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Are There Private Investments in Israel 2009?

gil — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:38:32 +0000

I was invited to lecture at ISEMI about raising funds from private investors.
In order for my lecture to be relevant and up-to-date I've decided to check the current situation regarding this issue.

I've approached a few serious angel investors who were willing to share their views.
As I suspected, it is not easy at all to get funding these days.
Out of 7 investor I contacted only 3 declare they still invest.
The estimate is that there is a drop of 50-90% in private investments.

I'll try to summarize what I've learnt from these discussions.

The dark side:

Delver bought by Sears

ron — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:56:17 +0000

Delver, who developed a social search engine, was bought by Sears. The amount was not disclosed, but it is probably not high - Delver was about to close after they couldn't get another investment. Still, good news.

Via Globes (hebrew)

Outbrain raised 12M$

ron — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:46:35 +0000

Outbrain (previously backed by LGiLabs) has raised 12M$ from several companies and private angels.

It seems like these guys are on the right track. good luck!

Via Globes (hebrew)

Yoomba closed down

ron — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:04:24 +0000

Back in October we reported that Yoomba laid-off most of their employees, and now we hear that they closed the company. This is not a surprise - as companies without a solid business model or a large success find it very difficult to raise money nowadays.

Via TheMarker (hebrew)

MyThings purchased ViewScore for a "few hundred thousands of dollars"

ron — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:48:56 +0000

In these economic times, it seems reasonable for startups to merge. Today we hear that MyThings purchased ViewScore for a "few hundred thousands of dollars". ViewScore failed to raise money, and the companies seem to be a good match.

Via TheMarker (hebrew)

SundaySky raised 8M$

ron — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:07:52 +0000

It's great to see Israeli web companies with good news in these days. SundaySky raised 8M$ from Carmel Ventures and Globspan capital. SundaySky makes automated video content solutions.

Via Calcalist (hebrew)

New Video Alerts service

ron — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:03:38 +0000

Metalgrass software has announced a new web service called Video Alerts. It's a simple (and free) service that sends email alerts when new videos are available (currently YouTube only). It can be useful for bloggers who want to be the first to find new videos, information officers, and everyone that has a favorite artist or topic he wants to follow.

http://www.video-alerts.com

uTest raised 5M$

ron — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:30:46 +0000

uTest just announced it raised 5M$, from Longworth Venture Partners and Egan-Managed Capital.

uTest is a community of testers in a Software-as-a-Service (Saas) module, focusing on Web apps, desktop and mobile applications.

Via TheMarker (hebrew)

Taboola raised 4.5M$ in Round B, led by Evergreen

ron — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:48:06 +0000

Taboola just raised 4.5M$ in their second round, led by Evergreen. Taboola analyzes videos, and then recommends related videos to the users.

Via Globes (hebrew)

EyeView gets money from LGILab and Gigi Levi (from 888)

ron — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:36:41 +0000

EyeView, who's into making videos to improve conversions in sites, just raised money from LGILab and Gigi Levi (from 888.com).