At Assuta Ramat Hahayal Hospital, an innovative research study is currently underway seeking to detect cancer in its early stages through a groundbreaking combination of advanced artificial intelligence technology and the highly developed sense of smell of trained dogs, enabling remarkably high accuracy rates.

The technology was developed by Israeli startup SpotitEarly, which created a unique patent (registered in the US) capable of identifying four types of cancer – lung, breast, prostate, and colon – which together constitute approximately 50% of all new cancer cases worldwide. The company aims to expand detection capabilities to additional cancer types in the future. To date, over $8 million has been invested in the venture, with backers including two prominent Israeli funds – the Menomadin Foundation and Hanaco Fund.

The process is remarkably simple. Patients breathe into a specially designed face mask for 3 minutes. The mask is then transferred to the company's laboratory, where specially trained beagles "smell" the sample under the supervision of the company's sophisticated AI system. Each sample undergoes 3-5 separate tests to ensure highly accurate results.

The research has already included more than 1,400 participants, most between 40–70 years old, with the technology demonstrating an impressive 94% accuracy rate.

Gidi Leshetz, CEO of Assuta Medical Centers, said, "This represents a tool with genuine potential to save lives. It's non-invasive, straightforward, and most importantly, capable of creating real change for patients. Early detection has repeatedly proven to save lives. We will continue advancing and implementing innovation across all medical fields at Assuta."

Ariel Ben Dayan, Founding Partner at SpotitEarly, said, "We are proud and delighted about our collaboration with Assuta. The openness and support that RISE provides to Israel's digital health company ecosystem are truly exceptional. SpotitEarly was established on the understanding that early cancer detection will save countless lives, and that combining advanced technology with capabilities developed in nature through millions of years of evolution represents the most effective approach to solving this challenge. This partnership with a leading Israeli health organization brings us significantly closer to realizing the company's vision."

Dr. Merav Galili, CEO of the Menomadin Foundation, said, "The unique development from SpotitEarly may lead to a global breakthrough in early detection of the most common cancer cases. Menomadin Foundation has collaborated with the company's founders since its earliest stages, driven by a desire to improve and strengthen early cancer detection capabilities – an advancement that could save millions of lives worldwide. Menomadin Foundation works to strengthen Israel's social resilience through developing and implementing comprehensive national programs. The fund operates under a unique model aimed at ensuring long-term economic sustainability through impact investments in groundbreaking Israeli startups. Founded in 2019 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Haim Taib, the fund currently maintains a diverse portfolio spanning foodtech, agritech, health-tech, and additional sectors."

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After the European Union brought its Horizon Europe research and innovation program to Israel, with plans to invest 8.5 billion shekels ($2.6 billion) in it over seven years, EIT Hub Israel – the Israeli branch of the EU Institute of Innovation and Technology – is opening a third Calling2Scale international post acceleration program.

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The program, to be developed in collaboration with Doral Energy, Italian energy firm Alperia, American medical equipment company Integer, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center's IMed hub, and the Bazan Group, seeks to work with Israeli and European startups working in the sectors of health, renewable energy, and alternative fuel and plastics.

The program is intended for startups that have produced a working product/prototype. A total of 16 startups will be selected, and participants will be mentored by entrepreneurs from Israel and Europe, who will advise them on business development, adapting to a post-COVID world, and other issues. The mentoring will include help with marketing and regulation.

The program is scheduled to begin in May and meetings will take place in a hybrid format that combines frontal and online meetings.

EIT Hub Israel Managing Director Adi Barel said, "The Calling2Scale program has so far had two successful programs in Israel. The goal of the program is to share the strengths of Israel and Europe and gather the right resources from around the world to support quality technologies that are evolving in the areas of health, climate and energy.

"The significance and uniqueness of the program that opens the startup application today, lies in our association with leading partners in the industry and the connection to EIT's European partners network of about 3,000 different companies across the continent. Israel's accession to the European Union's 'Horizon Europe' program further strengthens the program," Barel said.

Head of Innovation and Research at the EU Delegation to Israel, Andrea Carignani Di Novoli, said, "The recently signed 'Horizon Europe' agreement between Israel and the EU allows Israeli and European researchers, entrepreneurs and start-ups to continue working together to find solutions to current global challenges – climate change, reducing carbon emissions and streamlining and improving the global health system. The agreement benefits everyone: Israel – which offers a fertile and data-rich environment, clinical trials and their validity, and Europe – which provides a strong market for technologies in the fields of health, climate and energy."

Interested startups can apply here

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The Tel Aviv-based firm Kitchen Robotics is building the kitchens of the future with an automated "robot chef" that can make up to 60 dishes an hour.

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Beastro – a fully programmable kitchen "robot" developed by the company – aims to make restaurant operations cheaper and easier while also cutting down on wait time by introducing automation technology to the process.

