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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Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published this week its 2021 Portfolio of 15 promising new startups.

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Founded in 1964, Yissum (which means "implementation" in Hebrew) serves as a bridge between academic research and entrepreneurs, investors, and industry.  Yissum has registered over 10,900 patents globally; licensed over 1,140 technologies and spun out more than 200 companies.

"Yissum has long been considered Israel's leading technology transfer company, but our recent successes along with the unprecedented level of portfolio companies, investment partners, and highly promising early-stage tech serve as a real-life testament to that fact," said Yissum CEO Dr. Itzik Goldwaser.

"While this group of startups shows promise when it comes to commercial success, they are also poised to change millions of lives and we will continue to help foster and scale these technologies in order to achieve their full potential," Goldwaser said.

The following companies are now part of Yissum's portfolio:

RNAWay, which has developed a platform to deliver siRNA to plants

Immunyx Pharma, which has developed technology relating to a platform to allow neutrophil-specific targeting, a mode of immunotherapy

Lipovac, a company developing a liposome-based vaccine to treat different illness indications including, but not limited to, viral infections such as COVID-19

ExoNavis Therapeutics, which is harnessing the exosome, an extracellular vesicle, as a multi-drug delivery vehicle

NexoCarp: Pickering solid dispersion and particles for the delivery of agents

PSYRX, which is developing tissue culture protocols to produce and isolate psilocybin and ibogaine psychedelic compounds in bioreactors for the treatment of various central nervous system diseases

MyComed Super Foods, which uses medicinal herbs and Spirulina Algae mixed in foods to improve skeletal quality and prevent osteoporosis

Cavos: Develops new diagnostic, prognostics, and treatment options for a wide array of diseases and conditions using different genomes with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-based tools

Noga3D, which has developed epoxy-based 3D printing materials

I-Red Pharma, which offers novel treatment for diseases using new small and multi-property molecules (Superdopa and Superdopamide)

SOLRA, which has developed fully screen-printable Perovskite Solar Cells

Sea2Cell: A technology for raising cultured fish by growing fish cells in vitro

EverBlue Labs: Produces zero-discharge fish aquariums

Bountica: Anti-Fungal Peptides

RNABLE which has technology comprising a novel target for the treatment of rare genetic diseases and cancer caused by nonsense mutations

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A food delivery app dedicated to Arab cities in Israel is revolutionizing the industry, serving residents of areas without adequate infrastructure for similar services to thrive in.

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In February 2020, Dr. Hasan Abasi launched Haat from his office in the Arab town Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel.

"The beginning was very difficult," Dr. Abasi, CEO of the food delivery app, told i24NEWS.

"The first part was to convince people of your idea, and the second part was when you actually start working on the app yourself."

Abasi's app recently crossed the 1 million order mark, connecting Arab communities in Israel with 670 shops and restaurants.

"Planning is one thing, and implementing it is completely different," Abasi continued.

'Haat,' which means "bring" in Arabic, answers the unmet needs of Arab communities in Israel that do not always have the means to take advantage of typical food delivery services.

Unlike the food delivery apps Wolt or UberEats, Abasi's Haat allows payment by both cash and credit card, with 80% of its turnover in cash.

It also allows orders to be sent to the location of a user's smartphone – in contrast to other apps that require an exact address – since many houses in Arab towns and villages are not numbered.

"One of the things that we work on is user experience, on how we can make it easier for users to get what they want," Muhammad Jawabri, user experience specialist at Haat, told i24NEWS.

Although the application already covers a wide area that extends from Yarka in northern Israel to Jerusalem, the team's ambition is far greater.

"'Haat' must control the whole world of deliveries in all areas without infrastructure," Abasi said.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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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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A study that examined 424 startups (private and VC-backed companies) and 70 venture capital (VC) funds that are active in Israel presents captivating data about women in the Israeli startup/tech ecosystem.

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The research reveals that the average percentage of women represented in the companies studied is 33%. However, representation of women changes based on the size of the company. Not surprisingly, larger companies tend to have higher percentages of women employees (36%) than smaller companies do (30.8%), numbers that appear to support the claim that it is harder for smaller companies to ensure a diverse workforce.

Larger companies also have larger operating systems and can put more resources into recruiting efforts, and have a greater need for human resources, legal, finance, and support jobs – positions for which women are frequently hired.

When it comes to actual tech jobs, only 27% are filled by women, with some variance depending on the company's field of specialization. The digital health sector had the most robust female representation, with women comprising 45% of employees or more at over 60% of the companies studied. Women hold at least 35% of leadership roles in digital health companies.

But overall, women hold less than one-quarter (23.4%) of leadership roles (C-level jobs, vice presidents, directors) in startup companies.

