Oliver Franklin-Wallis, wired
magazine
Expect 2015 to be another huge year, with $910 million
raised in one January week alone and Outbrain and IronSource preparing IPOs.
"What sets Israel and Tel Aviv apart is its openness," says Naomi
Krieger Carmy, director of the British embassy's UK-Israel Tech Hub. "You
can meet almost anyone, and everyone knows and talks to -- and about -- each
other."
The next step, says Windward CEO Ami Daniel, is scaling up.
"Entrepreneurs will focus not only on innovative technologies," he
says, "but on building disruptive companies out of Israel."
CONSUMER PHYSICS
Consumer Physics wants
to build a molecular map of the world. Founded by Dror Sharon and Damian
Goldring in 2011, it makes the $250 USB-sized SCiO molecular spectrometer that
can identify the chemical make-up of objects. It raised $2.7m on Kickstarter,
and says it will be ready to ship its first SCiO this autumn, with 1,000
developers signed up.
PLAYBUZZ
PlayBuzz is an
app and tool for creating listicles and personality quizzes. Founded in 2013 by
Shaul Olmert -- son of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert -- the company
now claims 80 million unique users per month. In March 2015, it announced $16m
in funding to expand, and has hired 60 staff. It has also opened an office in
New York.
STOREDOT
Spun out of Tel Aviv University in 2012, StoreDot has developed a smartphone
battery that can be charged in one minute. It has raised $42m in Series B
funding from private investors to develop the battery, which uses bio-organic
compounds to create ultra-fast charge storage. It is now working on partnering
with smartphone makers and plans a 2016 launch.
WINDWARD
Founded in 2010 by former Israeli Navy officers, Windward analyses commercial satellite
feeds and maritime data to track the location and contents of every major
seafaring vessel in the world. The company secured £7m in funding led by
Horizon Ventures in April 2014. Its aim: real-time updates and insights for
maritime markets and intelligence agencies.
MOOVIT
Moovit's transport
app provides real-time public navigation on buses, trains and tubes. Using a
combination of public-data feeds and feedback from users, it claims to provide
travel times more accurately than its rivals. Founded in 2011, the company had
15 million users worldwide and, in January 2015, raised $50m from investors
including Nokia Growth Partners and BMW.
SIMILARWEB
SimilarWeb is
a tool that lets you analyse the performance of websites and apps. It provides
traffic rankings and insights by analysing a pool of data from various sources.
In November 2014, it raised $15 million in series D funding with plans to
expand into app analytics and to open a New York office, having already
expanded to London and Dubai.
ZEBRA MEDICAL VISION
Zebra Medical teaches
computers to diagnose diseases. Founded in 2014 by Eyal Gura, Eyal Toledano and
Elad Benjamin, the startup has partnered with Israeli imaging centres and
universities worldwide to build a database of images. "We have millions of
diagnosed MRIs, CT scans and X-Rays," says Gura. In April it secured $8m
in funding led by Khosla Ventures.
APPSFLYER
More than 5,000 advertisers use AppsFlyer's analytics platform to measure
campaigns and user acquisition on their smartphone apps -- for example,
tracking the impact of a Super Bowl ad on downloads in real time. Founded by
Oren Kaniel and Reshef Mann in 2011, it tracked two billion app installs in
2014 and claims it is now found on nine out of ten smartphones.
ADALLOM
Adallom provides
security to companies using software such as GoogleApps and Office365 by
detecting potential security breaches in real time. Founded in 2012 by former
members of the Israeli Intelligence Corps, it counts Netflix and Pixar as
clients. Since appearing in last year's list it has raised a further $30m in
series C funding, led by Rembrandt and HP Ventures.
FEEX
Calling itself "the Robin Hood of fees", FeeX identifies hidden charges in
investment and retirement funds and suggests ways for users to save money.
Founded in 2012 by Yoav Zurel, David Weisz and Waze co-founder Uri Levine, it
claims to have saved $277m to date. In August 2014, it raised $6.5m in series B
funding, with plans to expand further in the US.