An Israeli foodtech startup that produces plant-based meat substitutes has been leading an effort to provide thousands of meals for vegan soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. 

The head chef and culinary consultant for Redefine Meat, Omer Tal, created the initiative to feed the army’s vegan and flexitarian soldiers. He has brought together Israeli foodtech startups, vegan food producers, chefs and volunteers in a Tel Aviv restaurant kitchen given over to create the meals.

The kitchen was made both vegan and kosher, the latter in accordance with Jewish dietary laws, and received approval from the Tel Aviv Rabbinate. 

The startups joining the effort to provide plant-based meats and dairy alternatives include Green Butcher, More Foods, YoEgg! Foods and Creative Pea. 

The almost 6,000 meals produced so far include vegan versions of spaghetti bolognese, chicken skewers, shakshuka and cheese pastries. Dairy-free confectionery companies including JO-MO Chocolate also provided sweet treats.  

Israel has mobilized more than 300,000 reserve soldiers in addition to its conscripted army to fight Hamas in Gaza after the terror group stormed across the border and murdered more than 1,400 people on October 7. 

“Even while in a state of shock, trying to contain the horrific events that took place, it was clear to me that we would not be returning to any form of routine soon,” said Tal. 

“In the midst of the suffering, sadness, anxiety, and pain that continues to affect us, the Israeli community has rallied together to support and strengthen one another.”  

Israel is considered to be one of the most vegan-friendly countries in the world, with around 5 percent of the population eschewing animal-based products.

The post Foodtech Project Brings Thousands Of Meals To Vegan IDF Troops appeared first on NoCamels.

A startup that turns ocean waves into electricity has received an award for its innovation from the nonprofit AltaSea, a hub for marine science, research and education. 

Eco Wave Power Global transfers the motion of ocean waves to power stations on land using its uniquely shaped floating devices, which rise and fall with the waves’ up-and-down motion and the changes in water levels. The power stations convert the energy into fluid pressure used to spin a generator, producing electricity.

Founder and CEO Inna Braverman was named the recipient of AltaSea’s Innovation Award at its annual Blue Hour event, which is given to companies or individuals that are creating innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

AltaSea is also the location of Eco Wave Power’s first US pilot station, which is set to be installed in the coming months. 

“This award embodies two of my greatest passions – one is my work with Eco Wave Power and the second is my efforts to promote gender equality in the STEM sector,” said Braverman during her acceptance speech.

“I founded Eco Wave Power when I was 24, and back then everyone told me that wave energy is impossible, but I kept working hard to prove that wave energy is possible. I never gave up. Now, Eco Wave Power has a grid connected power station in Jaffa Port, in Israel, a planned pilot station here in the Port of Los Angeles, which will be the first of its kind in California, and a first commercial scale power station in final planning phases in Portugal,” she said.

Braverman concluded her acceptance speech by asking for prayers and support for her home country.

“While we are having a Blue Hour here, Israel is having one of its darkest hours, with over 1,300 citizens killed and more than 100 citizens kidnapped in Gaza,” she said

“In these dark days, I would ask you to support Israel and stand with Israel. Because in the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

The post Startup Producing Ocean Wave Energy Scoops Innovation Award appeared first on NoCamels.

A cybersecurity company is offering free online cybersecurity courses for high school students in southern Israel whose hometowns are constantly under rocketfire from Hamas in Gaza. 

The initiative, which was developed by OASIS Security, aims to equip students with essential technological skills, foster their interest in the cyber domain and increase their potential for future involvement in the field. 

The interactive Zoom sessions cover diverse topics, including fundamental cyber concepts, offensive versus defensive strategies and programming languages.

The initiative was also developed in collaboration with the Magshimim (“fulfilling”) Program, a national cyber education program for high school students in the periphery, as well as other cybersecurity startups. 

High schools within the region that are interested in joining the program can send their requests directly to ops@oasis.security.

“The entire State of Israel is currently experiencing unbearably difficult times, when the students of the south are sitting idly in their homes or in various places to which they have turned throughout the country,” said Danny Brickman, CEO of OASIS.

“In order to try and make it easier for them, if only a little, we are taking part in this important initiative.

“As we continue to expand and allocate additional resources at OASIS, our team is wholeheartedly involved in this project, pooling our extensive expertise in the cybersecurity field,” he said.

“Our shared mission is to empower students, nurturing their comprehension and interest in the realm of cybersecurity.'”

The post Cybersecurity Firm Offers Free Zoom Courses For Teens appeared first on NoCamels.

The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), the branch of the government dedicated to promoting the high-tech sector, has announced an investment fund of 100 million shekels to support approximately 100 Israeli startups struggling to sustain financial backing during the current conflict. 

The startups are in the product development or initial sales stages and, according to the IIA, all have significant technological assets. 

The grant is designed to allow these companies more time to utilize their available resources, said the IIA.

The 100 million shekels will be more than matched by private investors, who are expected to contribute more than 200 million shekels to the fund. 

Companies will be able to apply for grants from the fund in November. The startups will be evaluated on a range of criteria, including those technological assets, existing available funding, impact on employees and infrastructure. 

“The high-tech sector, which has faced declining investment volumes over the past 18 months, is also impacted by the current crisis,” said IIA chief Dror Bin. 

“This impact is more pronounced in startup companies that urgently need funding, especially during a challenging period when it is difficult to conduct new financing rounds. The Innovation Authority is committed to continue providing innovative companies with a sufficient security-net to help the Israeli high-tech sector thrive in the post-crisis era.” 

The high-tech industry was the largest contributor to Israel’s national GDP in 2022, accounting for just over 18 percent or 290 billion shekels ($78B), according to the IIA. It was also responsible for 50 percent of the country’s foreign exports. 

The post Israel Innovation Authority Creates 100M Shekel Fund For Startups appeared first on NoCamels.

A new project by Tel Aviv Municipality has used flowers to spell out a global message of solidarity with the Israeli people and security forces, inspired by US President Joe Biden’s statement of “We Stand with Israel.”

Biden delivered his message during his visit to Israel last week, when he met with those directly affected by the October 7 wave of attacks perpetrated by Hamas terrorists from Gaza. More than 1,400 Israelis were murdered, thousands were wounded, and over 200 others were abducted into Gaza during the attacks. 

The “Flower People Project” message, which was the initiative of Israeli civilian Lihi Salpeter Danziger, was on display for three days in Habima Square in central Tel Aviv last week. 

The city teamed up with Israeli flower growers, weavers and floral arrangers who donated their time to create the 45-meter long message using hundreds of colorful blooms. 

The flowers were then repurposed to provide free floral tributes for funerals and for wedding bouquets at a time when fresh stems can be hard to come by. 

The bouquets and wreaths were delivered to the families by a team of volunteers across the country.

The post Tel Aviv Project Spells Out Message Of Solidarity In Flowers appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli artificial intelligence startup that helps women with in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles has integrated its technology into the electronic medical records (EMR) used by numerous fertility clinics around the world. 

Fairtility’s CHLOE (Cultivating Life Through Optimal Embryos) technology uses AI to assess the viability of a woman’s embryos throughout her IVF cycle, a medical procedure in which the egg is fertilized outside of the body.

