At least ten startups founded by Israelis or Jewish entrepreneurs were among the annual list of 100 of the world’s most promising startups to watch in 2019, chosen by the American business channel CNBC. We did not include startups that co-founded with Israelis or Jewish people.
The list was selected from more than 600 nominees globally, “showcases young startups that are building and scaling businesses addressing the rapidly changing technological era we live in,” CNBC said.
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Each upstart was scored on eight equally weighted quantitative metrics. Each has raised up to $50 million in venture capital.
CNBC pointed out that of the 100 companies, 25 are led by women. The oldest startups founded less than five years ago. Forty are less than three years old and 11 were founded just last year.
Enterprise software, insurance, health care, retail, and cybersecurity have been particularly hot sectors for early-stage investors, CNBC said.
The Israeli or Jewish startups are as follow:
CYLUS
Helps railway and metro systems avoid service disruption and safety incidents by detecting cyber-attacks and facilitating an effective response before attacks occur. Cylus led by veterans of the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps and top executives from the railway industry. The company has raised $17 million to date.
Founded in 2017 by CEO Amir Levintal and Miki Shifman
Based in Tel Aviv, Israel
Industries: Cybersecurity, transportation, and logistics
SILVERFORT
Silverfort developed the first security platform enabling adaptive authentication provider and identity theft prevention for large enterprises. It protects all sensitive corporate assets, including systems that couldn’t be protected until today. The founders are graduates of the elite cyberteam of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intelligent unit 8200. Top investors include Israeli VC firms TLV Partners and StageOne Ventures. The company has raised $11.5 million to date.
Founded in 2016 by CEO Hed Kovetz, Matan Fattal, and Yaron Kassner
Based in: Tel Aviv, Israel
Industry: Cybersecurity
CHEQ
Founded in 2016 by CEO Guy Tytunovich, Ehud Levy, Asaf Butovsky
Based in: Tel Aviv, Israel
Industries: Cybersecurity, media, and advertising
CHEQ is an AI-driven cybersecurity startup focused on plug-and-play solution which protects advertisers by detecting and removing the violent video, malicious accounts spreading fake news, and cyberbullying in real-time.
It also utilizes military-grade machine learning to protect advertisers from negative content association and digital ad fraud. The company has raised $5 million to date.
Nanit
Foundered in 2014 by Dr. Assaf Glazer, Andrew Berman, and Tor Ivry
CEO: Sarah Dorsett
Israeli-founded: now based in New York City
Industry: Consumer technology
d connected through its mobile application. The camera captures the video recording of the child and analyzes the footage and shares insights based on the movement of the baby.
Nanit develops AI-based mobile application for baby-monitoring that tracks sound, motion, and sleep behavior via camera. The company provides comprehensive sleep reports on the corresponding mobile app. In addition, Nanit makes baby swaddles and infant apparel that’s synchronized with the device to track the child’s breathing motion. The company has raised $28.6 million to date.
Daily Harvest
Founded in 2015 by CEO Rachel Drori
Based in New York City
Industries: Healthy Food, agriculture, delivery
Daily Harvest is an online subscription-based healthy food delivery overnight service that provides organic frozen soups, oats bowls, lattes, and breakfast options. Celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Shaun White, and Bobby Flay have invested in the company. Daily Harvest has raised $43 million to date.
Viz.ai
Founded in 2016 by CEO Dr. Chris Mansi and David Golan
Israeli-founded now based in San Francisco
Industry: Health care
Viz.ai uses artificial intelligence to helps physicians identifies anomalies in brain scans and fast analyze CT scans for the diagnosis of strokes. Viz technology received FDA approval for its products in the US. Investors include Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, the AME fund of Yahoo! Founder Jerry Yang; and Danhua Capital, controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma as well as venture capital fund Kleiner Perkins. The company has raised $80.6 million to date.
Axonius
Axonius is a cybersecurity asset management company that offers subscription-based software to help enterprises manage and secure their increasing number of bring-your-own devices, IoT sensors and cloud-based applications. The founders are alumni of elite IDF intelligent unit 8200. The company has raised $37 million to date.
Beekeeper’s Naturals
Founded in 2015 by CEO Carly Stein, and Daniel Millar
Based in: Los Angeles
Industries: Retail, consumer products, health care
Beekeeper’s Naturals sells a line of products made from the hive. Honey, propolis, bee pollen, and royal jelly. The company claims its products can help improve brain and mental acuity, strengthen the immune system and reduce throat inflammation. Severe tonsillitis led Carly Stein to discover a propolis throat spray that became her first product. The company has raised $3.5 million to date.
Overtime
Founded in 2016 by CEO Dan Porter, and Zack Weiner
Launched: 2016
Based in: New York City
Industry: Media and advertising, sports
is a sports network for the next generation of fans. We bring you fire content of the stars and personalities you want to see,
Overtime is a sports network built for young audiences and amateur athletes. The company currently produces 250 million-plus minutes of viewership per month in 25 original shows. The company has raised $35.3 million to date.
Polis
Founded in 2015 by CEO Kendall Tucker
based in: Boston
Industry: Business services
application designed to manage door-to-door sales and cause-based canvassing.
Polis is an application designed to manage door-to-door sales and cause-based canvassing. The company’s application creates a route for salespeople working in a given area. Polis claims their data is derived from 1,000-plus variables, including demographics, values, emotional sentiments, opinions, and behavior. The company has raised $4.7 million to date.
