This is a TechAviv first; A husband and wife demo and they’re not in the same startup. Eyal Gura, founder of PicApp and wife Maya Gura, founder of The Gifts Project demo their buzz-worthy products this Tuesday, March 2nd at Google HQ. While not a member of the Gura family, we’ll let Assaf Benjamin of Giraffic demo too. He’s sitting on one nifty next generation content delivery platform that you’ll be hearing about soon. UPDATE: Assaf called in sick and will be replaced by Ron Ilan, founder & CEO of Totlol.
In another first, this event will be the debut of our new TechAviv CA co-organizer Jonathan Galore (More about our new local co-organizers in an upcoming post). Jonathan (Yonni) is the co-founder of kaChing and an all around great guy. I’m thrilled to have him on board so please join me in welcoming Jonathan tomorrow. You can stalk him @JGalore.
This is a members-only event and we’ve max’d out RSVP capacity but a waiting list is available here.
Lot’s of Israeli VCs talk up the importance of early stage investing but how many first investments do they actually make in seed stage startups and which VCs lead the walk rather than the talk? The IVC Research Center has released the results (membership required) of their 2009 VC survey and we’ve got some good and bad news to share. What do you want to hear first?
Ok, the bad; 2009 saw an overall 50% drop in dollars raised by Israeli hi-tech companies and a 35% drop in the number first investments by Israeli VCs. Israeli VCs made 77 first investments in 2009 compared to 119 in 2008.
Now the good; 38% (the majority) of those 77 first investments where made in seed stage startups compared to 28% in 2008. Internet, Software and Life Sciences sectors took in the most checks. Each took 22% of the overall annual first investment pie. Internet? Nice. Continued …
What’s it like taking over a startup as a non-founding CEO? It takes guts and a particular set of qualities to do it well, especially when it comes to Israeli startups. On Feb 24th at the IDC Herzliya the TechAviv Founders Club will hear from two CEOs who’ve spearheaded amazing re-births at their respective startups; ICQ, the most famous Israeli startup of all time, and Waze, one of our brightest up and comers. Orey Gilliam and Noam Bardin are our guests. Discussion with 130 Israeli startup founders and investors should be great. This members-only event is over capacity but we’ll try to get a live feed up.
The TechAviv Founders Club’s CA and NY branches meet this week and showcase some excellent local Israeli startups. TechAviv CA met on Tues the 26th at Google’s HQ in Mountain View. Besides having the best pizza and beer in town, Google is an inspiring setting for entrepreneurs and its always pride-evoking to see how many Israelis hold key positions there. WorldMate, ClipSync and EyeCon demo’d. Some photos:
After three weeks of public and members-only voting, over 100 startups nominated and 6,000 votes cast, we have our Top 5 Finalists of the TechAviv Peer Awards. Face.com, my6sense, 5min, Colnect and 6rounds will compete live on Wednesday, Dec 30th, 7:00pm for the right to claim the crown of Top Israeli Startup of 2009. The event will [...]
Guest post by TechAviv.com contributor Lisa Damast of Israel Innovation 2.0.
Nine months ago there was talk and speculation that Israel’s Web sector was done and not likely to recover. Mainly expressed by TechCrunch editor-at-large Sarah Lacy after her visit to Israel in March, at the time she wrote about her disappointment with Israeli Web startups [...]
Before it has even been launched in the AppStore, TechAviv CA member Nitzan Vilnai’s SketchNation is making waves as the AppsFire AppStar Awards winner in the Gaming category. The iPhone app, produced by Nitzan’s company Engineous Games, is literally ingenious. The video above speaks for itself but in short it lets you draw your own game objects [...]
TechAviv members Amobee and Innovid have been named Technology Pioneers 2010 by the World Economic Forum. The two startups along with 24 others, including Twitter and Amiando, were identified for developing new technology that can “change and improve the way business and society operate.”
Here’s a little more about the startups:
Led by CEO Zohar Levkovitz [...]
It’s been said Israel is the Start-Up Nation, but who’s the top Israeli startup? Here at TechAviv we’re big fans of crowdsourcing most of our decisions and continuing in that spirit of community we’ve just launched the first annual TechAviv Peer Awards. Starting today we’re inviting all 2,000+ TechAviv Founders Club members worldwide and TechAviv.com [...]
“Local” is the theme at tonight’s TechAviv Founders Club CA as over 120 members convene at Google HQ to see, discuss and help three hot Israeli startups that are connecting people and companies with local info, services and communities. Kenshoo, LocalTop and UpToUs demo their products live in front of the bay area’s top Israeli [...]