To make the day's meals, operators first load all the necessary ingredients into the Beastro containers, and then the device dispenses and prepares meal components –  even performing more complicated culinary tasks like sautéing mushrooms.

The machine cuts down on labor costs as well, requiring only one staff member to operate the machine.

"An average dish time is between two to four minutes depending on complexity," the operator explained, adding that "When a dish is ready, it rolls down… where the one single operator that runs this entire Beastro machine packages it for takeaway."

The machine even handles the cleanup process independently, freeing up time for kitchen staff.

"No one washes the dishes – Beastro washes the dishes!"

Beastro doesn't just prepare meals quickly – it cooks efficiently as well, reducing food waste and the possibility of mistaken order errors commonly seen in restaurants managed by humans.

i24NEWS contributed to this report

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Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) company QuantLR Ltd, based in Modi'in, has integrated its technology with NVIDIA's suite of networking offerings, paving the way towards a quantum-secured data center, the company announced Tuesday.

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QuantLR aims to provide versatile, low-cost quantum cryptographic solutions based on QKD technologies to protect communicated data.

As part of the project, QuantLR's QKD system connected and transferred encryption keys to two NVIDIA ConnectX-6 NICs. The interface was achieved using the ETSI REST-based key delivery API. During the process, different scenarios were tested: using different fiber lengths, attenuations and key distribution rates.

The QuantLR-NVIDIA project was executed as part of a consortium that partially funded by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) and the Defense Ministry's Directorate of Defense Research & Development, with support from the Israeli Quantum initiative led by Dr. Tal David.

"We are happy to be supported by NVIDIA in advancing Quantum encryption solutions that are proven to be the only completely secured solutions against any eavesdropping and hacking attempts to communication lines in the present, and in the future," said QuantLR CEO Shlomi Cohen.

"The support of a leading company such as NVIDIA accelerates our development process and enables us to offer the market an affordable solution sooner. The quantum encryption market is predicted to reach sales volumes of more than $7B in 2025, and we plan to be a significant player in this market," Cohen said.

Kevin Deierling, Senior Vice President of Networking at NVIDIA, said, "The growth of game-changing innovations such as AI, 5G and smart devices continues to grow the volume of traffic and sensitive information in today's data centers. NVIDIA's collaboration with QuantLR enables next-generation cybersecurity technologies that stay ahead of emerging threats to the data center."

QuantLR is an OurCrowd Labs/02 portfolio company.

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Foodtech start-up Plantish is giving consumers a first look at its flagship product, a 100% plant-based whole-cut salmon fillet, which the company says mimics cooked salmon in texture, taste, appearance, and structure.

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Co-founder and CEO Ofek Ron says that the Plantish team keeps its mission close to its heart – "to save the oceans and eliminate the need to consume marine animals by providing more sustainable, more nutritious, and more delicious fish options."

According to market research firm IMARC Group, the seafood market today is worth $586 billion, and salmon accounts for $50 billion of that. Approximately 80% of fish is consumed whole or in fillet form. But the alternative seafood sector offers mainly minced fish options because of the complexities of producing whole "cuts."

The technical difficulties come not only in creating a facsimile of the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of fish from the ocean, but also its structure and scalability. Producers need to find the right plant proteins to achieve fibrous stands that will stand in for fish flesh.

The first product Plantish is launching is Plantish Salmon, which the company describes as a fully structured, boneless plant-based salmon fillet. The startup says Plantish Salmon has the same nutritional value as conventional salmon, and is high in protein, Omega-3s, Omega-6s, and B vitamins. And as an added bonus, unlike fish from the ocean or aquaculture, their product is reportedly free of mercury, antibiotics, hormones, microplastics, and toxins.

"Our vision is to be the world's leading seafood brand," says Ron, "all without hurting a single fish."

Plantish's current prototype can be cooked in all the ways that conventional salmon is prepared. The company plans to introduce its salmon fillets at select pop-up locations by the end of 2022, and officially roll it out in 2024.

Plantish joined the burgeoning alternative protein start-up scene in early 2021 and shortly thereafter after raised a pre-seed round of $2 million from TechAviv Founder Partners, and angel investors that include Michelin-starred chef José Andrés and Nuseir Yassin of the Nas Daily vlog.

The founders of Plantish are a mix of serial entrepreneurs, bioengineering and chemistry PhDs, and foodtech executives.

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Alphabet Inc-owned Google said on Tuesday its cloud division had acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify, as the US tech giant expands its security offerings amid rising cyberattacks.

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Financial details of the deal were not disclosed by the companies, but a source familiar with the matter said Google paid about $500 million in cash for Siemplify.

The deal came after Google made a pledge to US President Joe Biden last August to invest $10 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years, amid a significant rise in cyberattacks and data breaches.