By integrating CHLOE with their EMRs, clinicians can digitize their embryology labs, automatically capturing and processing data regarding the most viable embryos for implantation.

CHLOE will then generate an embryo quality score and implantation predictions with insights and explanations based on millions of data points, which may improve IVF outcomes for patients –  a treatment that is normally only successful in one out of three tries.

The company says that integrating CHLOE into their systems helps reduce the administrative work of embryologists by up to 30 percent, as it also ensures that they have all their key information in one place.

The EMR platforms that have integrated CHLOE include vRepro, IDEAS from Mellowood Medical, nAble IVF and MedITEX.

“Integrating Fairtility’s CHLOE with the top EMR platforms enables clinics to seamlessly consolidate and standardize all data from both clinical and operational sources, moving us towards digital transformation of reproductive care,” said Eran Eshed, CEO and co-founder of Fairtility.

“These integrations enable information to flow seamlessly, maximizing clinic and lab efficiency and transforming both the patient and clinician experience.”

The post Israeli AI Fertility Tool Integrated Into Medical Records At IVF Clinics appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli startup has just received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its eye drops that are capable of temporarily correcting vision.

The QLOSI eye drops, developed by Orasis Pharmaceuticals, improve farsightedness by constricting the pupil, resulting in a “pinhole effect” and increasing depth of field and ability to focus on nearby objects.

The prescription eye drops can be used twice a day, and their effects of improving near vision can last up to eight hours without impacting distance or night vision. 

The FDA approval is based on results from clinical trials that evaluated the safety and efficacy of the eyedrops on more than 600 patients.

Presbyopia, or farsightedness, is the result of the natural aging process, and there are almost two billion people living with it globally. They experience blurred vision when performing daily tasks like reading a book, a restaurant menu or messages on a smartphone.

It cannot be prevented or reversed, and it continues to progress gradually. All existing treatment options are either inconvenient, like reading glasses and contact lenses, or invasive, like refractive surgery that changes the shape of your cornea and lens implants, which replace the lens in each eye with a synthetic one.

“The FDA approval of QLOSI marks a tremendous milestone for Orasis as we continue our mission to provide a flexible treatment option for the millions of people in the U.S. living with presbyopia, or blurry near vision,” said Elad Kedar, CEO of Orasis Pharmaceuticals.

“I am grateful to the Orasis team, our strategic partners, clinical investigators, and patients who participated in our clinical trials, all of whom made this achievement possible.”

The post Eyedrops That Temporarily Correct Vision Get FDA Approval appeared first on NoCamels.

A city in the US state of Georgia is introducing road management technology from Israeli startup Intelligent Traffic Control (ITC). 

The system, which uses data feeds from the local network of traffic cameras already in existence, requires no hardware installation. 

It takes the feed from the cameras and uses ITC’s vision analysis technology to identify objects in the road and their speed and location, in order to manage the flow of traffic by adjusting the timing of the road signals. 

The technology will be in use in approximately 10 intersections in the city of Peachtree Corners, on one of its routes with heavy traffic. 

The city says its 5G infrastructure allows for the use of the technology, which is already in operation in locations in Israel and Australia. 

“That ecosystem is the perfect opportunity for us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our solution with consistent mixed traffic, public transit and pedestrian activity along the corridor,” said ITC co-founder and CEO Aharon Brauner.

The ITC platform stands out due to the fact that there is no need for hardware to be installed, says Brandon Branham, executive director of the Peachtree Corners Curiosity Lab, a local testing facility for urban tech.

The post Israeli Traffic Management Tech Debuts In US City appeared first on NoCamels.

Israeli pharma giant Teva Pharmaceuticals has announced that its migraine treatment AJOVY has been found to also reduce symptoms of depression.

AJOVY halts the activity of the protein CGRP, which causes inflammation and the widening of blood vessels in the brain. At the onset of a migraine, an individual has high levels of CGRP in their bloodstream, leading scientists to believe that the protein plays a key role in causing the neurological disease.

Results from a new study conducted by the company found that their AJOVY jab not only reduced the participants’ number of monthly migraine days (MMD), but their symptoms of depression as well.

Patients treated with AJOVY had a reduction in MDD for 5.1 days, compared to 2.9 days for patients treated with a placebo. The patients treated with AJOVY also experienced less severe depression symptoms than the patients treated with a placebo, as indicated by clinician-administered depression assessment scales.  

According to the American Migraine Foundation, a person who suffers from migraines is about five times more likely to develop depression than someone who does not. 

“Patients who suffer from migraine and mental health disorders such as depression face a far greater burden than those suffering from either migraine or depression alone,” said Dr Verena Ramirez Campos, Global Senior Medical Director at Teva.

“[The study’s results] provide further insights into the potential efficacy, safety, and quality of life benefits of AJOVY for people with migraine and major depressive disorder.”

The post Teva’s Migraine Therapy Found To Reduce Depression Symptoms  appeared first on NoCamels.

Global finance automation platform Tipalti says it has raised and donated 2.5 million shekels in humanitarian relief for Israelis affected by the October 7 terror attacks in the south of the country. 

Five charities will receive an equal share of the funds raised from the company, its employees, investors and online donors. 

The five charitable organizations are: 

Israid, which helps those caught up in a humanitarian crisis by partnering with local communities; Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom;  NATAL, the Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center; Shoresh Fund, which is providing immediate assistance to the victims of the attacks; and the United Hatzalah rescue service. 

“Tipalti stands with Israel and our Israeli employees at this difficult time. As a company with strong Israeli roots, our thoughts are with those impacted by the attacks,” said Chen Amit, the co-founder and CEO of the Herzliya-based company. 

“We thank our global Tipalti employees, customers, partners, investors, and friends who have been reaching out to us with heartfelt messages and offers of support,” Amit said. 

“We are thankful for the support we’ve been able to provide to those in need through the good work of these organizations and to do our part in supporting Israelis.”

The post Fintech Firm Raises Millions To Aid Israelis After Terror Attacks appeared first on NoCamels.

Global business analytics company CB Insights has named five firms with an Israeli presence in its 2023 list of the most promising private fintech companies in the world. 

CB Insights says this year’s Fintech 100 includes companies from 24 nations at varying stages of development, who together have raised almost $22 billion since 2019. 

The five companies are: 

AccessFintech – a platform for financial brokers and institutions to automate the settlement of securities trades, reducing costs and potential errors 

Fairmatic – a fleet insurance company that uses data and AI to create a more personalized insurance option, incentivizing safety with savings 

Liquidity Group – allows business to access funding with minimal delays, providing term sheets from $2 million to-$100 million to eligible late-stage tech companies, usually within 48 hours 

Novidea – the company’s cloud-based platform for the insurance sector consolidates all the data required for managing the entire insurance distribution lifecycle

ONE ZERO Digital Bank – Israel’s first internet bank and the country’s first new bank in over 40 years. Owned by Mobileye co-founder Amnon Shashua, ONE ZERO has no physical branches and conducts all its banking activity online. 

The post 5 Companies With Israel Ties Make List Of Top 100 Fintech Firms  appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli startup has found a way to cultivate nutrients from berries, without needing to extract them from the fruits themselves. 

Novella identifies plant tissues with the highest concentration of nutrients, such as in stems, fruits and flowers, and grows these specific cells in bioreactors in a method that is similar to cultivated meat.