The sub-sectors of Israel's startup/technology landscape that employ the fewest women are cybersecurity, automotive, electronics, and telecommunications. The percentage of women employees in these sectors ranges from 27% to 18%.

When it comes to the driving force behind the startup industry, venture capital, only 14.8% of the partners in the 70 VC firms studies are women, and only 9% of investing partners in those companies are women.

The data were collected by the Power in Diversity initiative, a project that partners with over 220 VC funds and startup companies to promote diversity and inclusion. PID was founded by Alan Feld, funding partner at Vintage Investment Partners. Kobi Sambursky, funding partner at Glilot Capital Partners, and Sivan Shamri Dahan, managing partner and co-founder at Qumra Capital, co-chair the initiative.

"The report highlights a point of view about women working in the ecosystem which is both critical and credible. Undoubtedly, the situation is far from satisfactory. Women should fulfill many more of the leading roles in companies and VC," Dahan said.

"There is no reason why the makeup of the human factor in the ecosystem should not represent the number of women in the general population, and, furthermore, the number of qualified women for these roles. Start-ups should focus on recruiting more employees of underrepresented populations and PID is here to help them," she added.

Shahar Silis, managing director at PID, said, "Many companies are unaware of the diversity measures of their employees as well as the representation rate in the various populations.  We hope that showcasing the companies that are doing this successfully by allocating considerable resources to the implementation of diversity programs and focusing on expanding the pool of candidates that are underrepresented in the workforce will serve as an inspiration to organizations that are interested in doing more."

Sambursky said he believed that "2022 will be the Year of Diversity for our startup industry."

According to Sambursky, the Israeli startup ecosystem has seen an "extraordinary" few  years in terms of funding, IPOs, and unicorns, but the sector still has much work to do when it comes to diversity.

"Like startups, VC must also be proactive by employing many more women, Ethiopian Jews, Orthodox Jews, Arabs, individuals with disabilities, and other populations. The first step is full transparency," Sambursky said.

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After two years of testing, the Health Ministry has begun applying artificial analysis (AI)-based technology from Israeli wastewater analysis company Kando to monitor the presence of coronavirus in the country's wastewater.

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Kando's solution, which is backed by Bridges Israel, an investment fund that focuses on Israeli businesses relating to social and environmental impact, uses big data and AI to analyze wastewater, as a tool to help improve public health. Sensors and control units placed in municipal sewage systems provide decision-makers with relevant insights about the spread of COVID and possible new variants.

The Kando-Health Ministry wastewater monitoring project is being carried out in conjunction with the Virology Laboratory at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev scientists Professors Ariel Kushmaro, Nadav Davidovitch and Jacob Moran-Gilad; and Professor Eran Friedler of the Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering Unit of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

The plan calls for wastewater in Israeli towns of 20,000 residents are more to be tested twice a week. This is expected to yield representative samples of localized viral loads that will help track morbidity levels in given areas.

Once collected, samples are sent to Ben-Gurion University, where PCR tests adapted for use on wastewater are conducted. If a sample yields positive results, additional tests are performed to determine whether or not the Omicron variant is present and if so, at what level.

The testing procedure takes about 24 hours.

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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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Israeli foodtech startup SavorEat on Tuesday launched a plant-based burger system personalized to each customer, one of the first companies to use 3D printing technology to cook food.

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Typically, vegan burgers from companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are frozen and later cooked on a grill.

SavorEat's technology, however, are made on site by a self-contained 3D printer with three cartridges containing oils and other ingredients. Customers can choose how much fat and protein they want in each burger, which takes about six minutes to cook.

"It's a mix of innovation of meat alternative and digital manufacturing where we can also cook the product," Racheli Vizman, SavorEat's chief executive, told Reuters.

She said the firm's burgers are made with a combination of potato and chickpea and pea protein.

Demand for meat alternatives by health and environmentally conscious consumers has jumped in recent years, while alternative protein startups raised more than $3 billion in 2020.

Another Israeli company, Redefine Meat, last month started to deploy meatless whole cuts in European restaurants.

SavorEat, funded mainly by Israeli institutions and whose Tel Aviv-listed shares rose 11% on Tuesday, said its products would initially be served at a local burger chain.

The company is also collaborating with food service firm Yarzin Sela that supplies Israeli high-tech companies and forged a deal with Sodexo to serve its vegan burgers to US universities.

"There is a growing segment of people called 'flexiterian' – people who are actively trying to look for meat alternatives to reduce their meat consumption," Vizman said, citing about one-third of the US population.

Oded Shoseyov, chairman and chief scientist of SavorEat, said the firm is also working on a plant-based version of a pork breakfast sausage for the US market.

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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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