? Here’s what the VCs have to say: Ron Conway, Sequoia (Rip Good times ppt), Benchmark and Israel’s Danny…

12 Israeli Startups To Compete At The IVA Finals

On May 19-20, Globes, DEMO and Red Herring will be holding a startup competition at the Israel Venture Association (IVA) conference. Each startup will have six minutes to present and the winner will receive automatic entry as a finalist at…

Gizmoz Raises $6.5 from Japan’s DoCoMo, Inks deal with AOL

Israel/California based Gizmoz, a veteran startup developing animated talking 3D avatars, had two major achievements yesterday. Gizmoz announced a pretty significant cash injection in a round B series and also integrated its avatars into AOL’s Instant Messanger (AIM), catering to…

Wrapping the Israeli internet scene in 2007

One of my favorite blogs in Hebrew, thecoils, has posted a comprehensive overview of the venture capital and M&A activity of Israeli companies and funds in 2007, as well as some predictions for 2008. For those who can’t read Hebrew,…

Four Israeli finalists in the “Crunchies”

Lately, it seems like there’s a new startup competition or award announced every single day. Just recently I’ve covered Red Herring’s Top 100, Deloitte’s Fast 500, Le Web 3 start up competition and the list goes on. You’ve also probably…

25 Israeli firms opened offices in the Valley in the last 18 months

“Israelis’ time arrives – tech making trek from the dessert to the valley” – that is the title of Adrienne Sanders’ excellent article published in San Francisco Business Times this morning. Adrienne lined up a comprehensive outlook on the Israeli…