- Top investment opportunities
- Startup of the Week: Polarisqb, quantum-powered drug discovery
- Edge: Taking gaming to a new level
- VentureBeat: OurCrowd leads $8M Sotero raise
- Singapore executives meet Startup Nation
- Quantum Machines to head $29M quantum computing center
- July 25 online: The future of FoodTech
- Nuvei, Payoneer, Travelex trust ThetaRay's AML platform
- American Airlines Cargo's US bookings launch on Freightos platforms
- Zippin to open checkout-free stores at Tennessee Titans' Nissan Stadium
- MedTech startups phone in crucial health information
- Brodmann17 wins innovation award at Autonomous Vehicle Tech Expo
- Introductions
- More than 3,100 high-tech jobs
Startup of the Week
Polarisqb: Quantum-powered drug discovery
Only 12% of new drugs that enter clinical trials earn FDA approval. Including the money wasted on drugs that fail, the average cost of bringing a new drug to market is $2.6B. The crucial first step, drug discovery, takes years and costs millions of dollars. Polaris Quantum Biotech (Polarisqb) uses quantum computing to reduce the time needed for this critical stage of drug discovery from an average of four years to four months, while reducing the cost to less than $100K. The company's Tachyon platform is the first drug discovery platform built on a quantum computer. It uses an automated process to search vast chemical libraries, allowing it to find novel molecules to develop new drug leads at a fraction of the cost and time of current drug development processes. Polarisqb already has four active drug development projects, two ongoing collaborations with precision drug developer Auransa, and is projecting 460% YOY revenue growth in 2023. OurCrowd is leading this convertible loan at a 20% discount.
Edge: Taking gaming to a new level
Online gaming is a bigger industry than music and movies combined, estimated at $300B a year. Israeli gaming startup Edge promises to send the already eye-popping numbers soaring by enabling gamers to monetize their most exciting gameplay moments. "Legendary117S," 25, an Israeli Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale superstar gamer with 50,000 followers, tried out the platform, which lets players clip their own game highlights into "Playables" and turn them into standalone mini-games that others can play. "They showed me the technology and I fell in love with it," Legendary117S tells Amy Teibel in the Times of Israel. During a controlled release, Edge saw usage soar to 92 minutes a day – a higher average daily usage than TikTok and Instagram combined. This month, Edge closed a $30M funding round, led by California-based Corner Ventures and backed by gaming pioneer Playtika. The company aims to reach 7 million monthly active users by mid-2024, and to reach profitability early that same year, says CEO and Co-founder Asaf Gazit. OurCrowd investors can still join this round.
VentureBeat: OurCrowd leads $8M Sotero raise
Our portfolio company Sotero raised $8M in an extension seed round led by OurCrowd. Sotero keeps enterprise data safe whether it's at rest, in transit or being queried, VentureBeat reports. Hybrid working practices and the growth in cloud computing have increased the risk of data hacking and ransomware attacks, sending companies in search of a new type of cybersecurity system. Sotero uses patented encryption algorithms and proprietary machine learning models that can query data in its encrypted state and identify malicious access attempts. This round is still open to OurCrowd investors.
Singapore executives meet Startup Nation
Senior representatives from large Singapore-based companies visited Israel this week to participate in a two-day event organized by OurCrowd and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Six large Singapore-based companies – Flex, HP Inc., Meiban, SingHealth, ST Engineering and UOB – had the opportunity to meet with more than 40 Israeli startups, including OurCrowd portfolio companies D-ID, DreaMed Diabetes, Genopore, Hailo, Largix, OncoHost and 3d Signals. "EDB is pleased to partner with OurCrowd to organize this series of events in Israel, which provides large Singapore-based corporates the opportunity to meet with Israeli startups to discuss innovation collaborations to suit their business needs. These companies will be able to leverage OurCrowd's extensive networks and deep understanding of technology capabilities in the Israeli startup ecosystem, which will further strengthen innovation ties between the two countries," says Lily Phua, Vice President, Innovation Economy, EDB.
Quantum Machines to head $29M quantum computing center
The Israel Innovation Authority selected our portfolio company Quantum Machines to lead a new quantum computing center to serve local industry and academia, Calcalist reports. With a $29M budget, the center will support R&D in all layers of hardware and software on three different quantum processing technologies. Classiq, another OurCrowd company, which provides a revolutionary new tool to program quantum computers, will consult and provide infrastructure for the project. Quantum Machines is currently funding on the OurCrowd platform.
July 25 online: The future of FoodTech
As climate change reshapes planet Earth literally from the ground up, sustainability has become mankind's most important goal. Nowhere is this more crucial than with our food supplies, which are dwindling and unable to feed the rapidly growing population. Now tech is stepping up to create alternative sources of nourishment without further damaging the environment. Join us online on July 25th as we host FoodTech executives from BlueTree Technologies, Dole Sunshine Company and Ripple, who will reveal what you might be eating at the dinner table in the not-so-distant future.
Nuvei, Payoneer, Travelex trust ThetaRay's AML platform
FinTech powerhouses Nuvei, Payoneer and Travelex are among new clients of ThetaRay, whose AI-powered platform helps financial institutions comply with regulatory anti-money laundering and data privacy programs. They join 3 of the 12 largest correspondent banks outside China and several Tier-1 UAE banks. Preventing financial crime online is a tricky business, especially after sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine spurred an uptick in illegal monetary activities, Amy Teibel writes in the Times of Israel. The company's proprietary algorithms analyze transactions against dozens of risk indicators associated with financial crimes to detect anomalies that suggest criminals and terrorists are moving money. ThetaRay is currently funding on the OurCrowd platform.
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