A new initiative aims to provide special mentoring for Slovenian startup companies looking to gain a foothold in Israel.

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Last week, the Slovenian Embassy in Israel, together with public business development organization Spirit Slovenia and the Slovene Enterprise Fund, announced the launch of a new accelerator in Israel, to be managed by Arieli Capital's ETC.

The program seeks to connect selected Slovenian startups with Israeli high-tech companies, leading industry organizations, international corporations, investors, and academic institutions.

The accelerator program, which is funded by the Slovenian government, is scheduled to run in Tel Aviv from Feb. 13-April 11, and an open call for Slovenian startups is already underway, with applications accepted until mid-January, 2022.

Slovenian startups from a variety of sectors, including healthcare, fintech, foodtech, and more, are expected to take part.

"We are excited to launch the Slovenia-Israel accelerator, which will reinforce the economic and social collaboration between the growing ecosystems of both countries. The accelerator offers Slovenian startups a unique opportunity to work in the heart of one of the world's primary high-tech hubs, the startup nation of Israel," said Or Haviv, partner and head of global innovation at Arieli Capital.

"We are confident that this strategic partnership will help to advance the Slovenian startups to the forefront of the global high-tech scene," he added.

Haviv said that many countries were increasingly interested in becoming part of Israel's startup scene. "Israel became a compelling example of a tech ecosystem producing world leading innovation. Many countries would like to learn how to build a similar model," he stressed.

Slovenian Ambassador to Israel Andreja Purkart Martinez said, "Israel and Slovenia share a lot in common."

According to Martinez, "The Slovenian economy is growing fast thanks to excellent human capital, government backed investments and cutting edge research and academic institutions. We are certain that collaborating with Israel will help Slovenia's entrepreneurial and startup industry thrive and help our talented startups expand to international markets."

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Six companies that operate under the auspices of the ARC Innovation Center at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer raised a combined total of over $110 million in 2021, the center reported Wednesday.

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The ARC (Accelerate Redesign Collaborate) Innovation Center, led by Professor Eyal Zimlichman, who serves as chief innovation and transformation officer at Sheba, seeks to introduce new technologies to the hospital and community ecosystem.

All six companies are based on technology invented and developed out of Sheba, and the center focuses on digital health technologies such as precision medicine, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, telemedicine and mobile health.

"The ARC Innovation Center has been focusing on ground-breaking, innovative technologies with a prime directive to redesign healthcare. Our commercialization efforts enable us to expand the reach of these technologies and create global impact on a wide scale," Zimlichman explained.

The six Sheba companies that secured investments in 2021 are:

Aidoc, a provider of artificial intelligence solutions that support and enhance physicians' diagnostic power ($66 million). Aidoc's solutions use AI to analyze medical images directly after acquisition and notify radiologists directly in their workflows of cases with suspected findings. Aidoc has seven FDA-cleared solutions and has won numerous awards including the prestigious UCSF 'Best New Health Application of AI' award and TIME's 50 most genius companies.

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BELKIN Laser, a clinical-stage medical device company developing a disruptive automated one-second laser treatment for glaucoma ($13.75 million). Developed by Prof. Michael Belkin, the camera-guided system enables precise contact-free procedure through a sophisticated image processing algorithm that automatically defines the treatment location and tracks the movement of the eye.

Starget Pharma, a start-up biopharmaceutical company that develops products for the diagnosis and targeted treatment of cancer through radioactive radiation ($10 million). Starget develops unique molecules that serve as a vector for selectively transferring imaging materials and treatment to the tumor tissue. Starget's leading research product is a somatostatin-like peptide based on a technology that developed by Sheba Hospital and Tel Aviv University that is licensed exclusively to the company.

Append Medical, developer of the next generation transcatheter Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) closure system ($7.6 million). The Append Medical procedure is designed to prevent blood clot leakage by achieving complete LAA closure, avoid device-related thromboembolism by leaving minimal foreign material at the closure site, while being a simple procedure with fewer LAA pre-procedure measurements. The Append Medical solution is in pre-clinical in-vivo trials phase and is intended to become a differentiated solution in the LAA closure market, which is estimated to reach $25 billion within several years.

Innovalve Bio Medical, an early-stage medical-device company developing catheter-based heart valve therapies ($7.2 million). The company grew out of inventions and patents developed by Sheba experts Professor Ehud Raanani, director of Sheba's Cardiovascular and Thoracic Center, and Dr. Boris Orlev, head of the Sheba's Mitral Valve Surgery Unit. Innovalve has developed an artificial mitral valve that can be replaced using a minimally invasive catheter to help treat patients with heart disease. The company has achieved successful results in experiments on animals and has received US-FDA approval for a US clinical trial, as well as approval in other territories.

TechsoMed, a miotech company that is developing BioTrace, the world's first real-time monitoring and control systems for ablation procedure ($7 million). The technology is applicable to multiple fields such as oncology (tumor ablation), cardiology (heart arrhythmia) and pain management (radiofrequency neurotomy) technology. The breakthrough technology brings disruptive improvement to thermal ablation through real time AI and image analysis by interfacing with a standard ultrasound device.