The plant tissue is preserved in the startup’s cell bank and is utilized for all future productions, making it possible to bypass cultivating the entire plant and preventing variability in nutrients.

Novella says that it can maintain the berry’s various nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and even the nutrients known as anthocyanins – the deep red, purple and blue pigments found in these fruits.

Now, the startup has unveiled prototypes of its new berry-derived nutrients, as well as a new facility that comprises both its operational headquarters and a pilot plant that will accelerate the plant cell cultivation from five varieties of berries. 

“Berries cultivated solely for supplements on average require about 2,000 acres to yield just one ton of polyphenolic [micronutrients] compounds,” said Itay Dana, co-founder and chief business development officer of Novella.

“We have condensed that vast tract of agriculture into a 10K liter bioreactor that produces the same quantity of pure, high-value ingredients,” he said.

“This frees up valuable land for cultivating food crops and provides a host of other economic and environmental benefits, beginning with the complete elimination of waste,” explained Dana.

“Our method requires minimal land, energy, and water usage and exerts a minimal carbon footprint. We can produce high-quality ingredients at affordable prices, independently of climate fluctuations, logistical challenges, or social and political constraints.”

The post Israeli Startup Creates Berry Nutrients With No Fruit Required  appeared first on NoCamels.

A group of high-tech entrepreneurs has launched a new initiative focused on helping and empowering children who have lost one or both of their parents in the massive terror attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7. 

The goal of the Israeli Children’s Fund (ICF) is to offer the beneficiaries sustained support until early adulthood by committing $100,000 to each child, along with mentorship and support.

The ICF has a fundraising target of $100 million. 

Their hope is that the aid will help the children feel supported as they reintegrate into normal life, find adoptive homes or new legal guardians, all of whom now face additional financial responsibilities.

The organization’s first action will be to meet the financial needs of the guardian families now responsible for the care of these children. 

The ICF was founded by high-tech entrepreneurs such as Amit Rosenzweig, CEO of Ottopia; Michelle Latzer, CEO of Tweed; Tom Livne, CEO of Verbit; and Tomer Levy, CEO of Logz.io. Various venture capitalists such as Eyal Niv, a partner in Pitango, also took part in the creation of the fund. 

All participating companies are volunteering their resources and will serve as virtual mentors and guides, connecting these children to the industry and various opportunities while offering as much support as possible and leveraging the strength of the Israeli high tech industry.

“When we embarked on this project, we had the tragedy and the humanitarian crisis following the brutal Hamas terrorist attack on Saturday, October 7, 2023, firmly in our hearts and minds,” said Rosenzweig.

“These children, now forced into a harsh reality, represent our collective future, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to help them overcome and thrive.”

For more information and donations: https://www.israelichildrensfund.org/

The post High-Tech Entrepreneurs To Raise $100M For Israeli Orphans appeared first on NoCamels.

More than 100 Tel Aviv restaurants have rushed to acquire kosher certification so they could cook meals for soldiers, hospitals, and the evacuees of the Gaza border communities. 

The city’s Haachaim (the brothers) restaurant alone has been turning out some 20,000 meals every single day, with the help of around 300 volunteers, according to the Times of Israel. Other Tel Aviv restaurants are also dishing out thousands of meals every day.

But Haachim, like many of the other Tel Aviv restaurants aiding the war effort, are nonkosher restaurants, which rules out their food for many of the soldiers, hospital staff and displaced and evacuated citizens who do observe Jewish dietary laws. 

Thus, they have received emergency temporary certification from the city’s rabbinate to be able to provide those meals, the report says.  

The certification was made possible by former chief rabbi Yisrael Lau, who issued a Halachic (Jewish law) ruling to allow nonkosher restaurants to have emergency kosher certification for this period. 

Shalom Simcha Elbert, a head chef at OCD, one of Israel’s best restaurants and also located in Tel Aviv, also received emergency kosher certification so as to aid the war effort. 

“Two-thirds of the people we’ll be feeding are kosher,” Elbert told the Times of Israel.

“For about seven hours, we had to hold 10,000 meals because we didn’t have the certification,” he said.

“So now we’re closed on Shabbat,” said Elbert. “We don’t believe in keeping kosher and it’s not what we do day to day, but we want to feed people in a way that honors them.”

The post Tel Aviv Eateries Go Kosher To Cater For Soldiers, Evacuees appeared first on NoCamels.

Members of the international business community are rallying in support of Israel following the terror attacks in the south of the country on Saturday that killed more than 1,200 people. 

Global investment banking and capital markets firm Jefferies announced that it has raised $13 million from its clients, partners, and employees, which will be passed on to Israeli charities providing aid to the victims of the attacks.

One of those charities is the Magen David Adom ambulance service, which will receive a donation of $2 million from Jefferies, an amount matched by former New York mayor and long time MDA donor Mike Bloomberg. 

Similarly, a donation of $2 million to the United Hatzalah rescue service will also be matched by Rabbi Erica Gerson and her businessman husband Mark.  

“We are devastated by the violence and terror that has affected families and communities in Israel,” Jefferies CEO Rich Handler said, according to the Times of Israel. 

“Charities working to provide aid and services to those wounded, traumatized or displaced will receive our support,” he said.

The New York-headquartered company has offices all over the world, including Tel Aviv.

The post Global Financial Firm Raises $13M For Israeli Aid Groups appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli developer of a remote healthcare monitoring system that helps senior citizens live independently in their own homes is expanding its operations within the UK.

Essence SmartCare’s platform uses detection devices and smart software to track a senior’s daily activities. It notifies family, caregivers or monitoring centers and offers preventative care and emergency assistance if necessary.

Now, the Herzliya-based firm is expanding its UK logistics hub to offer its services to more than 12.7 million seniors living in the country.

City councils that have already used its solution include Liverpool, Essex, Dorset, Devon County and London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. 

Prior to the expansion, Essence conducted a survey with Kantar, a leading analytics company, and found that 70 percent of UK-based seniors do not have a monitoring system in place, making it difficult for caregivers to provide better care. The study also found 50 percent of family caregivers experience high levels of stress around their parents’ wellbeing.

“This logistics hub serves as testament to Essence’s unwavering commitment to provide best-in-class healthcare solutions that bring about a better and safer future,” said Dr. Haim Amir, CEO and Founder of Essence Group, parent company of Essence SmartCare.

“Our investment into the market is driven by a need to bring a superior service to our customers and partners, and the augmentation of our UK presence with this new facility is a major step towards optimizing a fast and seamless service for all.”

The post Israeli Remote Monitoring System For Seniors Expands In UK appeared first on NoCamels.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has announced that superchargers for the company’s electric cars will be free in Israel as the country copes with devastating attacks from Hamas in Gaza that killed at least 1,200 people. 

“All Tesla Superchargers in Israel are free,” Musk wrote on Wednesday evening in a brief message on the social media platform he owns. 

The company later said that the policy was in place until further notice. 

Tesla began selling its electric cars in Israel in March 2021, and there are now more than 10,000 of the vehicles in the country, according to Globes. 

Superchargers, as the name suggests, are the company’s fastest way of charging its vehicles, able to extend the cars’ range by up to 200 miles in just a quarter of an hour. There are 17 of them across Israel, according to Tesla’s website. 

