Top investment opportunities
Startup of the Week: Kicksnation: Free personalized sneaker shopper
D-ID launches talking photos tech with MyHeritage
3D printing gets bigger, faster, tastier
Taranis drones weed out crop pests and diseases
Payoneer picks ThetaRay to secure global transactions
FDA approves two Insightec acoustic energy cancer treatments
American Airlines joins Freightos' WebCargo
US Energy Dept field tests validate enVerid's HVAC system
Ravin brings AI digital vehicle inspections to used car dealerships
Introductions
More than 4,500 high-tech jobs

Startup of the Week:
Kicksnation: Try your personal sneaker shopper for free!

Kicksnation is a personalized, AI-powered shopping platform addressing the $40B annual US sneaker market. A quick quiz tells Kicksnation what the customer wants in their sneakerbox™. The customer pays a $15 styling fee, and the company puts together a curated selection of three unique pairs of sneakers to try before the customer buys. The customer has five days to try on the shoes and make their selection, only paying for the ones they keep. Shipping and returns are free.The platform supplies 34 brands on demand and has strategic partnerships with 26 brands including On, Birkenstock, Veja, CLAE, and Cariuma. Returning customers order once every four months on average. 60% of orders shipped result in a sale with $161 total average revenue per order. Existing investors include e-commerce angels Tamim Mourad, Omar Mourad, Cory Rosenberg (Pricegrabber.com, eSalon.com), and Vy Nguyen (Avocado Green Mattress). Join this up to $3M Seed round led by OurCrowd, in which Designer Brands, owners of DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse with over 500 US branches, is investing $1M. Use the coupon code OC2022 to try it for free.

D-ID launches talking photos tech with MyHeritage

After getting old photos to move, AI-powered tech from our portfolio company D-ID is making them talk, TechCrunch reports. The new feature is called LiveStory and is licensed by MyHeritage as a continuation of its viral Deep Nostalgia program which animated more than 100 million photos. It creates an animated narrative of the photographed person's life so they can tell their own story. Click below to sign an NDA and learn about the company's next steps.

3D printing gets bigger, faster, tastier

An A-List of CEOs from our portfolio companies and entrepreneurs, including Nas Daily creator Nuseir Yassin joined us this week to demonstrate how 3D printing is getting bigger, faster - and even tastier. We saw the world premiere of Nas' video on Plantish, which is creating 3D printed "salmon" made from plants. Other guests were: Largix Chairman Erez Vigodman, the former CEO of Strauss and Teva Pharmaceuticals, Largix Vice Chairman Yishai Amir and CEO Ronen Orr. We also heard from the Nexa3D CEO and 3D printing industry pioneer Avi Reichenthal, Ofek Ron, Co-founder and CEO of Plantish, Geert Denutte, Founder of CGK Group, Noga Sela Shalev, VP Business Development at the Fresh Start FoodTech Incubator, and Nir Zook, an Executive Chef.

Taranis drones weed out crop pests and diseases

Our AgTech pioneer Taranis is using drones to search large fields to detect pests and diseases which might lead to damaged crops, Successful Farming reports. The company's AI-powered software can recognize problems almost invisible to the human eye and do it much more efficiently. Its UAV system can cover 100 acres in about 6 minutes and provide extremely high-resolution images which are automatically analyzed to provide farmers with insights as to the crops' health. Taranis is now funding on the OurCrowd platform.

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Helps airlines improve profitability by reducing aircraft turnaround times, identifying potential delays, improving safety and recognizing hazards.	Breakthrough CRISPR-based genetic platform provides superior seeds to grow more nutritious, climate-adaptable crops with higher yields that are suitable for automated harvesting.	Cell-based seafood company specializing in healthy and sustainable shellfish using a proprietary nutrient recycling system that dramatically cuts production costs.
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Top Investment Opportunities

Edunav: Improving graduation rates in higher education

Forty percent of all students who start college studies drop out, wasting $200B of educational resources every year. This high dropout rate is bad for the students, bad for the institutions, and bad for society. EduNav, a Silicon Valley-based company that provides AI-driven planning and optimization tools that help colleges and universities substantially reduce high dropout rates. EduNav's SmartPlan software uses big data, combinatorial algorithms, and machine learning to create optimal education plans with the shortest path to graduation, personalized for each student. This is crucial for institutions which rely on graduation rates for public funding. More than 15 colleges and universities, including Florida International University, the University of California-Riverside and Texas A&M, together serving 365,000 students, have successfully integrated EduNav's platform. This up to $4M Series-A extension round includes participation from Learn Capital, a venture platform focused on educational technology, and Opus Capital, a venture fund with more than $1B under management.

