CTech's Wednesday Roundup of Israeli Tech News

In the Race for Autonomous Vehicles, Mobileye Looks to China. Mobileye CEO and co-founder Amnon Shashua spoke with Calcalist during CES 2020 last week. Read more

Temasek in talks for irrigation company Rivulis. Calcalist first reported in August that controlling shareholder FIMI was looking to sell Rivulis and that it had hired Goldman Sachs to do so. Read more

Israel wants NSO proceedings to remain secret. The state has appealed to the court requesting proceedings regarding a petition filed by members of human rights organization Amnesty against cyber surveillance company NSO be conducted in chambers. Read more

 

2019 was a record year for Israeli exits. Last year saw 138 exits, 122 of which were mergers and acquisitions valued at $21.7 billion in total. Read more

Billionaire Len Blavatnik aims for the moon with $1 million SpaceIL grant. The grant is intended to support the Beresheet 2.0. spacecraft program and advance the goal of landing an unmanned Israeli spacecraft on the moon. Read more

Zebra Medical appoints new CEO, receives backing from Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua. Zebra Medical uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for the automated analysis of radiological scans such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRI. Read more

Ferrari importer, Innonation chairman set up Beijing accelerator for Israeli autotech startups. Ten Israeli companies, with a focus on autonomous vehicles, driver experience, and 3-D printing, will participate in the program. Read more

Smart farming startup CropX acquires CropMetrics. CropX uses soil sensors and cloud-based analytics software to optimize agricultural yield. Read more

Predictive patient care startup Medial EarlySign partners with Israeli HMO on flu vaccine campaign. EarlySign combines machine-learning technology and decades-worth of electronic health records (EHR) to create an artificial intelligence-based disease risk predictor. Read more

BioLineRx’s flagship pancreas cancer drug receives orphan drug status in Europe. The clinical stage company’s drug received a similar designation in the U.S. last year. Read more

The BIRD Foundation to invest $2.3 million in three homeland security tech projects. The supported projects, selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Israel’s Ministry of Public Security, include a drone command system, an indoor positioning wearable device, and security video analytics tools. Read more