Siemplify, led by co-founder and chief executive Amos Stern, provides security orchestration, automation and response solutions. It has raised $58 million from investors including G20 Ventures and 83North.

With a partnership with Google Cloud, Siemplify attracted the buyer's interest as it was in the process of raising a new round of private capital, the source added.

Since the pandemic started in 2020, Google's revenue from the cloud business has nearly doubled to around $5 billion as companies shifted to working from home. The need to protect and hedge against security threats has shot up in tandem, with big corporates also beefing up on cybersecurity products.

Google said Siemplify's platform would be integrated into its cloud and serve as the foundation for the capabilities it will invest in.

The buyout, Google's first Israeli cybersecurity firm deal, will help the tech giant take advantage of Israel's deep pool of cybersecurity talent.

Guggenheim Securities advised Siemplify on the transaction.

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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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Rehovot-based foodtech start-up Better Juice, which has made it a mission to reduce the sugar content of natural fruit juice while preserving flavor and nutritional content, has sealed a deal to bring its reduced-sugar juices to supermarket aisles.

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Better Juice has inked an agreement with a major US fruit juice manufacturer for commercial installment of its sugar-reduction technology – the first official commercial venture in the company's collaboration with Germany's GEA Group.

Better Juice's patented enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose sugars into prebiotic and other non-digestible fibers. The juice passes through a continuous flow bio-reactor housing non-GMO microorganism that transform the unwanted sugars into beneficial, non-digestible molecules.

The company says its system can reduce sugar loads by up to 80%, while preserving the fruits' vitamins and nutrients.

Is the taste affected? According to Better Juice, the process mitigates sweetness while boosting the fruit flavor.

Better Juice has been granted a patent for its sugar-reduction enzymatic process in Europe. Armed with recent self-affirmed GRAS status from the US Food and Drug Administration, the company is out to market its system.

"These achievements, together with GEA's knowhow and cutting-edge technology, will open doors to work more closely with food and beverage companies," explains Eran Blachinsky, PhD, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice.

Under the terms of the collaboration with GEA, the German group will design, manufacture, and install the bioreactor that reduces sugars and offer follow-up technical support. Better Juice will produce the microorganisms for the enzymatic process. The US commercial order stipulates that Better Juice will produce natural juices with a minimum sugar reduction of 30%, and the product is expected to arrive in US supermarkets by the spring of 2022.

"This new agreement marks an exciting milestone in our mission to get our sugar-reduction technology off the ground, to penetrate the US market, and to expand our global footprint," enthuses Blachinsky. "We've officially launched our drive to help consumers enjoy reduce sugar in their favorite fruit juice."

"Scaling up is always a challenge," confesses Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice. "But when your partner is GEA, with its vast industrial food processing capabilities and global presence, the acceleration of the Better Juice commercialization is much faster and brings added value to the supply chain. Imagine – in just a few months, affordable, reduced-sugar fruit juice will be a ready option for American consumers."

"Better Juice has incredible potential to transform the global juice industry," notes Colm O'Gorman, Head of Sales Management for GEA's Global Technology Center for Non-Alcoholic Beverages. "As consumer demand for lowered-sugar beverages continues to surge, we are eager to join Better Juice on this momentous journey. We look forward to delivering products that address one of the top consumer needs of reducing their sugar intake, especially in daily beverages."

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Israel's high-tech sector experienced a record year in 2021 as startups raised $25.4 billion from January to November, while 33 companies reached unicorn status with valuations of $1 billion or more, according to a report published Monday by Start-Up Nation Central (SNC).

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Compared to $10.8 billion raised in 2020, this year's figure represents a 136% increase.

"Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Israeli tech ecosystem is stronger than ever," said Avi Hasson, CEO of SNC.

"In a world where digital has become the default, Israel is a world-class source of solutions to global challenges."

Funding in Israeli startups and companies was 71% more than the global average, as shown by data compiled by the research firm Pitchbook.

"This… raises the question of whether Israel has made the transition from being the Start-Up Nation to the Scale-Up Nation," Hasson said.

Hasson also pointed out that Israeli companies were dealing with a shortage of qualified employees, with tens of thousands of high tech jobs unfilled. According to Hasson, SNC was extending a had to Israeli tech firms by launching training programs for high-tech workers and helping connect Israeli entrepreneurs to governments, corporations, and investors.

The three largest sectors in terms of funding were fintech, enterprise IT and data infrastructure, and security technologies, the SNC report said.

Israel also saw 33 privately-held technology companies join the billion-dollar club in 2021, bringing the total number of unicorns (companies valued at $1 billion or more) in the country to 53.

The new unicorns include biotech firm Immunai; robotics startup Fabric; cybersecurity startup Wiz; fintech firm Melio; and music app maker JoyTunes.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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