Appdome: Solving mobile app security

Businesses of all types are increasingly reliant on mobile applications. Corporations and consumers alike have growing concerns with the security of the mobile apps they use. Until now, building cybersecurity into mobile apps has been a time-consuming, manual process. Appdome is a rapidly growing Israeli company that automates the process of securing mobile apps with a comprehensive "no-code" mobile app security and development platform for both Android and iOS apps. With no-code, the customer's app development team simply uploads their app, selects the security features they want to add, pushes a "build my app" button, and the features are automatically added. Appdome is growing fast. Its technology was protecting more than 100 million end users at the end of 2021, a 5X increase compared to 2020. It is forecasting 500 million by the end of 2022. It has multimillion-dollar ARR contracts with Citi, Fiserv, and Marriott and offers solutions that meet the needs of both B2B and B2C applications. This $25M Series C round is led by Menlo Ventures and JVP. Co-investors include Draper Nexus Technology, Rally Ventures, and Vaal Investments.

OurCrowd Cybersecurity Fund

Israel is one of the hottest cybersecurity markets in the world, accounting for some 40% of global private cybersecurity funding rounds. In 2021, 11 new Israeli cyber unicorns were minted and 40 Israeli cyber companies were acquired. OurCrowd's Cybersecurity Fund gives you access to the next 15-20 cyber and cyber-related opportunities on the OurCrowd platform with a single check. As the cybersecurity sector continues to grow globally, we have deepened our focus on this space. Since OurCrowd's first cyber investment in 2013, OurCrowd has built a portfolio of over $80M invested across more than 30 companies with seven realized exits. OurCrowd is in the process of realizing its eighth exit with CyberMDX. OurCrowd's investment pace has grown substantially during the last two years with ~$32M invested across 18 opportunities and we expect this trend to continue to increase in the coming years. Watch our Cybersecurity Fund team discuss the potential HERE.

Top Tech News

Payoneer picks ThetaRay to secure global transactions

Software created by our portfolio company ThetaRay will be monitoring cross-border transactions carried out by fintech powerhouse Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO), the Paypers reports. The company's SONAR platform is designed to detect financial crimes and will be overseeing millions of Payoneer's transactions every year. "ThetaRay's cloud-based solution is fully scalable to grow with our business as we expand relationships with payment providers and banks globally to give more value to our customers," said Jani Gode, Payoneer's Chief Compliance Officer.

American Airlines joins Freightos' WebCargo

American Airlines Cargo is partnering with WebCargo, part of the group headed by our portfolio company Freightos, to offer customers increased service options and reliability despite today's challenging conditions, Air Cargo Week reports. Bookings on American Airlines Cargo will be available via WebCargo's platform across parts of Europe and North America in the first half of 2022 before expanding to other parts of the globe later in the year. "Over the last two years, e-commerce volume has surged and demand for global freight has increased," says Jessica Tyler, president of American Airlines Cargo. "The digital solutions provided by WebCargo create another important step forward in ensuring continued connectivity and visibility for customers."

US Energy Dept field tests validate enVerid's HVAC system

Sorbent air cleaning technology for HVAC load reduction from our portfolio company enVerid was validated in field tests by the US Department of Energy's High Impact Technology Catalyst program. The DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab tested enVerid's HVAC Load Reduction modules in commercial buildings in the eastern and southern US and found they provide substantial Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) energy savings and load reduction potential. "Addressing building decarbonization and resilience are among our top priorities," says Kevin Powell, Director of the Green Proving Ground program of the US General Services Administration. "NREL's assessment gives us valuable guidance on where sorbent air cleaning technology will help save energy and meet the net-zero carbon targets established in the President's recent executive order."

FDA approves two Insightec acoustic energy cancer treatments

The FDA granted our medtech pioneer Insightec two approvals and a breakthrough designation for its groundbreaking acoustic energy tests and therapies which improve the diagnosis and treatment of lung and brain cancer victims. In part, they use ultrasound waves to help open access to the brain for therapeutics to reach cancerous tumors. The company uses acoustic energy to treat Parkinson's Disease patients at 42 US medical centers.

Ravin brings AI digital vehicle inspections to used car dealerships

Used car dealers will soon be able to inspect their vehicles through an AI-powered app, thanks to our portfolio company Ravin. The "Inspect Trade" will help dealers generate consistent condition reports as well as grade and price vehicles instantly. "Enabling dealers to leverage AI technology from their mobile phones to get an accurate picture of the condition and value of their assets, not only saves them significant time and money, but also allows them to convey the realistic pricing on cars to customers, which ultimately builds trust," says Eliron Ekstein, Co-Founder and CEO of Ravin.

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Nothing contained in and accompanying this communication shall be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation to purchase any security by OurCrowd, its portfolio companies or any third party. Information regarding OurCrowd's limited partnerships and/or portfolio companies and the investment opportunities on OurCrowd's website is intended and available for accredited investors only (criteria at OurCrowd). OurCrowd urges potential investors to consult with licensed legal professionals and investment advisors for any legal, tax, insurance, or investment advice. OurCrowd operates in Canada through OurCrowd Canada Inc., an exempt market dealer registered in the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.