The post Tesla Makes Superchargers Free In Israel In Wartime appeared first on NoCamels.

The umbrella organization for Israel’s high-tech and life sciences sectors has pledged to support the country following the Hamas attacks on Saturday that killed at least 1,200 people. 

Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI) said its members have been involved in activities to support both soldiers preparing for action in Gaza and civilians who have been under repeated rocket fire from the Hamas-run Strip since Saturday morning. 

“The Israeli and global high-tech companies incorporated into the IATI, have been engaged in recent days in a series of actions designed to help the war effort, both on the home front and on the front,” said Karin Mayer Rubinstein, the CEO and president of the IATI. 

“As much as it is unbearably difficult, we are obliged to continue our business and personal lives, to continue our investments, to strengthen the tech companies, for the sake of our families, our colleagues, our companies, our employees and our investors, and in doing so we will make a significant contribution to the economic and national resilience of the State of Israel,” she said. 

Other members of Israel’s high-tech sector have also taken action to support the country. These include Mobileye, a leading autonomous driving company, which is launching an aid program for victims of the conflict, and tech guru Yuval Keshtcher, who has created a searchable database of the names of those believed abducted to Gaza. 

The post High-Tech Umbrella Group Working To Support Troops, Victims appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli biotech company has unveiled an AI platform to help accelerate the development of new vaccines and therapeutics that target specific tissues in the body. 

Mana.bio uses machine learning models to predict desirable properties for the nanoparticles used in these new drugs. It then uses robots to synthesize these formulations, and uses artificial intelligence to screen them for their efficacy and safety. 

All experimental results are transferred into the AI platform, which helps the machine learning models improve on a weekly basis.

The announcement of the new Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP) platform comes on the heels of the startup’s recently closed $19.5 million seed financing round, which will help it develop the solution further. 

The startup’s technology is based on academic research from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. 

“We believe that artificial intelligence methods provide a unique way to learn from the world’s previously generated LNP data, novel data that we generate every day in our own lab, and even the design principles of adjacent non-LNP delivery systems,” said Yogev Debbi, co-founder and CEO of Mana.bio.

“Mana.bio’s integrated experimental and machine learning platform enables the discovery of smarter, faster, more precise delivery formulations to unlock the field of nucleic acid-based and genetic medicines,” he said.

“We are encouraged by our platform’s early in vivo success and for its potential to deliver breakthrough therapies for a broad range of diseases.”

The post Startup Develops Drug-Improving Solution, Raises $19.5M appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli tech entrepreneur has created a database of the names of the people missing since Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on Saturday morning, killing at least 900 people and abducting dozens more into the Gaza Strip.

Former combat soldier Yuval Keshtcher and other tech experts began discussing ways to help shortly after the attacks began, CTech reported.

“There was so much chaos due to the surprising nature of events,” he said, according to the report.

“We understood that there were lots of missing people, especially from the rave, and lots of Whatsapp groups for missing people. The first thing that I wanted to do was try to organize the chaos.”

Within hours, Keshtcher had created the Swords of Steel platform, named after Israel’s military operation launched in the wake of the deadly attacks.

The database lets people search the names of those missing since the start of the attacks and even add names to the list. It went live Saturday night and by Sunday morning had already briefly crashed.

As of Monday afternoon, they had had around 3,000 enquiries, although there are multiple requests for information about one person.

Keshtcher said the creators are working with Zaka, Israel’s voluntary search and rescue organization, to keep the database updated, and have shared the platform with the Israel Defense Forces.

The post Tech Guru Creates Database Of Israelis Missing In Hamas Attack appeared first on NoCamels.

With a nation in mourning and under fire, Israeli civilians across the country have sprung into action: driving reserve troops to mobilization points in their own cars; collecting food and toiletries for soldiers; and donating essentials, clothes and toys for the traumatized residents of the south who have been evacuated. 

Israel’s high-tech sector has also mobilized, with companies donating money, manpower and even ingenuity to help what has been a war effort since last Saturday morning. Here are just some of them: 

Mobileye 

Mobileye autonomous driving tech company said it is launching an aid program for victims of the conflict. 

The company, which was purchased by Intel in 2017, said it is donating 5 million shekels (approx $1.2 million) to non-profit organizations providing aid to Israelis who have been evacuated from their homes close to Gaza. 

“At this time of uncertainty, we choose action and support, and are doing everything in our power to assist the war effort and support the home front,” the company said. 

“Mobileye expresses deep sorrow and shares in the grief of the families of those killed. We all hope that all the captives and those missing will return to their homes and their families, and wish for quiet days soon.”  

Cyabra

Tel Aviv startup Cyabra, which uses proprietary AI to expose false information online, says it is working with Israeli organizations and journalists to uncover malicious actors on social media. 

“Our mission at Cyabra has always been to fight those using social media for malicious intent [and] as an Israeli company, we are seeing these destructive forces on our doorstep,” said CEO Dan Brahmy in a statement released on Sunday. 

“Over the last 24 hours, we have analyzed close to 1M posts, pictures, and videos in order to uncover over 70K fake profiles, controlled by the same murderous groups you are seeing on your TV screens for the purpose of spreading disinformation, or to gather sensitive details about their targets. We have shared our findings with the relevant media and security teams,” he said.

Cyabra also said that anyone who wishes to join their efforts can email the company at help@cyabra.com. 

OurCrowd

OurCrowd, Israel’s most active startup crowdfunding platform, is also mobilizing support for various initiatives to help victims of the conflict.

The firm is raising money for the affected families and is organizing blood donations. 

“Israel is now in a state of war. We do not know how long this situation, and the fighting, will continue,” said OurCrowd founder Jon Medved in a statement Monday.

“To defend itself, the Israeli army has mobilized many of its reserve units, including some OurCrowd employees and their family members,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we have prior experience with these kinds of situations, and as in the past we will continue to serve you from our many global offices.”

The company has invited anyone in need of assistance to reach out to them via their contact page or email to support@ourcrowd.com. 

More Foods

Israeli startup More Foods, which uses pumpkin and sunflower seeds to create meat alternatives, will be donating its product to restaurants and caterers who are preparing food for the soldiers, hospitals and the residents in southern Israel.

“We at More Foods send our condolences to the families whose loved ones have been murdered, kidnapped and wounded,” the company said in a statement Monday

“We wish for this to end soon, and may we live in peace.”

More Foods also said that anyone who knows of caterers or restaurants wishing to receive a shipment of their product should contact them via eyal.shahar@more-foods.co.

The post Israel’s Tech Sector Mobilizes To Aid War Effort, Assist Victims appeared first on NoCamels.

Israel and Azerbaijan will cooperate on developing space technologies under a historic agreement that was just signed between the two nations. 

The agreement was presented at the 74th International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, which took place this week. It was signed by Uri Oron, the Israel Space Agency’s Director General, and his Azerbaijani counterpart Samaddin Asadov.

The agreement, which is the first of its kind between these two countries, will lead to joint space-related projects, including the development of satellites, space exploration robots and vehicles, Earth observation and monitoring, and more. 