Dr. Sylvie Luria, CEO of Sheba's Technology Transfer Company, which handles ARC's commercialization efforts, said, "The quality of innovation at Sheba has earned the trust of healthcare innovators and industry alike. Moreover, the funding of six companies this year is a testament to investor confidence in Sheba-developed innovations, which aim to solve complex clinical challenges and make healthcare systems more efficient."

"Reaching $1 billion in investments in ARC technologies over a decade is a milestone, but the impact of these investments in improved healthcare delivery and patient outcomes is exponentially greater," Luria noted.

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A year into the global COVID pandemic, January 2021 turned out to be a blockbuster year for the Israeli startup scene, with Israeli startups raising a record $1.44 billion, the NGO Start-Up Nation Central reports.

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According to SNC, six start-ups raised more than $100 million each (mega rounds) during the month, totaling 73% of the amount raised Israeli firms in January. Furthermore, the mega-rounds in January 2021 alone equaled nearly 30% of the total number of mega-rounds in the entire year of 2020 (21 total).

The companies that completed the six mega-rounds announced during January 2021 are Rapyd Financial Network (Fintech), which raised  $300 million in a D Round; Drivenets (Network Infrastructure), which raised $208 million in a B Round; OwnBackup (Enterprise solutions), which raised $167.5 million in a D Round; digital health company K Health ($132 million in an E Round); E-Commerce firm Resident Home ($130 million in a B Round); and Fintech firm Melio ($110 million in a D Round).

This marks the highest number of both mega-round and general investments made during a single month in Israeli start-ups. To compared, there were three mega-rounds in January 2020, none in January 2019 or January 2018. The mega-rounds in January were led by US investors.

The analysis by SNC concluded that the January 2021 data reflected "investor confidence in Israel's innovation ecosystem curing the COVID-19 pandemic."

Director of Research at Startup Nation Central Meir Valman observed that "The record level of fundraising in recent months is driven by two effects. One is the increasing maturity of the Israeli tech ecosystem, when rapidly growing startups are able to raise much larger rounds. The other is the effect of COVID-19 on Israeli companies, which pivot rapidly to address the challenges of the pandemic, but that will also stay relevant long after it is gone."

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The integration of virtual reality technology is part of the medical center's innovation efforts and commitment to digital health.

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Sheba Medical Center is strategically transforming the hospital into a center of innovation that embodies a startup culture and that encourages the hospital's complete transformation to digital health. The hospital is guided by a strategy named Innovation ARC that stands for accelerate, redesign, and collaborate with a focus on investing in digital health, collaborating with key partners and inspiring innovation.

As part of this vision, Sheba is partnering with XRHealth to use their VR platform for cognitive therapy, physical therapy, pain relief, and many other applications throughout the entire hospital.

"With XR Health, Sheba Medical Center believes we will be able to provide improved training for our facility, along with better and more personalized care for our patients," said Professor Amitai Ziv, Director of Sheba's Rehabilitation Hospital.

Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, Sheba's Chief Medical and Chief Innovation Officer added, "We've identified medical virtualization as one of the technologies that will transform healthcare. Within this realm, we aim to be a leader in developing new health services based on VR."

XRHealth's flagship product, the VRHealth Platform, is offered to healthcare facilities and provides them with VR medical apps, including cognitive assessment and training apps, motor function apps, pain management apps, and behavioral apps. The VRHealth and ARHealth platforms are particularly useful for medical professionals since they can analyze patient data in real-time to track their recovery both on-site and remotely.

"It is monumental in both the medical and technology industries that Sheba Medical Center has become the first fully-VR based hospital," said Eran Orr, CEO of XRHealth. "Sheba Medical Center is leading the transformation that the medical industry is now undergoing moving to a vision of innovation that will ultimately drive more innovation."

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the news in a post on his Facebook page: "For the first time, the UN is ranking us among the top 10 leading nations on its Global Innovation Index. We've made Israel into a rising global power."

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For the past few years, Israel has been climbing on the UN index. In 2016, it was ranked 21st in innovation. In 2017, it jumped to 17th. In 2018, Israel placed just outside the top 10 and was ranked 11th. Israel's precise place in the top 10 on the 2019 Global Innovation Index has yet to be disclosed. The final results are slated to be unveiled on July 24 at a special event the WIPO will be hosting in New Delhi.

This year's WIPO event will focus on innovation in the health care field. Israeli Ambassador to India Dr. Ron Malka and Esti Sheli, head of the Department of Digital Health in the Health Ministry, will represent Israel.

The Global Innovation Index uses 80 indicators to rank the state of innovation in 129 countries. The indicators examine, among other things, the creative and supportive environment for innovation in different countries in terms of education, investment in infrastructure, investment in research, the level of business sophistication, and the political climate.

The GII has become a tool used by decision-makers and business people in creating ties between the public and private sectors. The index was developed by the WIPO, Cornell University, and INSEAD, one of the world's leading business schools.

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