Who Are Israel's Next Biggest Start-Ups? Hots and Machine-Learning Mecha- Nisms Instead of Brokers and Bureau- Cracy

for homeowners and renters. Cus- tomers can purchase insurance with the touch of an app, interacting with Who are Israel's next biggest start-ups? hots and machine-learning mecha- nisms instead of brokers and bureau- cracy. • By SHARON UDASIN national leader in the hi-tech enemies that want its destruc- START-UPS Rather than incorporating a tradi- tion,” said hi-tech expert and community. Continued from Page 1 tional insurance mechanism, Lem- In the wake of Intel’s $ 15 bil- More and more local innova- start-up consultant Hillel Fuld. onade takes a flat fee and donates lion decision to acquire Mobil- tors are gaining global recogni- “The country has every excuse ambitious companies is their abil- unclaimed money to a cause of the eye in March, momentum in tion, both from a technolog- to lay back and say, ‘Forget it, we ity to “disrupt,” or do something policyholder’s choice in a “give-back” Israel’s start-up scene is building ical and financial perspective, have too many challenges.’” in a completely different way from system. People who support the same faster than ever. inching their way toward that These challenges notwith- their competitors, he said. cause are the “peers” in the compa- Israelis continue to excel coveted “unicorn” status, or the standing, Fuld stressed that “They really work in domains that ny’s peer-to-peer insurance model. across a wide spectrum of sec- $lb. mark. Israel’s innovators are pressing are growing, that the markets are Six months after Lemonade’s tors such as cyber security, “These companies that are on, and lead the way or come ready to accept such innovation,” launch in New York, where the com- transportation technologies, quote-unquote unicorns are in close second in “every single Maaravi added. pany is now headquartered, the insur- energy, water and big data, posi- being built in a country the size vertical of technology.” While it may be impossible to iden- ance became available in Illinois in honing the country as an inter- of New Jersey, surrounded by “We talk about the strongest tify which Israeli start-ups truly have April. Lemonade is slated to roll out verticals or strongest trends or the potential to become the country’s throughout most of the United States companies, but across the board next Mobileye, The Jerusalem Post is over the course of the year, according it’s not an exaggeration to say offering its best guess of five of the to the company. As of December, the Israel is a tech superpower,” he most promising candidates in an company had raised some $60m., but said. array of sectors. two weeks ago, Allianz, the world’s Rather than excelling in one Argus Cyber Security largest insurer, announced that it specific area in the hi-tech Tel Aviv would be making a strategic invest- world, Israeli start-ups tend to With autonomous cars emerging ment in the start-up, though it did do well in “any industry where on roads around the globe, defending not disclose the amount. you can apply deep learning the vulnerabilities of these networked Hometalk and machine vision to change vehicles has become an increasing- Jerusalem the rules and dynamics of an ly urgent challenge. A rapidly rising The world’s largest do-it-yourself industry,” said venture capitalist Tel Aviv-based company, Argus Cyber community, Hometalk boasts some Security, provides comprehensive nine million members who share Michael Eisenberg. cyber security solutions for the auto- their DIY home and gardening proj- “All sorts of areas of indus- motive industry, preventing hackers ects, ideas and questions through try that consumed software in from threatening commercial cars blog posts, Pinterest photos, videos the past to increase productiv- and other networked vehicles. and slide shows. ity will now become industries Since its establishment in 2013, Proj ects posted on Hometalk, which entirely composed of software Argus has raised $30 million in equity receives some 40 million monthly themselves,” he added. funding, opening up offices in Mich- visits and 300 million monthly page Like Eisenberg, Dr. Yossi Maar- igan, Silicon Valley, Stuttgart and views, range from making nontax- avi, deputy dean of the Inter- Tokyo, according to start-up directory ic reusable cleaning wipes from old disciplinary Center Herzliya’s Crunchbase. As increased connectivi- T-shirts to revitalizing discarded fur- Adelson School of Entrepre- ty helps improve road safety and tran- niture to planting tabletop gardens. neurship, said that the most sit experience, Argus looks to thwart The majority of Hometalk’s traf- successful Israeli start-ups share the accompanying security risks and fic comes through a variety of social key traits, including the use of make today’s vehicles less vulnerable media channels, as users share viral data and machine learning in a to attack. The company works with posts to friends on their networks. smart manner. private and commercial manufactur- Unique among Israeli start-up success The most fruitful start-ups ers, suppliers, fleet managers, dealer- stories, Hometalk is a “bootstrapped” may begin by focusing on ships and after-market connectivity business: Its founders built the com- a niche area of expertise, but providers to prevent malware instal- pany with little capital and without they tend to expand to a broad- lation, detect operating system anom- external fund-raising. Founded in er community reach and go alies and stop attacks from spreading 2011, Hometalk has offices in Jerusa- after a huge market, Maaravi within vehicle networks. lem and New York. explained. Zebra Medical Vision Moovit Another key quality shared by Kibbutz Shefayim Ness Ziona By harnessing advanced With more than 55 million riders in See START-UPS, Page 9 machine-learning techniques to ana- 75 countries, Moovit unifies all types lyze medical images, this Kibbutz of public transportation travel under Shefayim-based start-up aims to help one umbrella, enabling members of medical professionals generate auto- the public to both plan their trips and mated, accurate and timely diagnoses. track arrival and departure schedules After raising $8m. in 2015, just in real-time. a year after its founding, the com- A community-driven app, Moovit pany received an additional $12m. integrates official public transporta- investment last year. Zebra’s self-de- tion data with crowdsourced transit scribed mission involves “teaching updates, in order to increase the accu- computers to detect and diagnose racy of the information provided to critical medical conditions” through users. algorithms that strive to assist radiol- In addition to beginning its own ogists in detecting indications that Moovit Carpool service last year in might otherwise be overlooked, and Israel and Italy, the company teamed in understanding the medical profiles up with Uber to integrate ride-share of their patients. options in 22 of the countries where Topping start-up rankings on tech the public transit app operates. The websites worldwide, Zebra hopes to collaboration with Uber built upon make a significant impact. An aging previous such partnerships formed global population and a rapidly with ride-share service Lyft in 2014 growing middle class have created and Gett, an on-demand taxi provider, an “unsustainable course” where- in 2015. in the demand for medical imaging After raising $81.5m. in several solutions is far outpacing the supply financing rounds from 2012 through of doctors who can supply these ser- 2015, Moovit received an invest- vices. ment of an undisclosed amount Lemonade at the end of 2015 from Sound Tel Aviv Ventures, a venture capital firm Powered by artificial intelligence cofounded by actor Ashton Kutcher and behavioral economics, Lemon- and Israeli-American businessman ade provides peer-to-peer insurance Guy Oseary. •.

Load more