The conference also saw the finalization of a $120 million deal between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Azerbaijani space agency Azercosmos. Under the deal, IAI will develop surveillance satellites, space-related innovation and entrepreneurship centers and a joint business center, all within Azerbaijan. 

“The signing of the joint declaration between the space agencies establishes and strengthens the relationship forged between the countries,” said Uri Oron.

“In an era in which the field of space is growing rapidly, the agreement will allow the State of Israel to have business, research and academic collaborations that are essential for the development of the space field in [in the country].”

Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, George Dick, said: “The joint work of all the parties on the Israeli and Azerbaijani sides led to the signing of the understandings, with the intention of expanding cooperation in the near future.”

“The relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan will deepen and expand into new technological fields for the benefit of both countries and peoples.”

The post Azerbaijan And Israel Sign Historic Deal On Space Tech appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli biopharma firm has developed an effective treatment for the rare and deadly Ebola virus, using an existing therapy for COVID-19. 

In a new study, RedHill Biopharma found that twice-daily oral doses of its opaganib medication boosted survival from about six days to 11 days in mice infected with the virus. 

Its treatment has previously been shown to treat COVID-19, radiation injuries, cancer and other viruses.

Opaganib is a host-directed therapy, meaning it changes the local environment in which the pathogen exists to make it less favorable for it to grow and live in, rather than destroying it directly. 

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ebola virus is transmitted mostly through contact with an infected animal or person. Symptoms of the virus – including diarrhea, vomiting and hemorrhaging – become more severe as the disease progresses. 

There are only two US Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for Ebola, both of which are injected to prevent the virus from entering a person’s cells. 

The study was funded by the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), whose mission is to protect soldiers from biological threats, while also investigating disease outbreaks and threats to public health. 

“The more we learn about [opaganib], its novel host-directed mechanism of action, and its growing safety and tolerability database, the more promising it appears,” said Reza Fathi, PhD, RedHill’s SVP R&D.

“We believe opaganib offers a potential breakthrough for fighting a virus capable of causing devastating outbreaks of disease in the countries least equipped to cope with them.”

The post Israeli COVID Treatment Found To Be Effective Against Ebola Virus appeared first on NoCamels.

Israeli researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding the mechanism that causes the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. 

The Amyloid beta protein is believed to be one of the primary causes of Alzheimer’s, as it causes what is called amyloid plaque to build up in the brains of people with the disease. The plaque forms in the spaces between the nerve cells, which disrupts cell function in memory.

Now, researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa believe that this toxic protein accumulates in the brain because of a disruption in the body’s mechanism to clear proteins, known as the ubiquitin-proteasome system.

To test this, the team created a model of human neurons in order to examine the role of the ubiquitin system in the development of the disease. 

Their results found that damage to the ubiquitin system leads to the accumulation of toxic proteins even in healthy tissue, mimicking symptoms of Alzheimer’s. 

They then engineered an RNA molecule – which contains instructions for cellular behavior – to treat the damaged parts of the ubiquitin system, which alleviated Alzheimer’s symptoms in the experimental model. 

The researchers believe that this platform that they have developed could be used to screen drugs for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. They say that this platform will help reduce animal experiments in the development of new Alzheimer’s therapies, because of the use of a model of human neurons. 

The full study was published in the academic journal Nature Communications.

The post New Israeli Breakthrough In Understanding Onset Of Alzheimer’s appeared first on NoCamels.

Israeli technology that uses pineapple proteins to treat severe burns will be used to treat wounded US soldiers in the field. 

Biotech company MediWound has created a non-surgical treatment that is applied to the dead tissue of patients with second- and third-degree burns, and removes it within four hours.

The NexoBrid treatment is enriched with bromelain, an enzyme found in the pineapple stem and pineapple juice, which helps the body to fight pain and swelling. It also helps to mitigate a wound deteriorating as well as future scarring.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has now awarded $6.5 million to advance the development of a new, temperature-stable formulation of NexoBrid, so it can serve as a first-line solution to treat burn injuries outside of the hospital. 

The DoD grant was funded by MTEC, a biomedical technology consortium working to advance innovative medical solutions for US military personnel. 

Severe burns are normally treated through debridement – the surgical removal of dead tissue that may result in loss of blood and viable tissue. 

“We are honored to further our collaboration with the US Department of Defense,” said Ofer Gonen, CEO of MediWound.

“Our shared vision of enhancing treatment outcomes for traumatic burns on the battlefield will ensure NexoBrid’s availability for military use,” he said.

The post Israeli Pineapple-Based Burn Therapy Treating Injured US Troops appeared first on NoCamels.

An artificial intelligence platform developed by an Israeli startup can reveal whether a patient is at risk of a heart attack by analyzing their routine chest CT scans. 

Results from a new study testing Nanox.AI’s HealthCCSng algorithm on such scans found that 58 percent of patients unknowingly had moderate to severe levels of coronary artery calcium (CAC) or plaque. 

CAC is the strongest predictor of future cardiac events, and measuring it typically subjects patients to an additional costly scan that is not normally covered by insurance companies. 

HealthCCSng was tested on the scans of 326 patients at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, central Israel.

Among the patients who participated in the study, 101 (31 percent) had severe CAC, 88 (27 percent) had moderate CAC, and 137 (42 percent) had low CAC. 

“The patients in this study received routine CT scans that had nothing to do with a cardiac concern,” said Professor Ran Kornowski, Director of the Cardiology Center at Beilinson Hospital, who led the study.

“Nanox’s AI technology can enable physicians to route these unsuspecting individuals with high CAC levels to the appropriate care pathways and treatment,” he said.

“While the study’s findings were staggering, we are encouraged by the important role AI can play in early risk identification and prevention of cardiac events.”

The post AI Can Predict Future Heart Attacks By Analyzing CT Scans appeared first on NoCamels.

Two Israeli drone companies have joined forces to create a package that gives authorities a more effective way of managing drone airspace activity. 

Tel Aviv-based High Lander has developed the Vega UTM software, which autonomously manages drone traffic in real time and is capable of detecting even when multiple drones take off and land simultaneously. 

Under the partnership, Sentrycs, which is also based in Tel Aviv, will incorporate its technology into High Lander’s software. Sentrycs has developed a solution that detects, identifies and disconnects drones from their remote controls without line of sight.

The new, integrated solution can coordinate flight plans at scale, detect unapproved flights and the location of their pilots and force unauthorized drones to land safely with no collateral damage.

“We are very excited by this partnership. These are two solutions that complement each other perfectly,” said Alon Abelson, CEO and co-founder of High Lander.

“Vega UTM sets a global standard for consolidated airspace awareness and Sentrycs’ impressive counter-drone technology empowers authorities to directly enforce U-space management decisions,” he said.

“Working together, these solutions create a powerful package capable of combating noncompliant airspace activities, while enabling a drone-based economy that operates in harmony with crewed aviation.”

The post Israeli Startups Create Powerful Drone-Detecting Software appeared first on NoCamels.

Israeli researchers have developed a computer model that proposes ways to use daylight to improve the health of patients in hospitals. 

The computer model developed at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa creates guidelines for hospital rooms, including simple architectural designs such as fully opening windows, adjustable blinds and light shelves that reflect natural daylight into a room. 

The researchers believe that their model can be applied in other environments such as workplaces and educational institutions. 

