6 Israeli companies selected as tech pioneers by World Economic Forum

Six Israeli companies have been named in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2020 ‘Technology Pioneers’ list. The cohort includes 100 companies, all focusing on future-facing issues and technological advancements.

Each company, referred to by the WEF as a ‘Tech Pioneer’, specializes in areas like artificial intelligence, carbon capture, or the construction of smart cities and greener living. Their innovations are expected to help protect the climate, fight Covid-19 challenges, and ‘reset’ society for a better future.

This is the 20th year the WEF has highlighted pioneers. For the next two years, they will be able to participate in workshops and high-level conversations about their respective industries. Past members include Google, Kickstarter, Twitter, and Wikimedia.

Here are the six Israeli companies selected by the WEF.

3D Signals

Product: Software that uses sensors to track industrial equipment

Year founded: 2015

Funding: $26.6 million

Founders: Amit Ashkenazi, Amnon Shenfeld, Ofer Affias, Yair Lavi

3DSignals Ltd. has had a busy few years since its debut in 2015, and has already seen almost $27 million in funding from firms like Mind Ventures and Grove Ventures. 3D Signals helps digitize factories and industrial locations to improve productivity. It achieves this by using AI to provide real time data and insights, ultimately becoming ‘factories of the future’ in the Industry 4.0 era.

Aleph Farms

Product: Slaughter-free steaks that improve environmental food chain systems

Year founded: 2017

Funding: $14.4 million

Founders: Didier Toubia, Shulamit Levenberg

For those seeking to go vegetarian for environmental or ethical reasons, Aleph Farms Ltd. has you covered. The company produces meat in bio-farms that can reproduce a variety of beef cells - such as fat, blood vessels, or muscle. Their product provides the same meals as their meat counterpart, while also using less land, water, and saving the lives of millions of animals. Whereas other companies produce only artificial meat patties or sausages, Aleph Farms can create whole-muscle steaks.

Morphisec

Product: Cybersecurity to protect against ransomware and ‘zero-day’ exploits

Year founded: 2014

Funding: $19 million

Founders: Dudu Mimran, Ronen Yehoshua

Mophisec Ltd. uses unique and patented tools to protect companies against targeted attacks. This is achieved by adopting a strategy called ‘polymorphism’ - a process of using the attackers’ own tactics against them. Regardless of the type of attack, Morphisec prevents the attack at the moment it occurs and ‘throws’ it back at them - keeping companies safer and deterring future repeat attacks.

Optibus

Product: High-tech mobility platform improving mass transportation

Year founded: 2014

Funding: $53 million

Founders: Amos Haggiag, Eitan Yanovsky

Optibus Ltd. is helping transform cities by making them ‘smarter’ through fleet management and optimization software. The company uses machine learning algorithms to help cities organize their transportation services. As a ‘Software as a Service (Saas)’ company, Optibus is behind the scenes and often works with local governments as they innovate their public services.

Prospera

Product: Agriculture technology to optimize farm production

Year founded: 2014

Funding: $22 million

Founders: Daniel Koppel, Raviv Itzhaky, Shimon Shpiz

With agriculture still a major industry in the United States, many companies are using AI and other technologies to optimize the process. Prospera Technologies Ltd. has developed computer vision technology that analyzes the health and needs of plants in farming areas. Using data from the climate and visual data of the plant production, Prospera helps farmers interpret actionable data via their mobile app.

Seebo

Product: Cloud-based software that adds physical machinery into the Internet of Things (IoT)

Year founded: 2012

Funding: $22 million

Founders: Lior Akavia, Liran Akavia

Seebo Interactive Ltd. enables manufacturers to increase production capacity and prevent losses due to yield, quality and waste issues, using its process-based industrial artificial intelligence solution. With Seebo, manufacturers can master their entire production process, understanding why losses and inefficiencies are occurring and preventing them from occurring in the future. Its growing roster of customers includes Nestle, Allnex, Barilla, Skoda and PepsiCo.