By Dennis Mitzner, TNW News
The list comprises an eclectic list of start-ups that are either breaking into the mainstream in their respective industries, or are still at early stages, but look to make significant inroads in the next few months.
Safer VPN
SaferVPN, founded by Amit Bareket and Sagi Gidali,
launched a VPN-based startup that provides secured re-routed Internet access
throughout the world. The company’s software allows users to circumvent local
“We’ve seen more and more online censorship in the past
couple of years, with governments forcing severe restrictions on their
citizens’ freedom. In the West we take it for granted that we can express
ourselves on social media, publish videos on sites like YouTube, or write
letters to newspaper editors for publication. That’s not really a choice if
you’re living [under] some regimes,” said Gidali.
Some months ago, the
company partnered with Advancing Human Rights, a
global non-profit to launch ‘Unblock The Web‘, a crowdfunding campaign to fight internet
censorship and give dissidents anti-censorship tools.
“It has become increasingly hard to stop the flow of
information. People in the free world can play a key role in helping activists
get information out to alert the world to their regime’s brutality,” said David
Keyes, the Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights.
Funding: In March 2015, Safer VPN
received approximately $500k from private individuals. The company has
been generating revenue from day one, with a steadily growing user base.
“The money was raised a month ago and will be used to
accelerate growth, user acquisition and unique projects that we plan,” said
Sagi Giladi, CEO of the company.
Founded in 2012, Tel Aviv based Webydo is a code-free web
design platform for freelance web designers and agencies. The company was
founded on the premise that the web is increasingly turning into a creative
“Since the early days of web, it has all been about code
creation. Our focus has been to develop a powerful code generator to help
designers take control of the creative process,” said Shmulik Grizim, the CEO
and co-founder of Webydo.
In contrast to other major players in the code-free
website marketplace – such as Wix -, that court the DIY market, Webydo’s
approach is strictly B2B.
Funding: In June 2014, Webydo
closed a $7 million Series B funding round, bringing the total investment to
$9.7 million. Now there are rumors circulating that suggest an additional
investment is on its way from a high profile VC.
Some call it SlideShare on steroids. Roojoom, based in Tel
Aviv, is a content marketing intelligence platform that helps companies
repurpose existing content to increase engagement and conversion. The company’s
“Having worked with clients such as Microsoft and eToro in
addition to various banks and large CPGs, we estimate to triple our client base
by the end of the year,” said Yael Kochman, a marketing manager at Roojoom.
Founded by twin brothers Tal and Nimrod Moran in 2011,
Tomigo has developed a social recruiting platform that helps employers recruit
effectively by harnessing the power of their existing employees social
networks.
The company’s solution uses a fusion of advanced
technology and social media expertise for companies to leverage their
employees’ wide base of connections and consequently, to easily approach and
hire the talent they look for.
Tomigo is a good fit for a broad range of companies and is
dedicated to assisting clients in job recruitment and contributing to their
ongoing success.
Funding: Tel Aviv Angel Group is the sole investor, and although the
exact amounts were not disclosed, the investment was less than $1m. Since the
initial investment, the company has not raised additional funds and claims to
be profitable.
After recently closing a $15 million funding round, Tel
Aviv based SimilarWeb’s traffic analytics tool is already a must-have among
marketers and industry professionals around the world.
With its unique algorithm, users are able to generate
valuable data to better understand their respective industries and see how
competitors fare based on metrics such as monthly traffic, geo-locations,
demographics, related websites, outbound traffic etc. Simply put, SimilarWeb is
Google Analytics without restrictions on access.
It can be dismissed as another spy tool, but the product’s
real value lies in its ability to introduce an element of transparency into
online advertising because it helps publishers map out sites that are potential
advertising partners.
What might curb your enthusiasm is the price; from $199
(basic) to $799 (ultimate) per month.
Funding: In November 2014,
SimilarWeb raised $15 million in Series D funding from prior investors Naspers
and angel investor Lord David Alliance. The company has raised a total of $40
million.
Tel Aviv based Yallo wants to reinvent the phone call. The
company’s founding principle is based on the premise that much like Whatsapp
and SnapChat change text messaging, the phone call hasn’t changed in decades.