They additionally stress the importance of re-evaluating daylight availability of a hospital room as the orientation of sunlight changes with every season. 

Prof. Guedi Capeluto of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning and master’s student Rinat Hadashi Gannon created their computer model by measuring seasonal daylight in inpatient rooms at the Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, southern Israel. 

They chose to conduct their research at the most common kind of hospital room in Israel: a two-bed, semi-private room, where the patient in the bed furthest from the window is exposed to insufficient daylight due to the distance from the glass, the screens between beds and the control of curtains and blinds by the patient nearest the window. 

Previous international research has shown that the incorporation of daylight in inpatient wards contributes to lower medication use, reduced length of stay, improved sleep quality, reduction in depression and stress, and even a decrease in mortality rates.

The post Model Sees Daylight As Boost For Hospitalized Patients’ Health appeared first on NoCamels.

Solar panels that come on a roll made by an Israeli company have been certified as safe in the US and Europe by a world-renowned photovoltaic (PV) testing lab. 

Apollo Power’s new flexible panels can be placed on virtually any surface, from sidewalks and golf carts and airplanes.

The startup received its certification from Solar PTL, an independent testing lab that inspected and tested the safety of its solar panel components.

The panels, which were first inaugurated in January at the company’s factory in the northern city of Yokneam Illit, can now connect to the Israeli electrical grid and generate clean energy.

The company also says that it has just signed an agreement with a Turkish company to top its trucks and buses with its solar panels. 

Pilots conducted by the company found that the installation of its solar panel on a single truck can reduce carbon emissions by about four tons annually, and even result in fuel savings of five to eight percent. 

“The certification we received today for our product and the factory we established in Israel earlier this year is a significant achievement that attests to the product’s reliability,” said Oded Rozenberg, CEO of Apollo Power. 

“It allows us to sell and connect to the electrical grid in many countries worldwide, with a strong emphasis on the European and American markets,” he said.

“This certification comes with excellent timing, coinciding with the agreement for the distribution of our products in Turkey, and it appears to be another important step toward Apollo Power becoming a market leader in the field of solar energy utilization in commercial vehicle fleets.”

The post Solar Panels On A Roll Certified As Safe For Use In US, Europe appeared first on NoCamels.

Helmets developed by an Israeli company that ease symptoms of depression and anxiety will be supplied to US military members and veterans. 

The Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Deep TMS) treatment, developed by BrainsWay, uses magnetic pulses to stimulate cells in the region of the brain involved in mood control and depression. 

Now, it will be expanding its partnership and supplying additional units to Katie’s Way, which provides mental health services tailored to the unique needs of active duty soldiers and retired veterans. The organization’s offshoot, Katie’s Way Plus, offers mental health services that also utilize technology including Deep TMS and virtual reality. 

TMS is typically used when other methods of treatments for mental health illnesses haven’t been effective. It involves placing an electromagnetic coil against the scalp and near the forehead.

BrainsWay says its patented design enables deeper and broader stimulation than traditional TMS coils and is aimed at patients with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and smoking addiction.

“We are thrilled to support Katie’s Way Plus in its vital mission to provide focused care to U.S. service members, veterans, and their families,” said BrainsWay CEO Hadar Levy.

“BrainsWay’s advanced Deep TMS technology has demonstrated remarkable clinical efficacy in treating depression, and we are confident that this expansion will bring hope and healing to many US service members.”

Jeff Mathis, Founder of Katie’s Way, said: “Katie’s Way was founded in memory of my daughter, Katie, who tragically lost her battle with depression.”

“Our goal is to ensure that no other family needs to endure such pain. These additional BrainsWay systems will allow us to extend our reach, offer hope, and ultimately save lives,” he said.

The post US Soldiers, Vets To Get Israeli-Made Helmets To Treat Depression appeared first on NoCamels.

Israel’s high-tech companies raised $1.67 billion in the third quarter of 2023, a small drop from Q2 and almost no change from Q1, according to an upcoming report on the state of the country’s high-tech investments. 

The figures signal that the investment in Israeli startups is stabilizing after a volatile period, the report shows. 

The annual Israeli Tech Review, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the state of the country’s high-tech industry, shows that the funds raised from Q3 saw a decrease of just 14 percent compared to Q2. 

Additionally, the volume of transactions raised by foreign investors was higher in Q3 than in Q1, which further supports the trend for the stabilization of investments in Israeli startups. 

The report also saw another positive trend in the amount of seed capital raised for fledgling startups, which rose for the first time in Q3 after five consecutive quarters of decline. 

“We continue to see in the 3rd quarter’s data the first signs of stabilization in the amount and scope of capital raising, which bring us to the levels of 2018-19,” said LeumiTech CEO, Maya Eisen-Zafrir.

“In addition, we recognize a stabilization in the rate of follow-on investments, an indication that the companies are beginning to adjust their value to the new interest rate environment,” she said. 

The Israeli Tech Review is published by the IVC, Israel’s largest research center of high-tech and venture capital, and by LeumiTech, the arm of Leumi Group that specializes in banking for high-tech companies and VC Funds.

The full report will be published in October.

The post Israeli Startups Raise $1.6B in Q3, Indicating Stabilization – Report appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli renewable energy company will be supplying its electricity to the world’s biggest manufacturer of semiconductor chips for phones, computers and televisions. 

Enlight Renewable Energy, which finances, develops and constructs clean energy power plants, has inked a 15-year agreement with the American corporation Applied Materials, Inc. to power the latter’s operations in Israel. 

Applied Materials’ customers include Samsung and Intel.  

The energy will be sourced from Enlight’s solar and storage facilities, which are currently under construction in Israel. 

The new agreement will help Applied Materials Israel meet its Environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, a framework used to assess an organization’s business practices and performance on sustainability and ethical issues. 

“We are proud to provide clean electricity to Applied Materials, helping them make practical moves to net zero emissions status,” said Gilad Yavetz, CEO of Enlight Renewable Energy.

“I anticipate that demand for renewable energy in Israel will continue to grow as other firms join this trend.”

Rafi Ben Ami, CEO of Applied Materials Israel, said: “Our vision for the future combines continued growth of the company with meaningful reduction of environmental impacts. 

“We are pleased with the new strategic partnership with Enlight for renewable electricity, advancing us towards a sustainable world.”

The post Global Chip Maker Buying Renewable Energy From Israeli Firm appeared first on NoCamels.

Israeli venture capital fund Cyberstarts has raised $480 million for investment in later stage cybersecurity startups.

The Opportunity Fund allows backers to keep investing in companies already funded by Cyberstarts, which specializes in early-stage startups, as they develop and expand.

Founded in 2018, the VC has previously invested in companies such as Wiz, Fireblocks and Noname Security.

The Opportunity Fund means that Cyberstarts will invest in cybersecurity startups “not just for the seed round,” the VC’s founder Gil Raanan said, according to The Information website.

“It’s not just a financial motivation – it’s a commitment to those founders,” he said.

The fund raised its initial $200 million in 2022, CTech reported, adding the remainder this summer, primarily in August and September.

The post VC Fund Raises $480M For Cybersecurity Investment appeared first on NoCamels.

The United Nations’ worldwide promotion of sustainability in business has honored an executive at one of Israel’s largest food companies. 

