Israeli cybersecurity companies Skybox, Intezer and NanoLock dominated investment news during the month of October.
Skybox Security raised $150 million in a financing round led by CVC Capital Partners’ Growth Fund, which invested $100 million; $50 million came from Pantheon. Skybox, founded in Israel in 2002, is headquartered in Silicon Valley and has its R&D in Herzliya Pituach.
Tel Aviv-based Intezer raised $8 million in a Series A financing round led by Intel Capital with co-investors Magma and Samsung NEXT, while NanoLock Security of Nitzanei Oz and New York raised $4.5 million from Canadian VC Awz Homeland Security Fund.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) companies also did well in October.
Intelligo Group raised $5.7 million in a Series A round from New York-based investment firm Governing Dynamics and Eileen Murray of Bridgewater Associates to further develop its machine-learning and AI-based Clarity platform that carries out background checks and due diligence on investments and individuals.
AI-powered video creation platform Wibbitz raised $20 million in Series C funding led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments with participation from The Weather Channel, The Associated Press, TF1 Group and existing investors including NantMobile, lool Ventures and Horizons Ventures. The Tel Aviv-based company has opened offices in New York.
Other Israeli companies that raised money in October are in a variety of sectors.
Infinidat data-storage developer closed a $95 million C round led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing (PCI) with participation from TPG Growth. Founded in 2011, Infindat counts among its clients several of the world’s largest telcos, banks, and cloud service providers. The company has offices in 17 countries and is headquartered in Herzliya and Waltham, Mass.
Connatix video technology provider and native video syndication and monetization platform secured $15 million in growth-equity funding led by Volition Capital. Connatix has offices in Tel Aviv, New York and Romania.
BondIT raised $14.25 million through a strategic investment from China’s Fosun Group — Fosun’s first investment in Israeli fintech. Founded in 2012, the company provides automated solutions for fixed-income traders and their portfolios. BondIT has its development center in Herzliya.
TIPA Sustainable Packaging of Hod Hasharon received $11 million in a B round led by Austin and Gabriela Hearst, owners of the Hearst Corporation, together with existing TIPA investors GreenSoil Investments and Horizons Ventures. TIPA develops and manufactures bio-based, fully compostable, flexible packaging.
Vector, which delivers energy and communication services to 1.2 million homes and businesses in New Zealand, made a $10 million investment in mPrest, a global provider of “Internet of Energy” software. Based in Petah Tikva, mPrest’s current investors include OurCrowd, GE Ventures, Angeleno Group, Israel Electric Corporation and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Innoviz Technologies of Kfar Saba, which raised $65 million in Series B funding in September for its LiDAR sensing solution for autonomous vehicles, raised an additional $9 million in an extension of that series in October. The new funding comes from Samsung Electronics early-stage venture capital fund Samsung Catalyst and from SoftBank Ventures Korea in Seoul.
Equinom seed-breeding company received a $4 million investment from Fortissimo Capital in a C round. Equinom, founded in Givat Brenner in 2012, is focused on breeding future foods and bringing sustainable solutions to the food industry.
Waycare Technologies of Tel Aviv and Palo Alto raised $2.3 million in seed funding toward developing its SaaS-based transportation management platform for cities. Astral Vision of Ramat Gan, which aims to bring virtual reality to amusement park rides, raised $1.5 million in a seed round.
WeSki ski-vacation booking platform raised $1 million from investors including easyJet and Waze founder Uri Levin. Launched in London at the beginning of the month, WeSki has 12 employees in Tel Aviv and London. Its platform enables ski enthusiasts to customize their own ski holidays for less.
In other funding news this month, two Israeli venture funds raised a total of $170 million.
Grove Ventures of Ramat Hasharon raised $110 million in commitments for its first fund to invest in early-stage Israeli startups in IoT, cloud and big data. The firm is headed by Dov Moran, whose M-Systems invented the USB flash drive and was bought by SanDisk in 2006.
JAL Ventures raised $60 million to invest in companies that already have an annual sales turnover of $1 million. The fund was established by brothers Joshua and Amiran Levinberg with general partners Tal Shaked and Yair Elbaz and will focus on B2B technology and security.
By Israel21c