“The idea is simply to turn the phone call into a rich
platform that comes with everything,” said Yosi Taguri, Yallo’s CTO
Yallo’s app automatically reconnects dropped calls, saves
a call or shares it. Users can summon a group call with a single click or even
interrupt a call when a priority caller needs you. For example, if your child
is a priority caller, he or she will be able to interrupt your call. Whether
this is a good thing, is up to the users themselves to decide.
Funding: Yallo closed $4 million
in Series A funding in March 2015 and the investment was led by Carmel
Ventures, a member of the Viola Group. In the coming months, Yallo will boost
its marketing efforts to fully launch the product.
Founded by Ben Lang and his father Philippe, Mapme is a
self-service platform for creating crowdsourced community maps. The platform
allows anyone to create a global community map. Until now, users have
“In 2015 we’ll be focusing on growing and diversifying the
types of maps we have on our platform. We’ll be focusing much more on our
mobile experience. Later in the year we’ll be working on connecting between
maps on our platform, with related maps, suggested places and really leveraging
the data to build better maps,” said Ben Lang.
Funding: Till now, Mapme has been
fully funded, but the company is talking with individual investors around the
world.
Based in Tel Aviv, SwarmBuild is a manufacturing
marketplace that connects anyone with a design idea with the engineers and
manufacturers they need to turn their ideas and designs into products.
Essentially the
Currently, SwarmBuild’s network of partners in the US,
Canada and Israel offers engineering and advanced manufacturing in a wide range
of materials.
The founder and CEO of SwarmBuild, Boris Kogan believes
that his company distinguishes itself from competitors such as Shapeways and
BriteHub by focusing on the relationship between design and production.
“No competitor has developed all the tools needed to move
from design to production. Our solution connects innovators with engineers and
provides manufacturers with a proprietary easy to use pricing engine,” Kogan
said.
Funding: The company received an
initial $20,000 from Iowa Startup Accelerator. Now, with a 15-month runway at
$40,000 per month, Swarmbuild projects the cash needs to be roughly $600,000
plus a one time IP acquisition fee of $200K. Kogan is currently in talks with
investors.
Viggo is a slight anomaly on this list because it makes
products for the physical world. The Herzliya based – with offices in Amsterdam
– startup has developed a Smart TV solution for hotels that source the crowd
for
Viggo wants hotels to replace heavy TV hardware with a
technology that is managed through a cloud-based CMS, giving hotels the ability
to customize the TV based on guest preferences.
“Hotels have long had a reputation of being adverse to
change. We believe that hotels must emulate the habits of the guest and this
means being able to adapt to new technologies. What’s more, by embracing
disruptive technologies, hotels can find new revenue streams,” said Shiri
Sivan, Viggo’s VP Marketing.
Funding: Viggo is privately
funded, but Sivan suggests that expanded operations might require the company
to seek external investment during 2015.
Based in northern Israel, Voxdox is a text-to-speech app
developed to help students with dyslexia, alexia or other learning
disabilities. Released in March 2013, Voxdox already boasts 200,000 downloads,
with most of
“Compared to other similar apps in the market, Voxdox is
equipped with a text-to-speech app and an electronic reader. This means that
the user does not have to use two apps simultaneously — one for speech and one
for reading,” Ben Baror, the CEO of Root Applications, the startup behind
Voxdox.
In addition to running pilot programs with a number of
educational institutions around the world, Voxdox is working to build a vast
online library.
“We want the world of literature to open up those with
learning difficulties and most of all, we want it to be accessible also to the
poorest populations in the world. Currently, the developing world this lagging
behind the West in almost everything, especially in readiness to combat
learning disabilities, but we believe that TTS can bridge this gap,” Baror
concluded
Funding: Voxdox is privately
funded, but the company is in talks with investors in Tel Aviv for additional
funds to finance and launch the online library during 2015.
Takeaway
At the recent TNW
conference, CES founder Gary Shapiro stated that outside the US, the
Israeli startup ecosystem was the most vibrant. After reading this list, do you
agree?