Shay Bialik, the director of Global Sustainability and Ethics at the Strauss Group, was among 12 international business leaders named as a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneer. 

The 12 were singled out for their outstanding work in advancing the SDGs via the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, environment, labor and anti-corruption. 

Bialik was named as SDG Pioneer for large national and multinational companies.

“The SDG Pioneers program recognizes the dedicated professionals that drive and innovate solutions through new technologies, initiatives and business models that can enable us to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,” said Sanda Ojiambo, CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. 

“We hope their work will inspire others to advance the Global Goals by implementing our Ten Principles.” 

Also honored in the Middle East region was Roaa Kurdi, a biodiversity specialist at Lebanon’s Beesline company – a beauty brand that promotes bee conservation in the region.  

The Global Compact, an initiative of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, encourages companies around the world to stand by the Ten Principles. More than 18,000 in over 160 countries have signed up to the project. 

The post UN Honors Israeli Food Exec For Sustainability Work appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli startup believes it has made a breakthrough in its technology that will allow companies to grow cultivated meat at a far faster pace. 

ProFuse Technology has developed a catalyst comprising “small molecules” that speeds up the process of growing cultivated stem cells and increases yields.

Now, the company says, the fluid used to support the stem cells’ growth can grow muscle tissue within 48 hours. 

The process of growing cultivated meat normally takes between two to eight weeks, depending on the kind of meat that is being cultivated.

Additionally, the startup says that its technology can increase muscle tissue protein by five times and offer a protein-rich alternative to traditional meat sources.

“ProFuse Technology’s proprietary media supplements and protocols achieve effective muscle production in a 3D environment without resorting to genetic modification,” said ProFuse CTO Dr. Tamar Eigler-Hirsh.

“Our commitment lies in supporting production of sustainable, ethical, and delectable alternatives to conventionally farmed meat,” she said. 

Eigler-Hirsh used her post-doctoral research into how mice regenerate muscle tissue to develop the accelerated growth process for cultivated meat. 

ProFuse Technology was founded in 2021, and is based in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel.

The post Startup Unveils Tech To Speed Up Growth Of Cultivated Meat appeared first on NoCamels.

Israel is investing around 30 million shekels (approx. $7.8 million) to improve the ability of AI to understand Hebrew and Arabic. 

The gap between existing capabilities for Hebrew and Arabic and more common languages – such as English – is significant. The Israel Innovation Authority will therefore be investing the money into 17 different projects in both academia and industry.

The approved projects include:

A transcription and summarization service for clinical and business applications, to be developed by Verbit, provider of highly accurate transcripts and captions;

A model that allows extraction of information from recorded audio, to be developed by Dr. Shai Fine from Reichman University;

A model that identifies harmful content in texts, to be developed by Dr. Haya Libskind from the Jerusalem College of Technology – Lev Academic Center; and

A model that analyzes medical texts written in a combination of Hebrew and English, to be developed by medtech manufacturer Briya in collaboration with several Israeli medical centers. 

“In order to promote the integration of artificial intelligence into the Israeli high-tech industry and enable Israeli citizens to benefit from the fruits of this technology, we are keen to promote and advance activity in this area,” said Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority.

“This program is crucial for realizing Israel’s unique data potential in Hebrew and Arabic, facilitating the adoption of artificial intelligence in the industry, and advancing innovation in Israel,” he said.

“These infrastructures will lead to significant and open applications for the benefit of Israeli residents and enable companies developing products in this field to sell both domestically and internationally.”

The post Israel Invests Millions To Help AI Comprehend Hebrew, Arabic appeared first on NoCamels.

Israeli cybersecurity startup Cato Networks has raised $238 million in a new round of funding, with a valuation of $3 billion.

The Tel Aviv-based startup provides Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology, folding various security and communications capabilities into one cloud-based platform.

The funding round was led by California-based Lightspeed Venture Partners (LVP), and was one of Israel’s largest for 2023. Other investors include Chicago’s Adams Street Partners; Singtel Innov8 of Singapore; and Sixty Degree Capital from Ontario.

LVP also led Cato’s previous funding round in 2021, which raised $200 million at a company valuation of $2.5 billion.

Cato says it has now raised a total of $773 million. It was established in 2015 by its current CEO and Check Point co-founder Shlomo Kramer, who aimed to create a platform to simplify and reduce the costs of network security.

The company says its will use the funding to increase its reach, expand its services and invest in innovation.

“This funding round reflects investor confidence in Cato’s leadership in the single-vendor SASE market,” said Kramer.

“Cato’s SASE platform uniquely enables organizations of all sizes to optimally secure their businesses without the cost, complexity, and risk of owning and maintaining a pile of point solutions. Cato provides the only SASE platform creating a seamless customer experience and empowers IT to move at the speed of business.”

The post Cybersecurity Startup Cato Raises $238M With $3B Valuation appeared first on NoCamels.

Israel and the United Kingdom are deepening their tech and innovation collaboration, with a new agreement signed Wednesdsay.

As part of the deal, both nations will invest £1.7 million (approx. $2 million) in joint tech projects covering advanced research areas. 

The capital will fund the UK-Israel Innovation Mobility Scheme, which supports British-based researchers traveling to Israel to work jointly with Israeli partners at the country’s top institutions.

It will also support the two countries’ existing collaboration by developing technologies to promote quantum computing.

The new deal is part of the £20 million (approx. $24.6 million) commitment for science, research and innovation collaboration in the UK-Israel Bilateral Roadmap, which was signed by the top diplomats of both countries in March.

“I believe this signing will contribute significantly to the scientific and technological cooperation and networking between scientists and entrepreneurs across many sectors in both our countries,” said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology.

“Over the years, our two countries have developed excellent, cutting-edge technology in many fields. This collaboration will not only benefit our scientific communities but will also benefit the broader economy, and security of our nations.”

The post Israel, UK Ink Deal For Greater Innovation Collaboration appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli company that develops treatments for severe neurodegenerative diseases has patented a new therapeutic drug for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in Europe, Japan and Israel.

ALS is a progressive disease that causes the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, eventually resulting in the inability to speak, eat, move and breathe.

NeuroSense Therapeutics’ PrimeC therapy uses a fixed-dose combination of ciprofloxacin and celecoxib, two drugs already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat bacterial infections and relieve symptoms of arthritis, respectively. The company has already received similar patents in the US, Canada and Australia.

“We are pleased to receive this most recent patent grant in Europe, Japan, and Israel, which adds to our growing IP estate as we expect the clinical read-out from our PARADIGM Phase 2b study towards year’s end,” said Alon Ben-Noon, NeuroSense’s CEO.

“ALS remains a pressing unmet need, and our unwavering commitment to advancing our program, supported by robust intellectual property, underscores our dedication to delivering an effective therapy for individuals battling ALS.”

NeuroSense is currently recruiting patients with ALS for a clinical trial that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of PrimeC.

In the trial, 69 participants will be administered the drug or a placebo twice daily for six months. All patients will then receive PrimeC for a year.

The post ALS Drug Receives Patent In Israel, Europe, Japan appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze public documents and determine their potential for class action lawsuits has raised $35 million in its latest funding round. 

