CTech’s Daily Israeli Tech News Roundup

Israeli investment house to open crypto unit. Altshuler Shahem Group, an Israel-based investment house, is in the process of establishing a trading desk devoted to cryptocurrency-related securities, proposing to become the first firm in Israel to do so. Read more

 

A closer look at the first company funded by Koch’s new venture capital firm. For its entire 18-year history, Insightec Ltd., an Israel-based developer of MRI-guided ultrasound devices, has never turned a profit. But time after time, the company has managed to attract the interest of global investors and multinational companies. The latest investment round includes a commitment of up to $150 million from the Koch brothers. Read more

 

Intuition Robotics expands funding round, nabbing Samsung as an investor. Intuition Robotics, maker of the ElliQ elderly companion robot, raises an additional $6 million in an expanded Round A led by Toyota Research Institute, Samsung Next. Read more

 

Israel is overcrowded. Artificial Islands to the rescue? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refloated an initiative to construct artificial islands in Israel’s territorial waters as a solution for Israel’s limited territory. Mr. Netanyahu explained that Israel has many shoreline facilities such as desalination plants and power plans, which are taking up space in the country’s already limited coastal zone. Read more

 

Entera bio tries for Nasdaq IPO, again. The Jerusalem-based biomed company plans to raise $55 million by offering 5 million shares at $10-$12 per share, with Oppenheimer & Co. as the sole underwriter. Read more

 

A blueberry-sized cherry tomato. The Kedma company in the Israel’s southern Arava desert has developed the "drop tomato," about the size of a blueberry—the smallest ever cultivated in Israel, perhaps even in the world. Read more

 

Israel-India collaboration on diabetes. Apollo Sugar, India’s nationwide diabetes clinic chain owned by Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., signed an exclusive strategic agreement with Israel-based diabetes monitoring startup GlucoMe Ltd. Read more

 

Too many cybersecurity companies? Israeli-born technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuval Shachar, the co-founder of Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm owned by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, thinks the cybersecurity market is heading towards consolidation. “There are too many companies with similar solutions to the same problems, each only offering a slight improvement,” he said Sunday. Read more