iAngels Israeli Deal Digest – December 2018

Welcome to the iAngels monthly Deal Digest, a summary of movements in the Israeli startup market.

This December we tracked 25 announced deals totaling $481.75M, and 5 exits totaling in $127.8M.

IT & Enterprise was the leading sector this month with Optibus, a fleet management software for public transit operators, raising $40M in a Series B round; Chorus.ai, a company that develops machine learning algorithms capable of monitoring and analyzing sales conversations, raising $33M; and Avanan, a company that offers organizations a cloud-based platform for monitoring and protecting employee usage of public applications, raising $25M. On the M&A side, we saw the outstanding acquisition of Frontline PCB for $85M by Orbotech and the acquisition of CodeMonkey by Tal Education Group, for $20M.

Read on for the full scoop!

December 2018 Investment Highlights

Seed Rounds  

• Ottopia, a platform that enables remote humans to guide vehicles with reliability and cyber-security, has raised $3 million in a seed round led by MizMaa Ventures.
• HighLander, a startup that developed optimized Autonomous Airports for Commercial Drones as an end-to-end drone flight plan solution, has raised $1.5 million in a seed round funded by AGV.
• KonnecTo, a platform that enables brands to analyze customers’ past and present personal interactions, has raised $1.5 million, in seed from investors, including Israel based consumer research company, StoreNext Ltd.

A Rounds  

• Ayala Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company that develops targeted cancer therapies, has raised $10 million in a Series A round through Novartis.
• AeroCRS, a high tech company that provides cloud reservation systems for airlines, hotels, and travel operators, has raised $3 million in a Series A funding round from Cockpit Innovation.
• Valerann, a startup developing an autonomous traffic control and management system, has raised $5 million Series A funding led by Rio Ventures Holdings and 2B Angels, with participation from Spanish telecommunications company, Telefonica SA.
• AccessFintech, a startup that offers businesses an operation center, has closed $17.5 million in a Series A round raised from Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan.
• Orbs, a startup providing Blockchain Infrastructure as a service for established consumer brands, has raised an additional $15.4 million in a round led by Kakao.
• Wisdo, a startup aiming to help users build online support systems based on shared experiences, has announced its launch with over $11 million in funding from a handful of angel investors.
• Alpha Omega, medical equipment company, raised $7 million Series A funding led by GIBF, a life sciences firm back by the Guangzhou municipal government.
• Voca AI, an artificial intelligence startup that develops chatbots capable of nearly human like conversation, has completed a $2.6 million Series A funding round led by Lool Ventures and participated by Flint Capital and other investors.
• HomeHero, a startup that develops an online real estate bulletin board that matches assets for sale with potentially compatible buyers, has raised $4 million in Series A led by Altar Capital and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank.

B Rounds 

• WhiteSwell, a Medical device company, has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round, led by Boston based RA Capital Management and Incube Ventures syndicate, with participation from other investors.
• CropX, a smart farming startup that uses soil sensors to optimize crop yields, received $0.5 million in a Series B round from the ISIF to launch a yield optimization pilot in Ireland.
• Temi, a personal assistant robot developer, has raised $21 million in a Series B round led by existing investor John Wu, former Alibaba CTO.
• K Health, a startup offering digital health assistance through crowdsourced data, has raised $25 million Series B funding from Mangrove Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and other investors.
• Avanan, a startup that offers organizations a cloud-based platform for monitoring and protecting employee usage of public applications, has raised $25 million in a Series B round from existing investors, including StageOne Ventures, Magma Venture Partners, and TPG’s Israeli arm Greenfield Partners.
• Optibus, an Israeli startup that develops a fleet management software for public transit operators, has announced a $40 million Series B funding round led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from Alibaba as a strategic investor.
• Songo Media, a group of companies that develops an advanced digital media and e-commerce technology, has raised $3 million Series B funding led by IBI High Tech Mutual Fund.
• Twine Solutions, a textile technology startup offering a digital on-demand thread dyeing system, has completed a $22 million Series B investment round led by New Era Capital Partners and Maverick Ventures Israel.
• InnovoPro, an alternative protein startup that develops technology for extracting concentrated proteins from chickpeas using sustainable energy, has raised $4.25 million Series B funding from investors including Migros, Erel Margalit, and others.
• Chorus.ai, a conversation analysis startup that develops machine learning algorithms capable of monitoring and analyzing sales conversations, has raised $33 million in a Series B funding round led by Toronto based equity firm Georgian Partners.

Growth/Miscellaneous Rounds 

• Sight Diagnostics, a blood testing startup that develops vision-based technology for blood test analysis and infectious disease diagnosis, has raised $28 million Series C funding by issuing private preferred stock.
• Vroom, an online used car retailer, has raised $146 million in a Series G funding round led by automotive retailer AutoNation.
• Quali, a cloud-based platform offering software testing automation, has raised $22.5 million in a Series C funding round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners.

M&A and IPOs 

• Frontline PCB, a company primarily developing computer-aided manufacturing and archiving processes, has been acquired by Orbotech for $85 million for the remainder 50% stake in Frontline.
• PML, a company that developed electro-optical systems for monitoring and measuring fluid particle sizes and concentration, has been liquefied and sold to Particular Measuring Systems Inc. for $3.3 million for PML’s patents and technologies.
• HeraMED, a company developing connected pregnancy monitors for home and professional use, has raised $6 million (Australian dollars) in its initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange.
• CodeMonkey, a company that develops game like computer programming tutorials for kids, has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed educational service company, TAL Education Group, for $20 million.
• AMS Technologies, a water purification company, has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed Newater Technology Inc. for $13.5 million.

 

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Best,
Rona