Darrow’s generative AI can sift through information such as consumer complaints to detect legal violations, predict their likely outcomes in the court of law and assess their overall financial impact. 

Its aim is to streamline the process of finding potential court cases, which can take up to hundreds of hours, the startup says.

This Series B round was led by B2B specialist Georgian, with F2 and previous backers Entrée Capital and NFX also participating.

Since being founded in 2020, Darrow has uncovered hundreds of cases across legal domains, including consumer protection, environment, financial fraud, and privacy and data breach.

Darrow works with litigators in 50 leading US law firms and has uncovered legal violations resulting in active litigation work totalling over $10 billion.

The Tel Aviv-based startup will use the newly raised capital to recruit for R&D and develop its AI to detect violations in other areas of the law. 

“Every day, countless legal violations impacting a vast number of individuals slip through the cracks, though the evidence behind these violations and the legal theories to support potential cases are widely available,” said CEO Evyatar Ben Artzi, co-founder and CEO of Darrow.

“It isn’t humanly possible for lawyers to parse through this endless amount of data, so Darrow’s platform leads this crucial piece of the process, helping law firms grow their business while maximizing impact for the people they serve.”

The post Startup That Tracks Down Legal Violations With AI Raises $35M appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli firm that uses radioactive compounds to make cancer-fighting drugs will set up its first facility in the US. 

Petah Tikva-based Isotopia Molecular Imaging develops radioactive isotopes – unstable versions of elements with excess amounts of energy – that are used to detect and treat cancer with greater precision, as well as other chronic diseases.

The firm will invest $20 million to establish its first US facility in Westfield, Indiana, which will be used to produce Lu-177 n.c.a., a radioactive version of the rare earth metal lutetium. This radioactive compound will be used in the company’s targeted cancer treatments.  

Isotopia USA, the US subsidiary of the company, will also invest some of the capital to hire 50 workers over the next two years. 

“The state of Indiana and the city of Westfield have rolled out the welcome mat,” said Todd Hockemeyer, CEO of Isotopia USA.

“This support from our new community will help accelerate our efforts to bring this critical medical isotope to the market as soon as 2024.”

The post Israeli Firm Opening First US Plant For Radioisotope Cancer Drugs appeared first on NoCamels.

Israel has the fourth highest number of AI startups in the world, according to a recently published study.

The country’s 402 AI-based startups have received a total of $11 billion of private investment over the past decade. 

First place went to the United States, which remains at the forefront of AI investment with $250 billion invested in 4,643 startups. It is followed by China ($95 billion invested in 1,337 startups) and the United Kingdom ($18 billion invested in 630 startups).

The study, conducted by infographic publishing company Visual Capitalist, also found that the AI-led industries that were most highly invested in included healthcare ($6.1 billion in 2022), data management and processing ($5.9 billion) and cybersecurity and data protection ($5.4 billion).

In Israel, such startups included:

Noname Security, which protects businesses from data leaks and corruption and has raised a total of $220 million;

TytoCare, developer of a handheld remote examination device that has raised a total of $205 million; and

Dataloop AI, which has created a data management and annotation platform, and has raised $49 million. 

The rest of the countries ranked highest in terms of AI investment were Canada ($9 billion invested in 341 startups), France ($7 billion invested in 338 startups), India ($8 billion invested in 296 startups), Japan ($4 billion invested in 294 startups), Germany ($7 billion invested in 245 startups) and Singapore ($5 billion invested in 165 startups). 

The post Israel Fourth In The World For AI Startups, Says Study appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli startup is using AI to develop plant nutrition products and biostimulants for the multinational fertilizer and minerals firm ICL Group. 

Agrematch uses algorithms to scan its own database of biological, chemical and agricultural information, to predict the active ingredients best suited for the development of various new products for farming.

The startup says its system can create new products using the database at a fraction of the time, cost and risk associated with development involving active ingredients. 

Agrematch will use the AI to develop innovative products for ICL Growing Solutions, the agricultural division of ICL Group, as part of a new multi-year program.

“We are excited to partner with ICL and explore new solutions for plant nutrition,” said Agrematch CEO Eyal Ben-Chanoch.

“Using data science and especially AI has helped us to dramatically alter the discovery process, by eliminating both its sequential nature and the barriers that make the classical high-throughput screening methods costly, risky and time consuming,” he said. 

The post Global Fertilizer Firm Hires Israeli Startup For AI Crop Solutions appeared first on NoCamels.

An Israeli startup that uses the cameras on an outpatient’s smartphone to check their health status has been named the winner of a new challenge that seeks to solve healthcare’s most pressing problems. 

CatAI uses artificial intelligence to track and monitor blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen levels and temperature using a patient’s smartphone camera in the comfort of their home. The platform sends the data directly to a personal medical file that can be accessed by caregivers and healthcare providers.

The Herzliya-based startup was chosen from among 106 companies competing in the Hospital2Hospital challenge, and will receive a $75,000 in-kind pilot credit to further develop its solution to enter the US market. 

It will work with Baptist Health Innovations, the business arm of the American healthcare organization Baptist Health South Florida, which includes more than 27,000 employees, 12 hospitals, and over 100 outpatient and urgent care facilities.

The aim of the Hospital2Hospital initiative is to find early stage startups whose innovative solutions could revolutionize hospital care delivery and clinical capacity. It is a partnership between ARC Innovation at Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest medical center, and Baptist Health Innovations in Florida. 

The initiative was launched by Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit organization that promotes Israeli innovators to help solve global challenges.

“The Hospital2Hospital Tech Challenge represents a pivotal step in leveraging Israeli innovation to address critical healthcare challenges,” said Start-Up Nation Central CEO Avi Hasson.

“This initiative aligns with our mission to foster collaboration between hospitals, startups, and healthcare multinationals for meaningful impact and implementation of innovative solutions,” he said.

The post Startup Named Winner In New Israeli-US Healthcare Challenge appeared first on NoCamels.

An air taxi took to the skies over Jerusalem for the first time recently as part of a national effort to ease Israel’s traffic congestion problem. 

The test flight, which was conducted at the Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem, is part of the Israel National Drone Initiative (INDI).

The country has already invested 60 million shekels (approx. $15.6 million) in the project, whose aim is to prepare the skies for drone taxi deliveries of both products and people. 

Dronery, a subsidiary of Israeli company Cando Drones, operated the air taxi drone used in the Jerusalem test flight. The drone itself was developed by Chinese company EHang, and is being modified to carry passengers by Israeli air operators. 

The fully autonomous aircraft can carry a total of up to 250 kilograms (551 lbs) and fly a distance of 30 kilometers (approx. 18 miles) using its intelligent command-and-control system.

It took off from the hospital, flew over the hills of the city, and landed back at the medical center’s premises after less than half an hour. 

INDI has been in development for the past four years, bringing together a variety of government bodies, including the Ministry of Transport, the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI).

“What we’re looking at here is how Israel’s National Drone Initiative is expanding its scope to move beyond transporting packages, to transporting human beings,” said Daniella Partem, senior director at the Israel Innovation Authority.

“We are looking to improve the economic viability of this model and advance connectivity in urban areas and further afield around the world.”

The post Israeli Air Taxi Takes To Jerusalem Skies For First Time appeared first on NoCamels.