Teddy Talks: Israeli entrepreneurs pitch their startups to billionaire Teddy Sagi

Even before the official opening of Calcalist's Mind The Tech London conference, several start-ups had a unique opportunity: to present their company in a personal meeting with entrepreneur and businessman Teddy Sagi, and perhaps even get an investment or collaboration that would take their company to the next level. The meetings were held together with the co-CEOs of Pay.com, Tom Vaknin and Assaf Cohen, and most of them dealt with the fintech field.

According to Pick a Pier co-founder and CEO Idan Cohen, the field of sailing leisure culture is booming and growing by a million boats each year. What has not grown is the number of places where boats can be docked, and this is exactly the problem that his company is dealing with thanks to principles from the world of collaborative economics.

"The marine leisure culture industry encompasses more than 200 million people, and there are waiting lists of people who want to buy boats," he said. "We need to produce a new supply of marinas where boats can dock through smart sharing of places. We allow marinas to produce an additional number of places, increase revenue while preserving the environment and protecting the shoreline. We take a commission on every transaction closed through our platform."

Sagi expressed interest in the company even though it is not at the core of his business activity. "People love the sea. They are all yachtsmen, it seems every new entrepreneur has a small yacht today," he explained. "It's an old school world and there is an angle to innovate there. But it's a niche, I don’t know if it will really take off."

"Parents dive into the world of parenting without prior preparation"

To become a lawyer, accountant or doctor one has to go through years of study and exams. But to raise a human being from birth? Nothing is required. "Parents dive into the world of parenting without prior preparation and arrive as completely blank slates," said Jama founder Maya Dayan, who founded the company with her brother Kfir Dayan. "It is an amazing but challenging and life-changing journey. We took technology that accompanies parents on this journey from pregnancy to age three, by creating a social connection between mothers. We took all the content that exists in the field, and concentrated in one app. Each user has a personal feed that knows how to present suggestions to her according to the stage she is at, based on advanced algorithms. We have done a proof of feasibility in Israel with 50,000 users and we are preparing for the launch in the United States. We are currently embarking on a funding round, and we are looking for a strong strategic partner for an international exit."

Sagi was enthusiastic: "It's very cool. I would love to get in. My wife, may she be healthy, has seven children. It will work. I want to be a part of it. There are thousands of ways to monetize, it's a huge advertising channel. The chances of success are great. They are focused and have reached 50,000 users a year with zero marketing.”